Halle Berry (photo DaleRobinette/CBS)
Halle Berry is beautiful, and she’s also a great actress who has earned the respect of mega-filmmaker Steven Spielberg.
The stunning Oscar-winning actress has starred in many films and has produced some. Now she has turned her attention to television with the new CBS series this summer, Extant, premiering July 9. Steven Spielberg is the executive producer of the science fiction mystery-thriller from his Amblin Television and CBS Television Studios production. Halle Berry also serves as co-executive producer.
Always passionate about what she does Halle sounds like a die-hard Comic-con fan when she starts talking about Spielberg. “Steven is the best to work with. He knows what’s good about supernatural and sci-fi projects. When I got the script [by Mickey Fisher] for Extant it was just amazing. I hadn’t read anything like it. That’s why I’m coming to TV,” she explains.
“I’m always on the lookout for amazing roles and when you see material that contains this strong of auspices, nuance and complexity it compels me to run toward it no matter the medium. For five months [I got] to live with and play this incredibly intelligent and vulnerable woman, and for the remainder of the year I’ll continue to look for other roles that move me as deeply as this one,” says Berry who praises the CBS executives at the top, Nina Tassler and Les Moonves, as “amazing partners” on this project.
Plus she calls working with Steven Spielberg “incredible,” along with his Amblin production team, “whose vision and creativity in storytelling is unparalleled.” She also let it be known in an interview that she believes there is other life in the universe.
Berry says she has certain criterion that must be met before she gets involved with a production nowadays. “The way I choose material has evolved over the years. I look for things that inspire me—things that are different, characters and material that I feel have something to offer. And I look for a challenge.”
For 13 episodes, Extant will tell the tale of an astronaut (Halle Berry) who spends more than a year in space on a solo mission, yet when she returns to earth she discovers she’s pregnant. She struggles to reconnect with her husband (Goran Visnjic of ER fame) and android son, but her experiences in space and at home lead to events that ultimately will change the course of human history. Camryn Manheim, Grace Gummer, Michael O’Neill, Pierce Gagnon, and Hiroyuki Sanada also star.
“I feel as I’ve gotten older, as each year goes by, with each high and low, I finally start to ‘get it.’ I know I will be working until the day I die, but I also have a lot of comfort in knowing that I am starting to ‘get it.’ We are always going to be searching for love. Without love we don’t have life. There’d be no reason to be here,” explains Berry, 47, about what she learned from Extant’s story.
Steven Spielberg is her fan too. The mega-filmmaker reports, “There’s only one Halle Berry and we are incredibly honored that she has chosen Extant to expand her illustrious career. As she does with everything she touches, she will bring a deep authenticity to her role and I very much look forward to working with her.” It seems the feeling is mutual. #
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