Halle Berry’s Bruised has released its first trailer ahead of its November 24 release on Netflix. As promised, the redemption story is centered upon a former UFC star who is now down and out. When her son unexpectedly comes back into her life, she decides to launch a comeback.
While the trailer definitely hits the “down and out” angle pretty hard, the movie poster, also released today, plays up the ferocity of the fighter Berry portrays.
Bruised is Halle Berry’s first directorial effort, and it is also the first feature sold by screenwriter Michelle Rosenfarb. Hollywood is notorious for its mistreatment of writers, and it is both amazing and refreshing that Berry has put Rosenfarb front and center in both the promotional materials and in production.
The initial drafts of the script had the protagonist as a young, Irish American boxer in Boston. Instead of finding a new writer to adjust the script to suit Berry, Berry collaborated with Rosenfarb—and the UFC—to develop the screenplay to feature an older Black woman who is a mixed martial artist living in New York. Rosenfarb and Berry extensively interviewed women fighters in the UFC to gain a better understanding of their underdog heroine.
Produced by Thunder Road Pictures, the company behind the John Wick movies, Bruised figures to benefit from one of the best practical effects teams in the business, with stellar stunt workers. Valentina Schevchenko, who has heaped praise upon Berry’s work in the Octagon, also looks to bring authenticity to the movie. While the first trailer focuses on the drama, it will be interesting to see if the next brings the action promised by the team behind this fight film.
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