Oscar winner Halle Berry says she confronted director Bryan Singer during production of X2: X-Men United after colleagues urged her to speak for a cast and crew they felt were being mistreated on set. Berry, discussing workplace power dynamics while promoting her new film Crime 101, described the confrontation as one of her best days at work and said Singer “deserved it,” recalling that people around her were angry and wanted a direct message delivered.
Berry’s recollection revived a story that has circulated for years among former collaborators, including Alan Cumming, who wrote in his memoir that the cast staged an intervention and that Berry snapped after Singer lashed out, using a blunt insult. In the same reporting, a representative for Singer denied the exchange occurred, saying “Nothing like that ever happened.”
The moment lands inside a longer public record of complaints about Singer that split into two lanes: accounts of difficult, erratic behavior during productions and separate, more serious allegations of sexual misconduct that have followed him for decades. A 2019 investigation in The Atlantic collected allegations from multiple accusers and described how claims persisted across years as Singer’s career advanced; Singer has denied wrongdoing.
For many in Hollywood, Berry’s comments also point to how much on-set culture has changed since the early 2000s, with cast and crew more willing to document problems and studios more sensitive to reputational risk. Hugh Jackman has previously characterized the Singer question as “complicated,” while suggesting some conduct common in that era would not be tolerated now.
