Halle Berry Recalls Clashing With Controversial Director Bryan Singer on 'X-Men' Set

In cover story for 'Variety,' Halle Berry recalls, among many other things, clashing with director Bryan Singer while filming the 'X-Men' movies.

Halle Berry
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Image via Getty/Andreas Rentz

Halle Berry

On Tuesday a new anecdote about what it's like to work with Bryan Singer bubbled to the surface via a Variety cover story on Halle Berry. As you may remember, the two worked together on several early 2000s X-Men movies in which Singer directed and Berry portrayed Storm. 

Note that Singer has had multiple sexual assault accusations that have been mounted against him by men who were underage when said assaults were alleged to have taken place. Singer has denied those claims. 

“Bryan’s not the easiest dude to work with,” Berry first said on the subject of her experiences with the director. “I mean, everybody’s heard the stories—I don’t have to repeat them—and heard of his challenges, and what he struggles with.”

“I would sometimes be very angry with him,” she continued. “I got into a few fights with him, said a few cuss words out of sheer frustration. When I work, I’m serious about that. And when that gets compromised, I get a little nutty. But at the same time, I have a lot of compassion for people who are struggling with whatever they’re struggling with, and Bryan struggles.”

Berry went on to talk about a specific experience, which occurred while filming in the brutal Canadian cold. 

“Sometimes, because of whatever he’s struggling with, he just didn’t always feel present,” Berry went on. “He didn’t feel there. And we’re outside in our little X-Men stage freezing our ass off in Banff, Canada, with subzero weather and he’s not focusing. And we’re freezing. You might get a little mad.”

This latest Singer story comes in the same year that Olivia Munn, who was Psylocke in the X-Men cinematic universe, said Singer was MIA on the set of X-Men: Apocalypse for a significant period of time. This presented an issue because, again, he was the director. That shoot was also taking place in Canada, however Singer (according to Munn) left to go back to Los Angeles for about a week-and-a-half mid-production. 

“Instead of going to a doctor in Montreal, which is a very high-level, working city, he said he had to go to L.A.,” Munn said. “And he was gone for about 10 days is my recollection. And he said, ‘Continue. Keep filming.’ We’d be on set, I remember there’s a big scene that we’d have, and we’d come back from lunch and then one of Bryan’s assistants would come up and show us a cell phone with a text message on it.”

Similarly, Singer was fired with just a few weeks left in the production of Bohemian Rhapsody after he failed to return to set following a break in filming. That was reported to be due to a family health issue, but there were also conflicting reports where it was stated that the film's crew and star, Rami Malek, had grown sick of Singer's behavior on set.  

This all also comes in addition to a previous X2 anecdote that was publicized in which it was said that Singer almost lost the entire cast after they revolted following a botched stunt that left Hugh Jackman (Wolverine) bloodied. Lots of drama.

Anyway, if you want to read more on Berry's Variety cover story click this link.

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