Halle Berry is very close to earning a big award for her role in the Netflix movie Bruised. The NAACP Image Awards announced its nominees for this year’s ceremony, and Berry is up for Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture. She is going up against Andra Day (The United States vs. Billie Holiday) Jennifer Hudson (Respect) Tessa Thompson (Passing) and Zendaya (Malcolm & Marie). Bruised has earned four nominations overall, including Outstanding Independent Motion Picture.
The interesting thing about Berry’s role in Bruised is it was for another actress. “She didn’t look like me at the start,” Berry said in an interview with the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “She was a 25-year-old white Irish Catholic woman. I read the script and had to convince our producers I could reimagine the story for someone like me, and they said, ‘Yes.’ It was a good lesson. You don’t know unless you ask.”
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In Bruised, Berry plays Jackie Justice, who is “a mixed martial arts fighter who leaves the sport in disgrace,” the synopsis states. “Down on her luck and simmering with rage and regret years after the fight, she’s coaxed into a brutal underground fight by her manager and boyfriend Desi (Adan Canto) and grabs the attention of a fight league promoter (Shamier Anderson) who promises Jackie a life back in the octagon. But the road to redemption becomes unexpectedly personal when Manny (Danny Boyd, Jr.) — the son she gave up as an infant — shows up at her doorstep.”
Along with starting in the movie, Berry makes her directorial debut in . “The producers later asked me to help find a director,” she said. “I finally went home one night after not finding a filmmaker and a dear friend said to me, ‘Why don’t you direct it?’ I said, ‘I’ve never directed a movie before.’ She said, ‘Absolutely, you can. It’s all in your head. You love the project. All you have to do is believe that you can.”
Berry, who won an Academy Award for Best Actress in 2002, continues to stay busy. Next week, her new film, Moonfall, will be released in theatres nationwide. Berry stars in the film with Patrick Wilson, John Bradley and Michael Pena. She recently finished filming The Mothership, which will be released on Netflix soon.
