Actress/Director Halle Berry Taps Into Her Acting Instincts and Raw Authenticity for Directorial Debut, ‘Bruised’

Awards Daily talks to Academy Award-winning actress Halle Berry about her directorial debut, Bruised.

You’d think for a directorial debut, you’d make it easy on yourself as a first-time director. But actress-turned-director Halle Berry’s highly ambitious film Bruised on Netflix tackles a multitude of themes (rape, trauma, LGBTQ) and challenges (shooting an MMA fight scene, directing a child actor) that would have a seasoned director sweating.

“I didn’t intend on directing this,” says Berry, who had originally wanted to venture into directing with a short film. “But it had to be this way. I had a passion to do this.”

In Bruised, Berry (who happens to be a real-life MMA fan) plays Jackie, a fighter who ended her career in disgrace years prior when she jumped out of the cage in the middle of a match. When the son (Danny Boyd, Jr.) she lost custody of shows up on her doorstep, she has a new reason to get back into the ring.

Similarly, Bruised landed on Berry’s doorstep when Blake Lively passed on the original script (about an Irish twentysomething fighter). Berry tweaked the story to include a middle-aged Black protagonist, and during the pre-production process, discovered the best way to tell the story she wanted to tell was to do it herself.

Berry’s raw visual style is apparent in the first scene we see of Jackie, when she’s awkwardly changing while a teenage boy is secretly filming her (which she clocks him for). We’ve never seen Berry like this before, so vulnerable and real, something that the director found liberating when it came to being behind the camera lens.

“It was terrifying and freeing. Any director will tell you there’s a lot of terror. Everything was new. I was in control, and while it was freeing and felt very empowering, it was terrifying.”

One thing that Berry did have control over was her performance, something she could always rely on as a director. Over the course of two scenes, Berry builds her character’s panic attack from its beginning to an alarming crescendo in a restaurant bathroom.

“Acting very much felt like my comfort place [during the filming process], that I felt like I had full command of. I trained for two years for this role and I really understood the character and did all the work. It did take some of the pressure off.”

But of course, there were other pressures, like directing 11-year-old actor Danny Boyd, Jr., who ends up delivering one of the film’s most affecting performances despite uttering just one line.

“He’s amazing,” says Berry. “He’s a gifted listener. Acting is really a lot of listening. My direction to him was to listen and have a reaction about what you’re hearing, because he’s hearing some disturbing things. I didn’t want to put too many thoughts into his head. I just told him to listen and stay present.”

Plus, in addition to guiding a unique kind of actor and performance, she also had to film a climactic fight scene that she also happened to be in, which ended up being a blessing to Berry.

“That was a four-day fight scene. I did all of my own fighting as did Valentina [Shevchenko], and because we did our own stunt work, I had the freedom to put the camera anywhere I wanted to. I learned that from Chad Stahelski on John Wick. I could do whatever I wanted.”

Over the course of the film, Jackie learns that she can do and love whoever she wants, which includes her trainer Bobbi/Buddhakan (played by the ethereal Sheila Atim). Juxtaposed against her relationship with ex-boyfriend/manager Desi (Adan Canto), Bobbi is a breath of fresh air and an important element to Jackie’s growth.

“We often find ourselves in relationships where we’re in it out of real necessity. Desi and Jackie were stuck in dysfunction. They were dysfunctionally functioning. Bobbi provided her with healing. I think that was a first for Jackie [to be with a woman], but it could have been a man. She just needed to be loved.”

And while Jackie makes a devastating choice when it comes to Bobbi, if you look closely, it’s an act of love, even if some Bruised fans have told Berry otherwise.

“I love that you got it!” laughs Berry, while discussing this scene. “The most loving thing you can do is to be honest in the moment.”

Bruised is streaming on Netflix.