Halle Berry: Ripe Berry

Halle Berry finally took her labor of love, Introducing Dorothy Dandridge, to HBO, and ended up producing and starring in a movie both Whitney Houston and Janet Jackson wanted to make themselves.

_______________________________________

Halle Berry's screen roles to date have generally required her to do one of two things. She's had to be fantastically decorative and not bother to do much acting (_The Flintstones_, Boomerang, Executive Decision, B*A*P*S), or she's had to look like hell and act her ass off (_Losing Isaiah, Jungle Fever, Bulworth_). What she saw in Introducing Dorothy Dandridge, the story of the tumultuous, tragic life of the first black woman to win a Best Actress Oscar nomination, was an opportunity to play up her beauty and her talent. With visions of glory in a movie that would have substance for an audience and meaning for her, Berry shopped Dandridge to the major film studios. No one bit--even though the tale is so right for the time that Whitney Houston and Janet Jackson were both trying to get their own versions of it off the ground. So Berry went to HBO, and there she found people who not only saw the value of the project, but were eager to have her produce as well as star in it.

DENNIS HENSLEY: When did you first discover Dorothy Dandridge?

HALLE BERRY: When I was 19, I just happened to see Carmen Jones on TV and thought, "Why have I never seen this? Why don't I know about her?" It became my passion to figure out what she was about and why her legacy isn't bigger. At a photo shoot the other day, the photographer said, "Oh, I remember Dorothy Dandridge, she was that freedom fighter, right?" That's why I wanted to make this movie.

Q: When did you first consider doing it?

A: About five years ago, I got the rights to the book by her manager, Earl Mills. After being turned down by the studios, I went to HBO because they do great biopics. They just said, "Yes, we'll take a chance." Then the fear of God set in.

Q: What scared you?

A: They said, "You're gonna be a part of this every step of the way." At any given moment I'd break out in a hot flash and think, "Oh my God, can I do it?" I'm so used to relating to actors as my comrades, but this time I had actors coming to me saying, "I don't like my trailer," "I'm not getting enough money." I tried to deal with things as diplomatically as I could, but when someone would gripe to me I'd say, "I'll be right back," and I would literally go away, throw up, come back and say, "OK." And now that people are going to see it, I'm scared to death. Normally I could say, "Hey, if you don't like it, I just did my part," but I had so much involvement I won't be able to say that if people hate it.

Q: Did being on the other side make you regret any of your past behavior as an actress?

A: Not regret, really, but I think with a different head now. Sometimes when I wouldn't get what I believed I should have as an actress, I'd think, "They have all this money, why can't they understand it's just one little old thing?" Now I understand that one little old thing for you and one little old thing for someone else adds up to one big thing.

Q: Did you feel competitive with Whitney Houston and Janet Jackson, who were also trying to develop Dorothy Dandridge projects?

A: A little bit. I don't know when they got passionate about it, but I'd been passionate since before Donald Bogle wrote the book that Whitney optioned and all this buzz started. I initially wanted all of us to come together and pay tribute to her, but I quickly realized that was a fantasy. But I felt that even if they got to do it before me, I was still going to do it, even if I had no budget and had to show the finished film in people's basements. Whitney and Janet are singing superstars with very full plates, but making Dorothy was my passion 24 hours a day for the last three years.

Q: How did you settle on Martha Coolidge, of Valley Girl and Rambling Rose, to direct the film?

A: I was really adamant that I wouldn't do it without a woman. Martha was in sync with what I thought about Dorothy, wanting to celebrate her life and not get too focused on her downward spiral.

Q: Did you ever feel touched by Dorothy's spirit?

A: I first started to feel it when her manager gave me a dress that she wore on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1953. I kept the dress the entire time we shot. When I finally got enough courage to put it on, it fit me perfectly. I knew somehow then that I should be doing this and that she was with me. I still do.

Q: What did you do in the dress?

A: I just walked around my home alone in it and talked to her. I called my manager up bawling and said, "You have to see this" and he had the same reaction. I had publicity pictures taken in it. If I ever thought about stealing anything, it was that dress. But I thought, her manager gave it to me to borrow for inspiration and if I'm meant to have it, he'll give it back to me. Hint, hint. [Laughs]

Q: What made you laugh the most on the set?

A: Probably the scene where Obba Babatunde had to be butt-naked. I was so happy that it was him and not me. I got to feel like the guy. We had women around that day who didn't even need to be there, trying to see Obba's butt. I called him Sweet Cheeks. Luckily he didn't sue me for sexual harassment.

Q: If you could ask Dorothy one question, what would it be?

A: I'd want to know if she actually killed herself. I think she did. On that night she took the pills, I don't think she said, "Let me die right now," but I think she was tired of fighting the fight of not only being a woman in Hollywood, but a black woman, and she was tired of fighting the love situation.

Pages: 1 2 3