Halle Berry’s Bruised character was nearly played by yet another blonde white woman lead.
via People:
The Oscar winner makes her directorial debut with the upcoming Netflix sports drama, playing Jackie Justice, a retired MMA fighter, who is convinced to return to the ring when the young son she abandoned returns to her life.
On Monday, Berry, 55, revealed on Jimmy Kimmel Live! that her role was originally intended to be played by Blake Lively.
“My agent just gave this to me. When I got the story, another actress was attached to it. This was for Blake Lively,” she recalled. “Because originally when I got the script, it was written for a very young, Irish-Catholic white girl. I said to my agent, ‘But I love this. I have to play this part. I mean, not like this. I have to reimagine it, but I’m gonna do this.’ And she said, ‘Well, it’s Blake’s right now, so if Blake, you know, decides to give it away, pass it up, you’ll be the first person you come to.'”
“So I had to patiently wait for six months until Blake decided it’s not something she wanted to do, and then,” continued Berry, motioning with her hands that she slid into the casting.
Kimmel then asked, “Did you call Blake at any time and go, ‘You made the right choice — I’m being beaten, I’m choking people out, I’m throwing up regularly. This is ridiculous!” Berry laughed.
At the Bruised premiere at the AFI Fest earlier this month, Berry detailed her passion for the project as well as “the fight game.”
“I was told a long time ago that if you’re going to direct a story and be a filmmaker, especially your first movie, you best make it about something that you love and something you intrinsically understand,” she told PEOPLE. “And I love the fight game. I understand this world and I understand what it is to be a woman fighting to survive.”
“I know what it’s like to make mistakes and want another chance,” she added. “I know what it’s like to hope for redemption and ask for forgiveness. These are all things that I understand very, very deeply. And those are the themes of this movie.”
‘Bruised’ hits Netflix on Nov. 24.
