The HalleWOOD Award - Executive Decision

Ladies and Gentlemen: I’d like to introduce….   

Ms. Halle Berry… the latest winner of that award of dubious distinction… the WOOD AWARD for that certain scene… that certain overreaching, wooden scene.

The award is presented to Ms. Berry in large part, due to the failure to optimally and properly use her voice. This was due to lack of skill and/or lack of commitment to character. 

It was at the end (Chapter 34), when novice pilot Dr. Grant (Kurt Russell) was taking over piloting of the plane. He seeks assistance from our feisty flight attendant, Jean. Dr. Grant instructs Jean to locate the flight manual.

It is an emotional and riveting scene, since the plane is on the verge of crashing and Dr. Grant is desperately trying to gain control of the out-of-control aircraft. He is terrified. She is terrified.

So, she locates the book and she finds the pages he asks her to find and she reads the flight instructions to him.

I was just laughing. The problem with the scene was that I was acutely aware of the fact that Halle Berry was an actor playing a role, pretending to be a terrified flight attendant. Kurt Russell, on the other hand -– his performance was seamless since, for those moments, I really thought he was an airline pilot under duress, struggling to land a plane.

Berry’s voice and tone was without realism. The portrayal was not credible. Some of her lines and her facial expressions and physical movements -- these reactions were forced. They were fake.

How should she have done the scene? HelifIknow. She should have done it in a manner whereby anyone watching her could feel and believe that Jean was experiencing the fact that death was looming before her.

At the end of the day, I think it had to do with trust; I think Berry didn’t trust her character to experience this, and she didn’t allow Jean to experience this. Instead, she herself, decided how an audience expects to see fear. And she played the scene accordingly.

Congratulations, Hally Berry!

Comments

[aulelia]

LMAO @ this post. this is hilarious. The Black Actor, your Halle posts are brilliant. It was a great blog series. I can think of a worse wooden actor than Halle who deserves the award more. His initials are a V & D aka Vin Diesel!!

[theblackactor.com]

@ Aulelia

LOL. Thanks, Aulelia. I almost forgot about Vin Diesel. LOL.