Halle Berry proved she’s a badass on film and in real life. The Oscar winner makes her directorial debut in Netflix’s “Bruised,” where she portrays MMA fighter Jackie Justice.
Berry, who turns 55 Saturday, revealed to Entertainment Weekly that she broke two ribs on the first day filming the action flick — and refused to stop production because of it.
“Bruised” stunt coordinator Eric Brown also told the publication that the “Monster’s Ball” star’s injury was a major one. “[It was] kind of a crazy injury,” Brown said. “But that was just her intensity … Halle’s a special case. I’ve worked with tons of actors, and almost none of them have that kind of work ethic.”
Berry also fractured her ribs during the shooting of 2019’s “John Wick: Chapter 3 — Parabellum.”
“I told the director about it, they told the insurance. We had to shut down for months and it was a big ordeal,” Berry said. “On this, because it was an independent movie, we didn’t have a big budget. The director in me said, ‘I didn’t come this far and work this hard to go home.’ “
The role of Jackie Justice was originally written for “Gossip Girl” actress Blake Lively and was set to be directed by Nick Cassavetes.
After Berry took the director’s chair, the cast spent five weeks in late 2019 in Newark, New Jersey, shooting “Bruised.”
Berry also gave some insight into directing her first feature film to EW. “It was important to me that we make all the characters fractured and broken,” the “X-Men” star said. “Not making anybody bad or good but all shades of gray, all bruised in their way, and all fighting for their own kind of redemption and their own way of fighting to survive their circumstance.”
“I thought it was largely enough for one person to do, to take on this challenge of fighting and learning all these martial arts and playing that role,” Berry said, of stepping into the roles of both the actor and the director. “So I didn’t think I would be directing myself in my debut, ever … Initially, I think it did sound crazy to everybody.”
“Bruised” will premiere on Netflix Nov. 24.