Halle Berry Wishes She Could Remake Catwoman

Halle Berry says she would like to take another stab at Catwoman in the director’s chair this time. Her Catwoman came out in 2004, during the beginning of the current boom of superhero films but before most studios had figured out exactly what their formula was for making them successful. The film was a notorious flop, raking in $20 million less than its production budget in the worldwide box office, getting nominated for 7 Razzie Awards, winning 4 (including Worst Picture), and landing on Roger Ebert’s list of his most hated films.

Although Halle Berry doesn’t regret her participation in Catwoman, the film was overall a disappointment for fans, critics, and filmmakers. The film also made some odd changes to the Catwoman mythos, starting with the fact that she was a completely different character. Rather than Selina Kyle, she was a graphic designer named Patience Phillips who worked for a cosmetics company run by a corporate overlord with evil intentions. Also, instead of being a notorious cat burglar, she is brought back from the dead by a magical cat and begins to develop catlike powers, much like Spider-Man.

During an interview with Jake’s Takes about her directorial debut Bruised, Halle Berry was asked which of her past movies she wished she’d had a chance to direct. She picked Catwoman because she would love a chance to “reimagine that world.” She didn’t call out some of Catwoman’s more maligned moments, like the flirtatious basketball scene, but rather the way it limited the scope of the character’s world because she’s a woman. She would add stakes to the movie that are higher than “saving women from their faces cracking off” and make it “more inclusive” of “men and women.” Read the full quote below:

I would love to direct Catwoman. If I can get ahold of that now, knowing what I know, having had this experience, and reimagine that world the way I reimagined this story. Bruised was written for a white Irish Catholic 25-year-old girl and I got to reimagine it. I wish I could go back and reimagine Catwoman and redo that. Have a redo on that…

I would have Catwoman saving the world like most male superheroes do and not just saving women from their faces cracking off, you know, make the stakes a lot higher. And I think to make it more inclusive of both men and women.

Even with the cast and crew that was already assembled, a new version of the project could have legs with a reimagining of the script and character. The cast was stacked, with the world around Patience being filled out by Oscar and Emmy nominees Sharon Stone, Benjamin Bratt, and Frances Conroy, as well as 3-time Emmy winner Alex Borstein. The film was also shot and edited by frequent Luc Besson collaborators Thierry Arbogast and Sylvie Landra.

While there are dozens of superhero projects in development right now, so far, there is no other Catwoman solo film (though Zoë Kravitz is set to play the character in the upcoming The Batman). With Berry on board to give it another go, it sounds like an interesting enough project for producers to give it another shot. They might be forgiven for reducing the budget a little bit and seeing where things go, but it could be an interesting experiment.