Halle Berry's directorial debut, BRUISED, premieres at the Toronto Film Festival this week and the actress takes on the role of director and playing a disgraced MMA fighter. Berry spoke with "Variety" about her career and her long journey to the director's chair and through that discussion, the subject of working with X-MEN director Bryan Singer was brought up and she has a strong but professional opinion about her time with Singer across the three X-MEN films that he directed her in.
Berry played Ororo Munroe a.k.a Storm beginning in 2000's X-MEN and reprised the role three more times in X2: X-MEN UNITED, X-MEN: THE LAST STAND, and X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST. Bryan Singer directed Berry in all but one of those films (Brett Ratner helmed THE LAST STAND) and his behavior on various film sets has become well-documented over the years and it came to a big head when X-MEN turned 20 this year as "The Hollywood Reporter" published an insightful piece about Singer and all he was allowed to get away with when he took on the project. Berry was asked about her experiences with Singer and she was pretty honest about how it wasn't an easy endeavor:
"Bryan's not the easiest dude to work with. I mean, everybody's heard the stories, I don't have to repeat them, and heard of his challenges, and what he struggles with. I would sometimes be very angry with him. I got into a few fights with him and said a few cuss words out of sheer frustration. When I work, I'm serious about that. And when that gets compromised, I get a little nutty. But at the same time, I have a lot of compassion for people who are struggling with whatever they're struggling with, and Bryan struggles. Sometimes, because of whatever he's struggling with, he just didn't always feel present. He didn't feel there. And we're outside in our little X-Men stage freezing our a** off in Banff, Canada, with subzero weather and he's not focusing. And we're freezing. You might get a little mad."
"The Hollywood Reporter" piece did directly reference a disagreement on set when Singer didn't exactly feel "present" while filming a stunt sequence on X2 that left Hugh Jackman, who played Wolverine in the film, slightly injured on set. This led to most of the major players in the cast confronting Singer in his trailer and threatening to leave the project which led to Berry at one point telling the director to "kiss her black a**". That was just a reference to one disagreement on set between the director, Berry, and the cast so who knows how many more there were. I do give Berry credit for not totally defaming him and going into explicit details. She's aware that the industry knows the stories about him and his struggles and while she could've gone in on his alleged sexual assault of at least four men who say they were underage at the time, Berry remains professional and talks in ellipses by saying it just wasn't easy.
Whether it's Olivia Munn, who detailed her own experiences working with him on X-MEN: APOCALYPSE, or his alleged behavior and altercations with Rami Malek that got him fired mid-shoot from BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY, the stories about Singer over the years have remained mostly consistent and Berry's latest assessment of him is just another example of that.
What are YOUR thoughts on Berry's response to working with Bryan Singer?