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Halle Berry is jumping in the octagon in the upcoming movie Bruised. The 55-year-old Oscar winner is also making her directorial debut in the sports drama. The film will be premiering on Netflix this November, and fans of the star can watch her stunning performance in the newly released trailer.
Halle plays the role of Jackie Justice, a retired mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter who wants to return to the arena. The teaser shows Justice reuniting with the son (Danny Boyd, Jr.) she gave up as an infant after his father passed away.
Berry’s Jackie wants another chance in the sport she had walked away from years ago and started going into underground fights. According to the movie’s description, “Jackie Justice is coaxed into a brutal underground fight by her manager and boyfriend Desi (Adan Canto) and grabs the attention of a fight league promoter (Shamier Anderson) who promises Jackie a life back in the octagon.”
“We haven’t seen an African American woman in this way in a movie,” Berry told The New York Times in September. “I’m from Cleveland, Ohio. I am salt of the earth; it’s a world I know and is intrinsic to who I am. If I’m going to get to tell a story, I’m going to make it from a point of view that I know. I thought that was a very good way for me to start.”
Bruised also stars Adriane Lenox, Sheila Atim, Valentina Shevchenko, Lela Loren, Nikolai Nikolaef, Shamier Anderson, and Stephen McKinley Henderson.
Berry spent months transforming her body for the film. In 2019, she took social media to share her tones abs. “There‘s no better feeling than setting a goal and smashing it,” she wrote. “One of my goals for #BruisedTheMovie? Ripped Abs - and today? I finally got them, and it feels unbelievable!”
Bruised premieres in theaters on November 17 and on Netflix on November 24. Watch the trailer below.