Halle Berry received raves for her directorial Bruised at last year’s Toronto International Film Festival. The film, which also stars Berry as a disgraced MMA fighter as she has to face one of the rising stars of the MMA world, sold to Netflix in one of the bigger deals of the festival and is set to make its debut on the streamer in November. One person who isn’t singing the film’s praises is UFC fighter Cat Zingano who is suing Berry because she lost her spot in the UFC over an alleged promise from the actress to appear in the film.
According to Zingano, she met with Berry in July 2019 to speak about the film because the actress told her she was perfect for a role in the project and she, allegedly, told her to keep her schedule clear because production beginning soon. In the complaint, Zingano claims that the UFC presented her with a big fight opportunity shortly after the conversation with Berry but she was advised by the actress to pass on the fight if she wanted to be in the film, citing liability concerns from the insurer. Zingano says that she agonized over the decision but ultimately passed on the fight in favor of appearing in the movie. As a result, the UFC terminated her contract.
Zingano says that she lost out even more after she told Berry about her release from UFC as a result of turning down the offer to participate in the fight. The court docs add that Berry said she could no longer be a part of the film because she was no longer working with the UFC. Zingano was told that the movie could only work with actual UFC fighters and this was regardless of the nature of Zingano’s from the company. After Zingano was told she couldn’t be in Bruised, current UFC Women’s Flyweight Champion Valentina Shevchenko was cast in the project.
Zingano now competes as a Bellator Fighter as a result, having been terminated by UFC and she adds that Berry has cut off all communications from her. The former UFC fighter is seeking damages for how the situation has affected her career because she relied on Berry’s promise only to be cut from the UFC and Berry’s film. At the time of this writing, Berry’s team had not commented on the news of the lawsuit.
Bruised is written by Michelle Rosenfarb and also stars Shamier Anderson, Adan Canto, Sheila Atim, Stephen McKinley Henderson, and UFC fighter Valentina Shevchenko. Blake Lively was once attached to star in the project but Berry replaced her when she decided to take on directing duties.
Do YOU think Cat Zingano has a case? Bruised is scheduled to be released on Netflix on November 24, 2021.