One of Catwoman’s writers agrees: it was the worst
Black Panther dredges up some lesser memories
Before Iron Man, before Captain America, before Black Panther, before the onslaught of superhero movies that currently fill our multiplexes, there was ... Catwoman.
Not Julie Newmar, not Michelle Pfeiffer, and not Anne Hathaway.
No, the special box- office poison that was 2004’s stand- alone Catwoman film starred Halle Berry, post-Oscar and mid-career slump (which does not seem to have met its end, but that’s another story).
The film was not only a box- office bomb, but was universally panned by criti cs. I t won f our Razzie Awards that year, including Worst Actress for Berry who, in a rare turn of events, showed up at the ceremony to collect her award.
During her speech, she didn’t mince words: “I want to thank Warner Bros. for casting me in this piece- ofs-- t, god awful movie. And the writers, all 20 of them, for thinking this was a good idea. It wasn’t, but thank you. ... I’d like to thank the rest of the cast. To give a really bad performance like mine, you need to have really bad actors.”
Over a decade later, the movie has become a point of discussion once again, thanks to a new superhero film, Black Panther, which features not only a black superhero lead backed by a largely black cast, but black talent writing and directing.
Last week, Michelle Obama tweeted her support for the makers of Black Panther, writing, “Because of you, young people will finally see superheroes that look like them on the big screen. I loved this movie and I know it will inspire people of all backgrounds to dig deep and find the courage to be heroes of their own stories.”
Then, Federalist writer DC McAllister, who has not been a fan of the movie’s success, decided to insert her two cents, replying, “Michelle Obama says it’s about time black kids have a superhero that reflects who they are. Why didn’t we hear this when Halle Berry as Catwoman was released years ago?”
It’s worth noting Catwoman was written, directed, produced and largely starred white people. But even more i mportantly, it was, you know, bad — really bad.
Fortunately, this is when John Rogers, one of several writers behind Catwoman, decided to jump into the conversation. He tweeted at McAllister, “As one of the credited writers of CATWOMAN, I believe I have the authority to say: because it was a s-- t movie dumped by the studio at the end of a style cycle, and had zero cultural relevance either in front of or behind the camera. This is a bad take. Feel shame.”
And there we have it confirmed: Catwoman really was terrible. Case closed.