One reason we’re excited for Bryan Singer’s X-Men: Apocalypse is because the sequel gives new actors the chance to step into familiar roles that have been played by iconic performers over the years. We’re getting younger versions of Cyclops, Jean Grey, Nightcrawler and Storm – X-Men who were part of Singer’s first few X-Men movies, and are getting a unique opportunity to reset because of the events of X-Men: Days of Future Past. That doesn’t mean that the past wants to help the present, however. Sometimes, the past just wants to move on. Need a brush up on everything that happened in the X-Men saga prior to Apocalypse? We have you covered, so just click here.
Or so it seems, for when Alexandra Shipp, the new Storm, reached out to Halle Berry, the original Storm, for some superhero advice, she reportedly didn’t get a reply. Shipp shares this anecdote with Yahoo Movies, but quickly defends Berry and even shoulders some of the blame for HOW she might have reached out and asked for assistance. Word of advice? Don’t sound like a crazy person:
I reached out to her. You know, Halle’s got her show and her family and stuff. So I understand, she’s got her thing going on. Also, I think that my email might have scared her because it was a lot of word vomit. Like, ‘Oh, my God, I love you, you’re so amazing. What does your hair smell like? What perfume do you wear? If you had a favorite deodorant scent, what would it be?’
Yeah, we can see why Halle Berry might have hit delete on that email… if her people even let it through. Even still, I’m not sure what Berry could have told Alexandra Shipp about playing Storm that isn’t already on the screen. Berry played the weather-controlling mutant in numerous X-Men films, even giving a small cameo role to Days of Future Past. And if Shipp really wanted to know the proper way to play Storm, she could have referenced the comic books, where Ororo Munroe has been gracing the pages of Marvel’s superhero stories since May 1975. Isn’t that a better inspiration?
All of the being said, Alexandra Shipp explained to Yahoo that it was important for her NOT to turn this Storm into a Halle Berry impersonation, summarizing:
I was like, ‘All right, hold on. People aren’t going to want to see you be Halle Berry. Otherwise they’re going to want Halle, you know? You got to find your own Storm. You got to find who you think Storm is in these moments and in this time in her life.’
Did she succeed? We can find out when X-Men: Apocalypse hits theaters on May 27, with Alexandra Shipp as Storm, one of the Four Horsemen of the new Apocalypse (Oscar Isaac).
