John Travolta Went off Script in ‘Swordfish’ After Seeing Halle Berry in Lingerie
Halle Berry paired up with X-Men castmate Hugh Jackman and John Travolta in the 2001 thriller Swordfish. Although everyone seemed to get along well, Travolta had a hilarious reaction when he saw his co-star sporting lingerie.
How Halle Berry reacted when John Travolta went off script in ‘Swordfish’
Berry considered Swordfish one of the film roles that helped her explore her sexuality on the big screen. The 2001 heist film saw Berry undressing herself in front of Jackman and Travolta’s characters. This generated a lot of press from the media. There were rumors floating around that she was offered extra money to go nude for the film. However, she insisted that wasn’t the case.
“I did the scene because it showed you that the character was in control of her sexuality and very comfortable with herself,” Berry once said in an interview with Cinema. “The challenge for me was to pull it off and not just sit there naked and looking scared to death like I initially felt.”
Travolta also helped Berry’s possible discomfort during the scene. In the original script, Travolta was supposed to say, “This is friendly” after seeing Berry undressed. But Travolta ended up going off script and ad-libbing another line.
“’Oh MY GOD, just look at that body,’” Travolta said according to a separate interview with Cinema. “’Can we applaud that, please?’”
Everyone laughed at the line, and it was liked so much that the ad-libbed version was kept for the film.
Why Halle Berry felt really good doing ‘Swordfish’
Berry knew what she was getting into when she read the script for the movie. She didn’t consider herself to be the type of actor to undress for the camera for nudity’s sake. But she asserted she was drawn to the part, and was willing to take on the risks that came with doing the role.
“I don’t think nudity is ever necessary. I think you can make every single movie and never show anything and it’s fine. I think it’s a choice you make, and it was a bold choice on my part. But it was written in the script and when I was offered the part, I was told, ‘That’s who this girl is and it’s not negotiable to be taken out,’” she said.
In the end, after overcoming the challenges in the film, Berry found herself embracing the sexual aspect of her character. It was something new for the Oscar-winner at that point in her career.
“For so many years, I said, ‘No, no, no,’ and a lot of it was not being comfortable with myself, being afraid and wondering what people would think. Finally, after the last couple of years of my life, I sort of shed myself of all of those worries and I feel really, really good about it,” she said.
Halle Berry felt ‘Swordfish’ helped her earn her Oscar-winning role in ‘Monster’s Ball’
Swordfish didn’t do too well critically or commercially. But the film might have had a much greater purpose, as it prepped Berry for her Oscar-winning role in Monster’s Ball. The nudity she had to do in Swordfish helped put her in the mindset to do some of the intimate scenes in Monster’s Ball.
“In Swordfish, it was totally gratuitous nudity, and I knew it. But I probably wouldn’t have been able to do the sex scene in Monster’s Ball if I hadn’t shown my breasts in Swordfish,” Berry once told The New York Times.
Still, she asserted that her love scene with Billy Bob Thornton was far from a walk in the park.
”We shot the sex scene on Day 19 of a 21-day shoot. I always say Billy Bob and I dated for three weeks and then we had sex,” she said. “The sex scene scared me completely, but courage comes in strange ways. I look at it now and I think, Who is that girl up there?”
