Halle Berry

“Blue Is the Warmest Color is a French film about two women coming of age. It’s about lesbian love. It’s just one of those movies that, once you see it, it’s unforgettable. And it takes its time, it breathes, it allows the characters to live, so I’m going to put that one in there.”

“Oh, Fantastic Mr. Fox, this is a movie that I love, by Wes Anderson. This movie means so much to me and my family because every Christmas we watch this at least 15 times. It’s good for adults, it’s good for children. And it’s got Meryl Streep’s voice and George Clooney’s voice. And my daughter knows every line of Kristofferson’s – that’s one of the little Fox characters – she knows every line of his. And because of this movie, my kids have found a way to curse in the house with me, because this movie introduces the idea of saying, instead of saying, “What the hell?” or, “What the F?” They say, “What the cuss?” So now my kids and I go around the house saying, “What the cuss? What the cuss? Are you crazy? What the cuss?” And it always reminds us. And we named our kitty Bandit after Kristofferson and his bandit outfit, which you will see if you watch this movie.”

“Love Jones. This is a movie that has two of my dear friends in it, Larenz Tate and Nia Long. In this movie, they play characters Darius and Nina, and it’s set in Chicago and the city is sexy, it’s kind of a character of its own. It’s got lots of poetry and jazz and it’s about how these two characters come together through that medium and all the challenges that they face. So if you want a good date night and you want to experience Black love at its finest. It’s become a cult classic.”

“Oh my God, Bringing Up Baby. This is one of my favorites. This is Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant, directed by Howard Hawks, and this is a movie I saw over and over and over in my childhood. It has such a fast-paced comedy that is really fun to watch and I know it’s very hard to do because I’ve tried to do this, and trust me when I tell you, this kind of comedy and physical comedy and intellectual comedy is really, really hard, and I had so much respect for this as a kid growing up and this movie is one of the movies that really made me want to become an actor.”

“Claudine. This is a favorite of mine too. Two of my all-time favorite actors are in this movie: James Earl Jones and Diahann Carroll. I’ve been such a big fan of Diahann Carroll my whole life. She was a mentor of mine. And again, this is one of those movies where we get to see Black performers living their slice of life. For me, as a young girl growing up, these weren’t movies that I saw very much so when I got to see myself reflected and I got to see my culture reflected, they were big moments in my life. And Diahann Carroll also was Oscar-nominated for this performance and, if you ask me, she should have won. She should have been– along with Dorothy Dandridge, they should have an Oscar far before I ever had an Oscar, and it’s heartbreaking that they did not.”

“Oh, Parasite. Also, another one of my favorites. It’s a movie about the haves and the have-nots, and how a family sort of infiltrates a rich family, and there’s one scene that lives in my brain rent free, when the whole family, the disenfranchised family, ends up under the table of the rich family and then, because the rich family is coming home and they find themselves stuck under the table and it is one of those scenes where you are just sitting… you are holding your breath and you’re hoping that this doesn’t all go awry. It won all the awards and… rightfully so.”

“Malcolm X. Spike Lee and Denzel, always did an amazing job.”

“Love & Basketball. Another one of my favorites. Gina Prince-Bythewood directed this. As a Black woman, this was huge for me, to see a Black woman direct a film. She was doing this before this was allowed to be done, so she was paving that way for us, as Black women in cinema and as directors. This dared me to dream that I could too one day direct my first film, which I did, and she was a huge inspiration for me to do that, so it’s… it’s one of those feel-good movies, that you just don’t… You want to pick that up.”

“Cure, this is what I want to see. I’m a big, huge fan of horror and it’s a Japanese horror film that I’ve heard about, and so I’m going to take this one because I want to see what this is about.”

“For my last pick, I’m going to see what the Closet feeds me. What am I drawn to? This feels like tarot cards. What should I see? Okay. Boom. Rebecca. I have never seen this Alfred Hitchcock movie, and, because I love the horror genre, I also love suspense, so that’s going to be good. I’m going to take it.”