Halle Berry inks multi-picture deal with Netflix as ‘Bruised’ hits No. 1
With her directorial debut hitting top streaming numbers, Berry and the company "look forward to telling more stories together."
Fresh off the heels of her directorial debut, Academy Award-winning actress Halle Berry has inked a multi-picture partnership with streaming giant Netflix.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Bruised hit No. 1 in the U.S. on the streaming service during its first week and No. 2 globally. It was streamed for more than 47 million hours in the first five days of its release.
The multihyphenate star said of the partnership: “The Netflix team has not only been collaborative and creative, but extremely passionate and a delight to work with. I am beyond grateful for the partnership and look forward to telling more stories together.”
“There are few people with a career like Halle Berry.” said Scott Stuber, who is head of film for the streaming company. “She’s an award-winning actress, producer and as audiences saw this past week, she’s an incredible director.”
“We’re thrilled to be in her corner as she delivers power in front of and behind the camera in Bruised, ” he continued, “and look forward to telling more stories together.”
The feature film, in which she stars and also directs, casts Berry, 55, as Jackie Justice, an over-the-hill MMA fighter who revisits her athletic career when her young son comes back into her life.
Last month, Berry told Reuters that in training for Bruised, she “knew that I would spend more time, more energy, more hours working on something than I’d ever worked on in my entire career.”
“It proved to be true,” she said. “It was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done.”
According to Entertainment Weekly, Berry’s day began with two-hour conditioning sessions at 7:45 a.m., followed by mobility training and combat prep. Her trainer, Peter Lee Thomas, said that sometimes he would put her through a Navy SEAL-inspired session, featuring a 500-rep challenge with squats, pull-ups and knee raises, bookended by a one-mile run.
“I do it because I know when she’s on set, toe-to-toe with a pro fighter, she has to go the distance,” Thomas said.
The training appears to have paid off. Critics have saluted Berry’s performance.
The Hollywood Reporter says Berry has two upcoming Netflix features: a sci-fi title The Mothership and an action film Our Man From Jersey, in which she stars alongside Mark Wahlberg. Berry will next appear in Moonfall from director Roland Emmerich.
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