From being a Bond girl to portraying the role of Catwoman, Halle Berry is known for playing several iconic roles throughout her acting career. As a result, she has earned the place of one of the most distinguished actresses in the industry. Her career is an interesting one to look at, as she transitioned from a beauty pageant contestant to a highly acclaimed actress in the movie industry.
Time and again, she has bewitched the audience with her performance, and her performance was recognized, as she became the first Black actress to take home the Academy Award for Best Actress in 2001 for her performance in Monster’s Ball. Sadly, the role came with a criminally low salary, as she decided to pay her team what they deserved.
Halle Berry’s Oscar-Winning Role Came With a Negligible Paycheck
Even though it is reported that Halle Berry made $600, 000 with Monster’s Ball, that might be a myth as New York Post claims that the Die Another Day actress walked away with only $5, 000. This claim was backed by Christopher John Farley, an American journalist who wrote the actress’ biography, Introducing Halle Berry.
As per Ronald L. Jackson’s book, Scripting the Black Masculine Body, Christopher John Farley debunks all the rumors as he mentioned, that she received only $100,000 but after paying her team, she walked away with only $5,000.
“Halle was paid $100,000 for her part. After all her expenses, she would say later, she cleared about $5,000 for doing the movie.”
In a separate interview with Forbes, the actress shared that even though she realized that the pay was not enough to cover all the expenses, she could not walk away from the convincing plot of the story. But more than that, she realized that the s*xual component of the film was so risky that a part of her felt that she might get exploited for it.
“When [Monster’s Ball] came to me, I thought, okay, I’m getting no money to do this movie and it could either catapult my career or it could end it instantly.” She added that “The s*xual component to that movie was so risky and…I was so worried about being exploited and having people feel like I was being exploited, but at the end of the day, at my soul, I’m an artist.”
The risk Halle Berry decided to take was worth it because it led to one of her most memorable performances, as she left a lasting impression in the minds of the viewers and the critics. But more importantly, it made her create an important event in history, as she became the first Black actress to win an Oscar for Best Actress.
Halle Berry’s Only Condition To Billy Bob Thornton in Monster’s Ball
In a past interview with The New York Times Magazine, Berry discussed her explicit scene with her co-star, Billy Bob Thornton in Monster’s Ball. She stated that she was comfortable shooting the scene because of her n*de scene in Swordfish. However, she had a strict condition for Thornton, which was to strip down as naked as she would be while filming the scene.
”I would only do it if Billy Bob agreed to be as naked as I was, In Swordfish, it was totally gratuitous n*dity, and I knew it. But I probably wouldn’t have been able to do the s*x scene in Monster’s Ball if I hadn’t shown my br*asts in Swordfish.”
Hence, in the process of shooting an explicit scene, they created a mesmerizing movie that had survived the test of time, becoming the perfect movie that would make it fall with the characters.
Monster’s Ball can be streamed on DIRECTV.
Source: Scripting the Black Masculine Body by Ronald L. Jackson
