Halle Berry is legendary in her own right. Her beauty has been the topic of lovely ballads like "Halle Berry (She's Fine)" by Hurricane Chris, and Drake has even rapped that he desires to give her a baby and there is no one that can stop him. She made history as the first black woman to receive an Oscar for Best Actress. And despite a few mishaps during her career like Catwoman and shake-and-go weaves, she's still a certified baddie.
Even now, at 50, she still has some big goals she's looking to add to her resume.
While promoting her new film Kidnap, Halle Berry stopped by the Essence Festival to speak about her experiences in Hollywood as well as those she’s still hoping to gain. What people may not know is that high on that lists of opportunities she's hoping for is the chance to play Davis in a biopic chronicling her evolution and activism over the years.
The Oscar-winning actress has never been shy about her love and admiration for Davis.
“There’s one woman that I’d really like to play before I die,” Berry told Essence Editor-in-Chief Vanessa DeLuca on stage before the crowd. “I’d really love to play Angela Davis.”
Berry mentioned the idea of playing Davis to Jet magazine back in 2011 saying, "I’ll probably never get to play it in my life and I am going to be sad until the day I die, but I really want to play Angela Davis badly. So badly."
Davis, who is now 73, has done work which highlights the intersection of issues like race, gender, prison and politics, dominates throughout black history and she stands as a leading freedom fighter to this day.
"I just think she’s fascinating," Berry added. "And I think I would love to tell a story from her perspective about that time in our history and what it was all about with the Black Panthers.“
In an interview with The Guardian in 2015, she also mentioned her desire to play Davis and the passion she has for her story. "She’s just fascinating," she told them. "The era she lived in, the Black Panthers and all that they stood for, and her connection to it, or not to it. I have a lot of respect for how she lived her life.”
Do we think that Halle Berry could nail the role of an icon like Angela Davis? It wouldn't be her first time playing in a biopic. She portrayed legendary actress Dorothy Dandridge in the TV movie Introducing Dorothy Dandridge. One thing is for sure, she's super passionate about wanting the role of Angela Davis. If Ms. Davis approves, then someone write Halle Berry a script ASAP!