The second installment in our X3 special centers on the american actress Halle Berry, who plays Aurora Munroe alias Storm in Brett Ratner’s X-Men 3: The Last Stand which opens in cinemas this week. Halle Berry won an Academy Award for her role in Monster’s Ball (2001) and has also been in films such as Bulworth, Why Do Fools Fall In Love, Swordfish, 007: Die Another Day, Gothika and Catwoman. Berry as Storm has been an integral part of the X-Men series since the release of the first film in 2000. X-Men 3: The Last Stand sees her character in her most prominent appearance yet.

Halle Berry (Ororo Munroe/Storm)

…on her role
I think that Storm definitely has a point of view this time around. I think that was lacking in the other two. It was a big ensemble cast and she was very much a part of that, but she never really had a very clear point of view. This time you know exactly where she stands, you know what she’s fighting for, and you have a better understanding of how passionate she is about what she believes in.

…on the feeling of being part of the film’s action
She’s worn a cape for three movies now, and finally in this movie she gets to fly and be part of the action and the fighting. I’ve always wanted to do the combat scenes aswell, because in the comic books she does. And so this time Storm is really a part of the action of the movie.

…on the stunt scenes
I didn’t have a lot of training for it. You go on wires, you take your brave pills and you go up there, and you just trust Simon Crane, our stunt coordinator who is wonderful, so you just put your trust in his hands and you go up there and go for it. And I got to do most of my stunts on this, which I always love to do.

…on the story
What this story is all about is: if you’re a mutant, should you take a cure? That’s basically a one-liner on what it’s about. And if you had the opportunity to cure yourself, would you? And why would you? And this implies to me that we are admitting then, if we take this cure, that something is wrong with us. And that we’re not whole individuals and worthy of being part of the society the way we are. And to take the cure would totally send the wrong message, in my opinion. Because what I think makes all the mutants and X-Men so beautiful and makes people so beautiful is that we’re all different with our own idiosyncracies.

…on the cure
The real villain in this is the looming question of the cure. I wouldn’t say that it’s a character, I think you do meet new villanous characters, more characters that are part of the Brotherhood this time around. But the real villain is the social question. And I think that’s a hard villain to fight because it’s very subjective - what’s right and what’s wrong? What’s right to one person is wrong to someone else. So that’s a villain that’s is very hard to fight, which makes this X-Men movie so interesting and very compelling.

…on the battle
My character opposes the cure. She’s struggling to really understand why someone would want to change who they are. In the country where she comes from she’s a goddess, she’s revered. Her powers and gifts make her special and someone to be admired. And in this country, in this world in which she is living, she’s now shunned because of those things. She’s struggling with that question we are all struggling with: who are we really? And are we really okay the way we are? And are we okay with the way people perceive us?

Be sure to check back daily to find out what the likes of Ian McKellen (Magneto), Famke Janssen (Jean Grey), Anna Paquin (Rogue), Ben Foster (Angel), Kelsey Grammer (Beast), James Marsden (Cyclops), Patrick Stewart (Professor X) and director Brett Ratner have to share about X-Men 3.

Official film synopsis: In X-MEN: THE LAST STAND, the final chapter in the “X-Men” motion picture trilogy, a “cure” for mutancy threatens to alter the course of history. For the first time, mutants have a choice: retain their uniqueness, though it isolates and alienates them, or give up their powers and become human. The opposing viewpoints of mutant leaders Charles Xavier, who preaches tolerance, and Magneto, who believes in the survival of the fittest, are put to the ultimate test - triggering the war to end all wars.

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