In 2002, Halle Berry made history: With her turn in the drama Monster’s Ball, she became the first Black woman to win a Best Actress Oscar. Three years later she received a more dubious trophy: Worst Actress at the Razzie Awards for 2004’s Catwoman. Berry even collected it in person, much as Tom Green did for the five such awards he earned for Freddy Got Fingered. In a recent interview for her directorial debut, Bruised, the actress opened up about why she showed up — and what she did to the trophy afterwards.
Berry spoke with Vanity Fair (as caught by The Hollywood Reporter) about her career, and about that night, when she took the stage, holding her Oscar in one hand and her new, crappier one in the other.
“I went to the Razzie [Awards] because I feel like we all take ourselves so seriously,” she said. “If we get an award, if we get the Oscar, we somehow are made to feel like we’re somehow better than everybody else, but we’re really not. You were just chosen that year by your peers, and you were acknowledged for doing what they considered stellar work.”
She even took the anti-accolade in stride. “If you find yourself face to face with a Razzie, does that mean you’re the worst actor there ever was? Probably not,” she said. “You just got the piss taken out on you that year by a group of people that can.”
Besides, it’s a good display of modesty. “If I can show up to collect an Oscar when you’re honoring me, I can certainly show up to collect a Razzie when you say, good try, but do better,” Berry explained. “I always learned that if you can’t be a good loser, then you don’t deserve to be a good winner. So I went there and made fun of myself.”
All in all she doesn’t regret going, although the award wasn’t long for this world. “I had a great time and then I set that thing on fire,” she said.
Berry has opened about Catwoman before, saying she doesn’t regret doing it and that, piss-poor cinema or not, it was one of her bigger paydays. Not that she’ll ever return to the role à la the alumni cast members in the next Spider-Man. Besides, she’s about to get another trophy anyway.
(Via Vanity Fair and THR)