Halle Berry Reveals She and Costar Angelina Jolie Had ‘Rocky Start’ but It Will ‘Serve Us Well’ on Screen

(Variety) – Oscar-winning actor Halle Berry had a strike of inspiration on the flight to Saudi Arabia, where she gave a career-spanning conversation at the third edition of the Red Sea Film Festival. The flight, she said, led her to figure out what she wants to direct next: “It’s a love story at its core but it deals with the supernatural, time travel and the future.”

This will mark Berry’s sophomore feature after 2020’s MMA drama “Bruised.” When asked about her first directing experience, the actor was frank, labelling the entire process “hell.” “Because I was a woman, and a Black woman, the treatment I received and the things I had to put up with were unconscionable,” she said. “If I were a white man or even a Black man, it would have been easier. It’s amazing I even made it and a miracle Netflix bought it.”

Alongside taking the first steps toward her next directing project, Berry is currently in preparation for “Maude v Maude,” a project she described as a mixture of “Mr & Mrs Smith” and “Mission: Impossible” with a comedic twist. Berry is set to co-star and co-produce the film with Angelina Jolie. Despite looking forward to battling Jolie “physically and intellectually,” Berry said the two got off to a “rocky start.”

“We had a rocky start and I think that is going to serve us well in our screen time together,” said Berry, adding she is “thrilled to work with another woman and craft a story with our sensibility and from our point of view. She is formidable.”ADVERTISEMENT