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.
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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.
Q: Having had love troubles of your own, could you relate to her?
A: Yes, most women could.
Q: To get the part of Carmen Jones, Dorothy showed up unexpectedly at Otto Preminger's office in character. Have you ever pulled a stunt like that?
A: Not really like that, but for Losing Isaiah, I had to go in as that character and do the crying scenes 50 times, because the studio didn't want me. I wasn't going to leave until I got it. I ended up in the emergency room after the screen test with scratched corneas, because each time I started the scene it had to be as if I'd never been crying, so my makeup artist kept putting Visine in my eyes and the dropper kept hitting my eyeball.
Q: Dorothy talks about her beauty quite a few times in the film. Do you think she was vain? A: I think so. I don't think she realized all the other things she had to offer.
Q: Do you have moments of panic when you think about aging in Hollywood?
A: Uh-huh, I see it, but I'm not going to go fix it, because it's who I am. I admire women who grow old gracefully. The ones with their faces all pulled back at 60 trying to look 30--God bless them, but there's something not right about that for me.
Q: Do you have a good driver's license picture?
A: No, and you can't see it. [Laughs]
Q: I love that moment when Dorothy picks up her dress from the front desk of a hotel and the clerk, assuming she works for someone else, says, "Your lady must have paid for it." Have you ever had a similar experience?
A: I feel that way when I go into certain department stores, which will remain nameless. I'm just a black person trying to shoplift, for all they know. Then when they realize it's me, it's like, "Oh! Ms. Berry, can we help you?"
Q: I understand some of your mother's family, who are white, distanced themselves from your mother after she married your father, who is black. Did your fame have an interesting effect on some of those people?
A: Yeah, and it's hard to really embrace them after you've been denied in the first place. On my black side, too, there are relatives we never even knew because to them my mother was just the white bitch with the two little half-breed kids. Honestly. So now they come out of the woodwork--you know, "This is your cousin and I need to know if you can ..."
Q: Did you mature early, physically?
A: I was probably about 16. Before that, I was a chubster. A magazine recently accused me of having a nose job but they picked a picture of me when I was about 5'2" and 140 pounds, so everything on my face was bigger.
Q: How did you learn the facts of life?
A: We had sexual encyclopedias and I learned from my mom what it was when I was five years old. In fact, my earliest memory is learning all about how sex works. My sister and I both waited until we were older in life to have sex because it wasn't a mystery.
Q: What's the best advice your mom ever gave you?
A: Recently she said, "Before you get married again, please let me spend a week alone with the person." I don't think she means it literally, but next time I should involve her in the process. My mom is always dead-on about people.
Q: Do you tend to ignore red flags in relationships?
A: I have. The flags would be waving and flying high and I would say, "I don't see that, because I don't want to see that." Today, the minute I see it, it's like, "Sorry, don't really have time for that today."
Q: What did you learn about yourself from your marriage to David Justice?
A: I learned more after the divorce, when I was alone. It's been three years and the good thing is that I'm finally over it. I learned more about what I need and not just what I want--they're two very different things.
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.