Halle Berry: Ripe Berry

Q: Have you gone on many dates since the divorce?

A: I didn't date for two years, but in the last year I've been dating. It's been really fun just to date, just to say goodnight at the door with a kiss on the cheek.

Q: When you date, do you have to get past people's preconceptions about you?

A: Some people don't want to know the real me. They want "Halle Berry," someone to take where all their friends are or to some public event. They're not satisfied having a dinner at my house or at some obscure restaurant. That's the kind of stuff that I used to overlook. Now they get weeded out pretty quickly.

Q: Do you want to have children?

A: Desperately.

Q: Would you do it on your own?

A: That wouldn't be my ideal, but I'm open to it. Seeing that I don't have Mr. Right in my life right now, I've been thinking about it lately.

Q: You had your ex-husband's name tattooed on your bottom, right?

A: Now it's a beautiful sunflower that's pretty massive because it had a lot to cover up. Luckily, I don't even realize I have a tattoo because I don't look at my butt all that often. [Laughs]

Q: How did your work help you cope with the trauma of divorce?

A: Saved my life. I did B*A*P*S right afterward. The people who say to me, "Why would you make that stupid movie?" don't know it was self-preservation. I had to be busy 18 hours a day.

Q: What do people get wrong about you?

A: They always say that I dated Eddie Murphy and Spike Lee, and I never have. Great guys, but it's not true. I don't need guys I haven't done on the list, thank you very much. [Laughs]

Q: What do you think is your most underrated project?

A: Losing Isaiah. I worked so hard on it. When it didn't do well, that was a low point for me.

Q: What do you remember about working with Jessica Lange?

A: The fact that she would hardly look at me. She was trying to keep the reality that we were at odds. I'd never worked like that. I think it raised my performance to another level, and since then I've used that philosophy in my work.

Q: Who's been your most surprising fan?

A: Dustin Hoffman. I met him at Samuel L. Jackson's 50th birthday party and he said that he liked me in Bulworth. That made me feel really good.

Q: Was that role in Bulworth tough to get?

A: It wasn't hard to get, it was hard to play. There was never a script, so I was always confused about what I was supposed to be playing. Warren didn't know if he was going to live or die, or who was going to kill him if anybody did. I just waited to see if I was going to be the trigger woman or not.

Q: Did you find Warren Beatty sexy?

A: Very sexy. I see how he's gotten all these women over the years. He's just got this way of making both men and women feel like they are the most important, most beautiful, most interesting people in the world. I felt it when he did it to me. He can charm anybody and he's very sincere at the same time. You don't feel like you're being duped. And he's childlike--brilliant, but at the same time he's, like, five.

Q: Whose scripts do you wish the post office would accidentally send to you?

A: Meg Ryan's, Julia Roberts's, Cameron Diaz's, Sandra Bullock's, Gwyneth Paltrow's, any of those ladies.

Q: It seems like this project could give you a lot of heat, the way Gia did for Angelina Jolie. Do you think about that?

A: I usually get offered the shy, demure girl next door and I hope that, after seeing this, people will think of me for other things. I'm confused as to what I'll do next. Dorothy Dandridge is a tough act to follow.

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Dennis Hensley interviewed Luke Wilson for the July 99 issue of Movieline.

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