Halle Berry To Go Cueball for 'Nappily Ever After'
Filed under: Comedy, Romance, Casting, Fandom, DIY/Filmmaking, Newsstand
Itching to take a page out of her own book, Halle Berry is once again looking to perform one of those big-screen career revival stunts -- this time, however, instead of showing us her bare breasts, she'll be donning a shaved head. Back in 2001, Berry made waves by going topless in the film Swordfish. The scene itself was totally gratuitous and had no business being in the film, but it probably helped boost box office sales for a flick that wasn't that good in the first place. Of course, once the clothes were off, Berry opened herself up to other roles in riskier films -- Monster's Ball (in which she won an Oscar for best actress) being one of them.
This new film, Nappily Ever After (which, thankfully, isn't a sequel to Happy N'ever After), is being labeled a romantic comedy and will follow a woman who decides to shave her head bald when, for some reason, her hair begins to fall out. Of course, there will be this whole "real beauty comes from the inside" theme running throughout. Thanks for the life lesson Halle -- I guess I'm the only one who thinks bald women are beautiful and sexy too (I'll take a bald Natalie Portman over a full head of hair on Cameron Diaz any day). To make things even more "real," Berry will shave her head in the film instead of wearing some sort of cap. However, filming won't begin until at least next year; a new draft for Nappily Ever After was just turned in.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
4-07-2007 @ 1:40PM
Gilbert Davis said...
You know Imus just had to apologize for using the word 'nappy' on his radio show. They're calling for his head. I think it was the word nappy that got him in trouble. I mean the statement he made about the Rutgers female Basketball team used the words 'nappy' and 'ho' and you can hear the ho word in music videos so I thought nappy was the bad word. But if Halle Berry is in a movie with that word perhaps it's not the baldness that's the daring part of it. After all, Demi Moore did bald in GI Jane and Britney Spears did bald in real/surreal life.
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4-07-2007 @ 9:20PM
Karyn said...
'Nappy' is a derogatory term used to describe the natural state of black hair before it's chemically treated or otherwised straightened. The movie is based on the book of the same name about a woman who shaves her chemically straightened hair off after it begins to fall out. As her natural hair grows back in, she has to contend with people and their perceptions of beauty.
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4-11-2007 @ 11:52PM
Wayne said...
Hey, It's OK to promote the double standard!
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4-12-2007 @ 5:15PM
Renee said...
I guess I shouldn't be surprised that people have trouble understanding the culture! It's the whole idea that some people do not perceive the natural, unprocessed hair of African Americans as beautiful. From the synopsis of the movie and book, which I have not read, it sounds like Halle's character grows out her natural hair and has to deal with the negative response from other people who have a different standard of what is beautiful. So she learns to embrace and accept the beauty of who she is and her "nappy" hair.
It wasn't just one word that Imus said that was offensive. It was the context of the whole conversation (or non-funny joke) that called the team hos and suggested the TN team was cuter because of their complexion and hair, i.e. the reference to Spike Lee's movie School Daze which used the term "Jiggaboos and Wannabes." Ironically, Lee's movie was a social commentary against judging people based on skin tone and the grade of their hair. I don't think Imus and crew got that point, which is one of the reasons it was so offensive. Although people are focusing on the word ho because of rap music.
There's no double standard. Numerous black people including Oprah and Bill Cosby, have been speaking out about rap music and inappropriate comedy for sometime. But their voices never seem to be heard by the national media.
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