‘Catwoman’ star Halle Berry reflects on Razzies speech for Worst Actress (exclusive)

Halle Berry has broken several barriers in Hollywood, from becoming the first Black woman to win Best Actress at the Oscars to being the first Black woman to lead a solo DC Comics superhero movie in 2004’s Catwoman. The latter achievement also led to another industry first; in February 2005, Berry became the biggest celebrity to date to show up and collect her Razzie Award for Worst Actress (with her previously won Oscar in hand, mind you). Now, 20 years later, the icon tells Entertainment Weekly why she felt compelled to attend the ceremony, and how the negativity impacted her going forward.

“The studio knew what I was going to do. I told them I wanted to take the piss out of it and laugh at it. I don’t think it’s a God-awful film, but I was at the Razzies, so I had to do what they do; I s— on it because they s— on it! I tried to be one of them,” Berry tells EW in an oral history interview for the film’s 20th anniversary. “I’d written [my speech] within an inch of my life. I put a lot of thought into how I could do it in a fun way and let everyone know that I didn’t take it that seriously. You can never take away my Oscar, no matter how bad you bash me! If you say I earned this, alright, I’ll take this, too. You accept the wonderful things people say, and accept when they don’t say wonderful things.”

Despite the movie’s overwhelmingly negative reception and poor box office returns, Berry maintains that she had a blast making the movie, and feels that the experience changed her as a person because of the relationships she made on the set.

The 57-year-old adds that she didn’t think the film deserved the negative reviews critics lobbed at it back in 2004 and appreciates that a new, younger generation has discovered the film — and, she says, regularly approaches her with praise for the project.

“I knew how much hard work went into it, not only on my part but on everybody’s part. You never set out to make something critics decide to pan,” Berry observes, noting that she trained herself to react to her daily life as a cat for months in anticipation of playing the role. “I marveled at the fact that we did it. I got to see my version of Catwoman. I didn’t have any negative feelings.”

The actress feels that trekking through viewer ire at the time made her stronger, though she still harbors some pain over the ordeal.

“I didn’t love [the backlash]. Being a Black woman, I’m used to carrying negativity on my back, fighting, being a fish swimming upstream by myself. I’m used to defying stereotypes and making a way out of no way. I didn’t want to be casual about it, but I went and collected that Razzie, laughed at myself, and kept it moving,” she remembers. “It didn’t derail me, because I’ve fought as a Black woman my whole life. A little bad publicity about a movie? I didn’t love it, but it wasn’t going to stop my world or derail me from doing what I love to do.”

Berry shocked the industry by attending the Razzies in 2005 and playfully lambasted both Catwoman and Warner Bros. in her hilarious speech.

After Berry took the stage at the event, she started her speech with affected tears, referencing her emotional reaction to winning the Oscar for Monster’s Ball at the 2002 Academy Awards.

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“No, I don’t have to give this back. It’s got my name on it,” Berry said at the time, holding her Oscar in one hand and the Razzie in another. “But, wow, you know, I’ve got so many people to thank because you don’t win a Razzie without a lot of help from a lot of people, so please indulge me and just let me go through this. First of all, I want to thank Warner Bros. Thank you for putting me in a piece of s—, God-awful movie. You know, it was just what my career needed, you know? I was at the top, and Catwoman just plummeted me to the bottom. Love it!”

Read EW’s full oral history of Catwoman with Berry, director Pitof, producer Di Novi, and screenwriter Brancato.