Halle Berry

Halle Berry is no stranger to the psychological thriller, having once played a shrink-turned-amnesiac mental patient in Gothika (2003). With Perfect Stranger, the Oscar, Emmy and Golden Globe-winner revisits the genre as an investigative journalist who adopts a fake identity in order to solve her best friend's murder. Here she talks about this latest picture, a multi-layered mystery which co-stars Bruce Willis as the prime suspect and Giovanni Ribisi as the colleague/sidekick who has a secret crush on her.

The Perfect Stranger Interview
with Kam Williams

Kam Williams (KW): How would you describe Perfect Stranger?

Halle Berry (HB): There are dangers everywhere. In the beginning of the movie, a murder occurs. And somebody did it. Somebody among us. Somebody that you see on screen in this movie committed a murder. So, there's danger everywhere you look, and you don't know who did it, and so you don't know if they’ll strike again. You don't know when they’ll strike again. You don't know who's going to solve it, or even if it's going to be solved. So, there's an element of mystery and danger from beginning to end, I think till the very last scene of the movie, also pretty shocking. There are some moments we filmed that are pretty shocking. I read them on the pages one way, but we filmed them in a way that was surprisingly shocking to even those of us involved. You never know what's going to happen when you turn the camera on, sometimes.

KW: What was it like acting opposite Bruce Willis?

HB: He was really, really wonderful in this movie. He's perfectly cast [as advertising tycoon Harrison Hill]. He had a real handle on who this guy was and what motivated him. He's wonderful in the movie.

KW: How about your other co-star, Giovanni Ribisi?

HB: Giovanni's very cerebral, and he's very talented. He's the kind of actor that wants to dig deeper and deeper and deeper and deeper and understand layer after layer. I really respect that about him. He's always thinking about the character and trying to make the connections more real, not only for himself. And in doing that he makes it real for those around him, too.

KW: Every character seems to be hiding a big secret here, so would you say that the movie is delivering some sort of message about secrecy?

HB: It's staggering what someone will do, or can do. I think this movie sort of highlights that. And the characters are sort of intertwined, and they intersect in a way which makes them all very much alike, but at the same time very different. But they all have secrets. They’re all hiding something. They’re all pretending to be not exactly who they are all the time, and that makes them all connected in a weird way, and makes them kind of the same in a weird way.
 

 

Related Links

Halle Berry - The Perfect Stranger Interview with Kam Williams
http://aalbc.com/reviews/perfect_strangerInterview.htm

Halle Berry - The X-Men 3 Interview with Kam Williams
http://aalbc.com/reviews/the_xmen_3_interview.htm

More About Halle Berry
http://aalbc.com/reviews/halle_berry.htm