Halle Berry is about to take over Netflix to portray an MMA fighter. She directs and stars in Bruised, which is soon screening virtually as a work-in-progress at the Toronto Film Festival. Once the project is ready, it will head to the streaming service.
According to Variety’s insiders, Netflix shelled out an estimated $20 million to land Bruised. Endeavor Content is representing the filmmakers in the deal while with Sierra/Affinity assist on the international side. There is no word on when the film will debut on Netflix, but Berry reacted to the deal on Twitter. “I am speechless. Thank you [Netflix] for believing in my vision, cannot wait for y’all to finally see [Bruised],” Berry wrote.
Videos by PopCulture.com
View this post on Instagram
While she is the director of Bruised, Berry also stars as a “washed-up MMA fighter” that struggles for redemption as an athlete and a mother. Michelle Rosenfarb provided the script for the film. Bruised serves as Berry’s directorial debut.
While filming the MMA movie, the actor-director did her own stunts. This choice led to an incident where she cracked two ribs. She took a knee to the chest from co-star Valentina Shevchenko and dealt with a considerable amount of pain. However, she couldn’t stop production.
“I didn’t want to stop because I had prepared for so long,” Berry said about the injury. “We had rehearsed; we were ready. So my mind, my director’s mind, was just — keep going. And I compartmentalized that, and I just kept going: ‘I’m not going to stop. I’ve come too far. I’m going to act as if this isn’t hurting. I’m going to will myself through it.’ And so we did.”
This incident is not the first time that Berry has suffered an injury while doing stunts. She also broke three ribs while filming John Wick: Chapter 3 — Parabellum — although she wasn’t clear how she did so. All Berry knew at the time is that she couldn’t breathe.
“I thought I had bone cancer,” Berry told Variety. “I thought it was early osteoporosis. I couldn’t understand why this was happening to me when I was really physically fit.” Ultimately, Berry traced the incident to having diabetes. “I have a propensity to fracture bones faster than other people.”
With the injuries in the rearview, Berry can now plan on Bruised’s future. The film virtually screens on Saturday, and then it will eventually head to Netflix. However, the release date is not clear.
