Halle Berry has no regrets about telling off X-Men director Bryan Singer.
In a joint interview with her Crime 101 co-stars, Berry told Entertainment Weekly that one of her “greatest days on a set” was when she “got to tell Bryan Singer just where to go and how to get there on the set of X-Men one day.”
Berry starred as Storm in Fox’s original X-Men film series, three out of four of which were directed by Singer. On the set of X2: X-Men United in 2002, she recalled, “Everybody was mad, but they all said to me, ‘Halle, you go tell ‘em,’ because they knew I would,” Berry recalled Friday.
“It’s one of the greatest days on a set, telling someone who was wronging the entire crew, the entire cast, exactly where to go,” she continued. “And then I got on a plane and flew home with my X-Men suit on.”
The Daily Beast has reached out to Singer for comment.
Alan Cumming, who played Nightcrawler in the film, wrote in his 2021 memoir that Berry told the director to “kiss my Black a--” after Singer did not take kindly to her rebuke following several on-set complaints about his behavior.
A 2020 exposé in The Hollywood Reporter detailed behind-the-scenes “tantrums” by the director. A rep for Singer told the publication of the alleged altercation with Berry at the time, “Nothing like that ever happened.”
Still, Berry added Friday, “I’m sorry, that guy deserved it.”
Singer also faced allegations of sexual misconduct, all of which he has denied.
Previous reports say Singer’s use of pain medication became problematic for the cast and crew, who staged an “intervention” that Berry ultimately became the public face of. She told Variety in 2020, “Bryan’s not the easiest dude to work with. I mean, everybody’s heard the stories—I don’t have to repeat them—and heard of his challenges, and what he struggles with.”
She added, “I would sometimes be very angry with him,” and “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,” Berry said. “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.”
The star revealed last week that she is engaged to long-time boyfriend Van Hunt, and will marry for the fourth time. She also announced that she is developing nine new film and television projects that she will both star in and produce.
Crime 101, a thriller from Amazon MGM that also stars Mark Ruffalo and Chris Hemsworth, is out this weekend.
