USA: Oscar winners Halle Berry and Benicio Del Toro talk to Reuters about their new film"Things We Lost in the Fire"

Record ID: 751412

  • Title: USA: Oscar winners Halle Berry and Benicio Del Toro talk to Reuters about their new film"Things We Lost in the Fire"
  • Date: 18th October 2007
  • Summary: NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK USA (OCTOBER 6, 2007) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTRESS HALLE BERRY SAYING: "There are only so many great roles that come around for women every year and there are about 100 women like me who really want the part, so it's always about fighting, all of us do. Not everybody admits that they fight, but everybody fights in their own way and tries to put their hat in the ring and be the one chosen. And so I contacted the studio saying that I'd gotten my hands on the script, and they said, 'well it's not meant for someone like you. Probably won't happen but wait until we get a director.' So they got Susanne Bier and I finagled a meeting with Susanna and my luck changed."
  • Embargoed: 2nd November 2007 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Usa
  • Country: USA
  • Reuters ID: LVAE2AMRT9690CLRTB1AIGOHD3WA
  • Story Text: Oscar winners Halle Berry and Benicio Del Toro team up in "Things We Lost in the Fire," a teary story about a heroin junkie and a widow who help each other recover from the loss of a loved one. Berry talks to Reuters about fighting for good roles in Hollywood that aren't meant for ethnic actors and her decision to become a mother, while Del Toro talks about playing Che Guevara in his upcoming films "The Argentine" and "The Guerrilla."
    "Things We Lost in the Fire" is a mix of a tearjerker, junkie-recovery story and odd-couple pairing, that stars Oscar winning actors Halle Berry and Benicio Del Toro, in roles that were likely written for white actors.
    Berry says she fought for the role, which studio representatives told her was "not meant for someone like you."
    Berry then "finagled: a meeting with director Susanne Bier,"
    and she says, "my luck changed."
    The film follows the Burke family, as mother Audrey, played by Berry, and her two children suffer the tragic death of their father, Brian Burke, played by David Duchovny. Throughout the opening scenes Brian appears via flashbacks, which make his actual absence all the more powerful.
    Berry says that portraying a mother influenced her own desire to have children. The actress has recently confirmed that she is pregnant with model beau Gabriel Aubry's child.

    "I wanted to be a mother so badly and I think that's one of the reasons I was drawn to this material, because I desperately wanted that to manifest in my life. And getting to play a mother with two of the most talented, gorgeous little kids just validated that I was meant to be a mother."
    Benicio Del Toro plays opposite Berry as Brian Burke's childhood, drug addicted friend, Jerry. Audrey has never understood her husband's devotion to the lawyer-turned-heroin addict, but she finds herself reaching out and drawn to him none the less.
    Del Toro tried to nail the junkie vibe by studying up on addict behavior. Mostly he says, "you use your imagination. Hopefully, you make it so that someone who has been around it, I don't know, but I hope people that have been around it can look at it and go oh, it's pretty realistic."

    "Things We Lost in the Fire" opens in North American theaters on October 19th.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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