halleberry Tagged Articles at Cinematical

There has always been talk of Oscar slumps, but Halle Berry takes it to a whole new level. She'd balanced the first X-Men with Monster's Ball, got herself a slick Academy Award, and then tanked like only ... well, I'm not sure who she tanked like because it has been one hell of a big derailment in a slowly building career. A grating Storm, a terrible Catwoman, and some other mediocre fare have made her big award-winning role easy to forget.

But could some Payne help? It's not the Max sort, but something much more international and jewelry-filled. Variety reports that Berry will star in the upcoming film Who Is Doris Payne. Based on a true story adapted by Eunetta Boone, Berry will star as one of the most successful jewel thieves the world has seen. It's a wild story you can read about in detail at MSNBC, but to be brief -- armed with aliases, clever stories, and expensive clothes, she'd walk into a store, request to see as much jewelry as possible, and usually walk out with one or two pieces the jeweler forgot about -- for years and years, both stateside and internationally.

I'm thinking this could be just the project to make us forget about Berry's mistakes and keep her out of the superhero world. It's a great character to play and exercise her talents with -- the fun of the characters Payne played while grabbing her jewels, the life and experiences that led her towards theivery, the times she was caught and incarcerated, and 5 decades to portray.

Is this perfect for Berry, or do you think I'm being too hopeful?

I haven't seen this weekend's The Incredible Hulk yet, and will do so a little begrudgingly because it's an implicit (or explicit, depending on whom you ask) diss of Ang Lee's Hulk, a film I admire. But to the extent my interest in the Louis Leterrier version is piqued, it's mostly because of the casting of Edward Norton as the title character's alter ego. It's such an interesting choice -- partly because Norton usually stays away from projects like this, partly because he's so uniquely gifted, and partly because my mind just reels at hearing "you wouldn't like me when I'm angry" coming out of his mouth. I'll watch The Incredible Hulk less because I want to see another movie about Bruce Banner than because I'm curious to see Norton's interpretation of him.

All of which got me thinking about superhero/comic book casting in general. It's a subject that attracts a lot of breathless speculation every time a new movie is in the works, and there's rarely consensus on anything. In this edition of Cinematical Seven, I take a look back at what I think have been the most inspired, interesting, or appropriate superhero (and villain, because why not?) casting choices in recent history -- not so much the resulting performances (though it can be hard to distinguish in hindsight) but the initial casting decisions.

As I like to do with these lists, I tried to mix the obvious with the out-of-the-blue, so feel free to weigh in with what I unjustly left out. In no particular order:

I know, I know: it's horribly unfair to compare every movie that uses multiple personality disorder as a plot point to The Three, Donald Kaufman's fictional screenplay in Adaptation. And I quite liked Identity, which was basically The Three made flesh. But I can never resist.

The Three, you'll recall, involved a police detective, a serial killer, and the killer's female hostage, who later turn out to be the same person. Frankie and Alice, a psychological thriller that Halle Berry will produce and headline, is more like "The Two": according to Variety, Berry will play "a young woman struggling with multiple personality disorder and torn between who she is and a racist Caucasian alter-personality that preys upon her mind." It's not clear whether this is supposed to be pure schlock or an attempt at metaphor. Either way: oh dear.

Variety has no word on who is writing or directing, which could have given us a hint of what to expect. I feel like a script has to exist, because I can't imagine anyone shelling out money for this project based solely on that goofy logline. I missed Halle Berry's last dramatic offering, the fairly well-reviewed Things We Lost in the Fire. But Frankie and Alice seems more in the vein of Perfect Stranger, anyway, and unfortunately I did see that one. It's hard to know what to make of this project, but there's a distinct possibility of a fascinating train wreck.

If you're old and boring like me, chances are you're not heading out to some paradise for Spring Break this year. It's cool, though, because Moviefone has got you covered. They've had the unfortunate job of combing through thousands of photos, searching for the top shots of our favorite female AND male movie characters wearing their most beloved, adorable swimwear.

On the girls side, we have one of the more geek-famous shots of Princess Leia rockin' her slave bikini. (A personal favorite, if I may say so myself.) There's Halle Berry, Jessica Alba, Elizabeth Hurley, Ursula Andress -- trust me, you'll want to check out this gallery. The men also get their time in the spotlight (though none of them beat my rock-solid abs). Let's see, we have dudes like Matthew McConaughey (who takes his shirt off in every film just so he can wind up on a list like this later in the year), Jesse Bradford, Sean Connery and, of course, Daniel Craig. You be the judge of which Bond looks better in a bathing suit.

Head over here to check out the ladies, and over here to check out the guys. And make sure you vote for your favorites at the end.

It's Insert Caption craziness this week on Cinematical. On Monday, we posted not one but two photos, doubling your pleasure with hotties Halle Berry and Frances McDormand (yeah I said it) modeling MGM's summer and winter lines. At stake: Four boxed sets for four lucky winners. Congrats to our victors below, and special shout out to William G. for entering a single caption that applied to both photos, you're our Mickey Rourke Rebel of the Week.

1. "No I can't stir them; I can only shake them." -- Kurt M.

See full images and all captions

1. "I got his keys! His wife and kids are about to get Punk'd!" -- Max R.

2. "Duck...Duck....Duck...GOOSE!
-- Adi B.

3. "Hurry up with that coffee. And bring some of those donuts! I think somebody slipped Ed here some decaf, but yah, we're not too late he's still breathin." -- Chaz K.

This week we're giving away more lavish prizes, with a photo from the indie sleeper Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, starring Johnny Depp, Keira Knightley and an incredibly cute monkey. Our grand prize winner will take home the DVD (available on Dec. 4), plus all sorts of amazing Pirates goodies (a Gentle Giant Jack Sparrow Animated Maquette, Gentle Giant Elizabeth Swann Animated Maquette, Flying Dutchman Dual Deck playset and more) that totals up to almost $600. Our first runner up gets a DVD, a Barbossa porcelain structure and Pirates action figures, while our third-place winner gets the DVD. Got that? Good.

On a personal note -- this will be my last week posting Insert Caption contests as increasing responsibilities on the Moviefone side will limit my blogging action, so I'll be passing the caption-master torch to Erik Davis. But thanks for playing along with me! We'll always have India. And Finland. And Mr. Woodcock hats.

Read the official rules for this contest

If you were looking for a demonstration of how skillful execution can elevate a cliché pitch into a strong film, you couldn't do much better than Things We Lost in the Fire, Danish director Susanne Bier's American debut. Things We Lost in the Fire follows Audrey Burke (Halle Berry) a wife and mother whose world changes when her husband Brian (David Duchovny) is slain in a random moment of brutal violence. In her grief -- and desperate to maintain a sense of connection to her dead husband -- she reaches out to Brian's life-long fallen friend Jerry (Benicio Del Toro), a recovering heroin addict. She offers him a place to stay; the better question is, what does Jerry offer Audrey?

Bier's 2006 After the Wedding was an Oscar Nominee for Best Foreign Film; her 2004 release Brothers followed two siblings -- one as he adapted to life outside of prison and the other as he dealt with his military posting in Afghanistan. (A remake of Brothers, slated to star Tobey Maguire, Jake Gyllenhaal and Natalie Portman, was recently announced.) Cinematical spoke with Biers in San Francisco about working with her acclaimed cast, adapting to working with American crews and studios, child actors, shooting people you like, and more as part of a roundtable interview; Cinematical's questions are indicated.

Cinematical: Watching Things We Lost in the Fire, I felt a strong sense of thematic parallelism with Brothers -- these two separate films, but at the same time they're about these families remaking themselves in the light of tragedy. Was that something that you consciously thought of when you read the script for Things We Lost in the Fire, something you wanted to explore again?

Susanne Bier: Actually, I read the script and I thought '"Ooh, there are some parallels to Bothers: Do I want to do that?" And then I kind of felt that ... firstly, in Brothers, I kind of felt the female part was slightly unexplored; I mean, she could have been the main character, but that was not the story in Brothers. And I all the time had the feeling that there was another kind of story to tell, about her. And suddenly, I had a script, where this story was told, and I felt it was really compelling. And secondly, I've never ever dealt with a drug addict (in film) and I don't have any personal experience with that, and I'm not an addictive personality; I don't really have a sense of it, But I was really fascinated by it. And part of moviemaking is also sort of stirring up your own curiosity; at least, it is for me. I have to be really curious about stuff, and really kind of fascinated by it. And I was really fascinated by the notion of these two highly unlikely people who were going to somewhat save each other; this very unconventional love story. So even if there were parallels, there were a lot more things that weren't the same, and that really drew me to (Things We Lost in the Fire).

Audrey (Halle Berry) has a pretty good life. Or, rather, she did. We only see how great it was in the rear-view mirror: A rich-but-real marriage to Brian (David Duchovny), two great kids (Micah Nicolas Berry and Harper Burke); a beautiful home. But Brian's dead – horribly, suddenly, because someone angry had a gun – and we see Audrey wandering through her crowded, empty beautiful home, absently comforting her children, preparing for the wake, trying to understand that Brian is gone. The past and present mingle for us, as they do for Audrey; we're pulled into the dislocated murmur and hum of her grief. But something snaps Audrey to attention: She didn't invite Jerry. Audrey doesn't really know Jerry (Benicio Del Toro); he's one of Brian's oldest friends, a lawyer who got addicted to heroin and pretty much fell out of the world. She doesn't really like Jerry, either; we witness past fights and skirmishes between her and Brian about her husband's bond with this lost man. And yet, it becomes very important that Jerry be invited to the funeral and the wake – in part because Audrey would rather think about anything other than what's actually happening, in part because she's trying to hold on to even the smallest fragments of the life that's been lost.

Things We Lost in the Fire could very easily have played at the shallow, simplistic level of a TV movie, or as a lightweight weeper destined to being watched only in rainy-Sunday re-runs on cable. But somewhere along the line, a few interesting choices were made, and Things We Lost in the Fire is all the better for them. Dreamworks chose Denmark's Susanne Bier (After the Wedding, Brothers) to direct Allan Loeb's screenplay; Del Toro and Berry were signed to star. And the end result of those decisions is up on the screen – and far better than it could have been. This is a film that, essentially, earns what it does, one that's not manipulative but rather simply effective, one that confounds or exceeds your expectations as often as it meets them. And, thanks to Del Toro, it's defined by a completely brilliant, wholly absorbing performance from one of our best actors, a piece of acting so good you can feel the entire movie reaching and working to try to come up to his level.

In case you haven't noticed, I can get pretty vocal about my skepticism. One thing I often complain about is the immigration of talented foreign filmmakers, who come over and make disappointing English-language debuts. I won't name names this time around, but you know it is common. Now, the great Dane Susanne Bier announced her own debut long ago, and the film, Things We Lost in the Fire, is actually due next month and it could actually be decent (even with Halle Berry). Then there's her English-language screenplay debut (co-written with Jeffrey Hatcher), The Duchess, which is being directed by Saul Dibb and which stars Keira Knightley and Ralph Fiennes. That will probably be pretty good, too. But her newly announced second film in English, well, that could be awful.

According to Variety, Bier has signed to helm Lost for Words, a romantic comedy or something about a movie star who falls in love with a Chinese actress and her female translator. I'm not sure if its a love triangle thing or a threesome thing or what, but it was scripted by Jamie Curtis, who co-wrote Spice World, so it is sure to be hokey. Now, I make no secret of the fact that I love Spice World. Doesn't matter, I still think this is going to be bad, if only because of my skeptical prejudice. The movie has some more British talent involved, too; it will be produced by Love Actually writer-director Richard Curtis, along with Mr. Bean's Holiday (and Hot Fuzz) producers Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner.

In her native Danish language, Bier last gave us After the Wedding, which was nominated for an Oscar earlier this year. She's also the director of festival hits Open Hearts (aka Dogme #28) and Brothers, both of which are being remade into English. Zach Braff (Garden State) is tackling the former while Jim Sheridan (In the Name of the Father) is helming the latter. We'll just have to wait and see what translates better, her films or her filmmaking skills.

My first thought should be to congratulate Halle Berry on her pregnancy, which she finally, officially announced on Access Hollywood Tuesday. But instead, I'm thinking primarily about John Singleton, who stands to lose by the news. The Boyz n the Hood director is having some bad luck of late -- in case you didn't hear, he accidentally killed a woman recently -- and Berry's bun in the oven has unfortunately affected Singleton's latest project. He was set to direct Tulia, a Southern courtroom drama with Berry and Billy Bob Thornton, but now, thanks to the actress' unavailability for the next six months or so, the film has been postponed -- if not canceled. According to TMZ, Lionsgate has definitely halted production, which was scheduled to begin shooting in October, with no word on when it would resume. The gossip news site did learn, though, that the project hasn't been shelved entirely.

I had been excited for Singleton when he took over Tulia from Carl Franklin. Here, I was thinking he could work with the reunited Berry and Thornton, who paired up on Monster's Ball, and direct the actress to another Oscar nomination (she won for Ball). And then his career would pick up again, proving that his status as youngest director to ever be nominated for the directing Oscar was not a fluke. Maybe it wouldn't get him another nomination, but it would hopefully get him enough respect to finally get him his Luke Cage greenlight. Now, even if Singleton does remain attached to Tulia, it won't be bringing him to any Academy Awards until at least 2010. Currently, Singleton is also having trouble as a producer. He worked with filmmaker Franc. Reyes on the new release Illegal Tender, which has only made $2.5 million in its first two weeks -- most of it earned opening weekend before a near-60% drop. Considering Reyes' previous film, Empire, grossed seven times that amount, Singleton could be blamed.

[via WENN]