Time moves fast as we remember that it’s been 20 years since Halle Berry was among the ranks of live-action Catwoman actresses. However, the character of Patience Phillips/Catwoman became the antihero we hate to love, with the critics not reacting very fondly to the superhero movie. Despite the haters, Berry remarked after 20 years that she loved working on Catwoman and explained why the movie is “so vindicating” to her.
During the 25th Golden Raspberry Awards, Catwoman got seven nominations and won three of them, including Worst Picture and Worst Actress. Halle Berry iconically accepted her Worst Actress Award by thanking Warner Bros. for putting her in what she called “a piece of shit, god-awful movie.” But the Monster’s Ball actress admitted that she hated on it only because the critics did. 20 years later, while talking about the panned movie on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Berry shared positive feelings about Catwoman despite what the haters said:
I loved it. I mean, it got panned, you know the critics said it sucked balls… and balls aren’t that bad. But anyway [laughs]. What I’m happy about is the children have found it now on the Internet and the kids love it.
Catwoman indeed has more fans now than when it came out. When Matt Reeves’ The Batman trailer dropped and introduced Zoë Kravitz's version of the cat-like role, fans reminisced on the 2004 movie, loving what Halle Berry brought to her performance. The Oscar winner also pointed out fans loved the movie years later when rapper Saweetie wore her own costume of the feline antihero for Halloween. Even one fan was surprised to find out that everyone “hated” the movie when it was their favorite movie growing up. It shows that people may have bones to pick about the standalone Catwoman film as a whole, but we can’t deny that Berry knew how to bring out her claws in the memorable DC role.
After people hated on Catwoman for so long, it must be a relief for Halle Berry now to have some fans of the box office-flopped film. She revealed to Jimmy Fallon how “vindicating” the positive reactions have been two decades later:
It’s so vindicating, right, because now they’re saying it’s cool, and what the heck was everyone’s problem with it. So, like, I’m so brat now.
With Halle Berry calling herself a “brat” now, Jimmy Fallon hilariously gave her the new superhero name “Bratwoman!” Maybe if her wish of redoing Catwoman comes true, she can have “Bratwoman” stand strong on her director’s chair. After Berry made her directorial debut with Netflix’s Bruised, playing the DC character once upon a time shows she of all people would know what to do to improve her throwback role. The Call actress did recall feeling Catwoman was “a bit soft” saving women from corrupt face cream. I can see what she means as a kickass character should have a mission where the stakes are a lot higher than that.
20 years later, Halle Berry is loving her Catwoman movie despite all of the haters who thought "it sucked balls" and finds it “so vindicating” how cool it is now. With a new generation getting a taste of the leather-wearing feline-themed antihero, it looks like the once-hated movie is getting a fresh new lens. Make sure to see Berry’s new movie The Union co-starring Mark Wahlberg with your Netflix subscription.
