We’ve all heard the stories about people getting hurt in action films, like Tom Cruise breaking his ankle as he leaped across the tops of two buildings in “Mission: Impossible – Fallout.” Part of the lore of those kinds of mishaps is that they often get left in the movie as a monument to the pain the person suffered.
In the case of Halle Berry, her injury occurred before the cameras even started rolling. Speaking with Extra around the film’s release, she revealed that she “broke three ribs when [she] was rehearsing for ‘John Wick.'” Broken ribs are injuries I hope to never sustain in my own life, as the thought of not having any real way to treat it but waiting through the pain seems like an absolute nightmare.
Berry took the injury in stride, though. “It’s like a badge of honor for me, we don’t know how it happened … I worked for a little while with broken ribs until I could no longer do it,” she added. Once she realized the extent of her injury, she feared she would have to be replaced, but Berry credits director Chad Stahelski for waiting things out until she was able to get back on the proverbial horse and do the work.
In Hollywood, where time is money, that is truly a blessing. But if you’re going to have the determination and grit to be in a “John Wick” film alongside action film legend Keanu Reeves, who Berry “didn’t want to disappoint,” all I can do is applaud your work. And Halle Berry more than holds her own in “John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum,” contributing to what I believe to be the best film of the series. I just wish they brought her back for “Chapter 4.”
