Halle Berry shared a behind-the-scenes look at her full-body transformation into her character in Never Let Go, which included some (fake) overgrown armpit hair.
“Momma in the making 🎥 One of the most complex characters I’ve had the pleasure of embodying. #NeverLetGo is in theaters everywhere!” Berry, 58, captioned a post via Instagram on Saturday, September 28, wherein she showed off her time transforming into the film’s main character, simply named Momma, who has been living relatively unkempt in a post-apocalyptic environment.
In one video, the actress raises one of her arms to show off her prosthetic hairy pits to the camera, which had been applied by makeup artist Norma Patton-Lowin, who appears in the clip as well. Berry asks Patton-Lowin, “What did you do?” as the two women laugh together over Berry’s armpits, as well as her fake overgrown eyebrows and the random assortment of haphazard tattoos worn by her character in Never Let Go — all cosmetic for Berry, of course.
Per the official plot, Never Let Go is a horror film and psychological thriller that follows a mother and her twin sons, played by Percy Daggs IV and Anthony B. Jenkins, as they attempt to survive an evil that has taken over the world.
Berry attended the premiere of Never Let Go in New York City earlier this month, where she stunned on the red carpet in a glittering orange, gold and brown Tamara Ralph dress.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter published on Tuesday, September 24, Berry discussed what initially drew her to Never Let Go, saying she was “wildly intrigued” by the role of Momma and the script.
“When I read [the script], it was kind of like the first time I read A Quiet Place,” she told the outlet. “I actually read that before they made it, and I thought, ‘Wow, this is crazy. I want to see this movie.’ So that’s how I felt when I read Never Let Go.”
She continued, “I thought, ‘I want to see what life would be like for a mother who’s raising two kids and never leaving this house in a forest.’ It just captured my imagination. I read it with question after question after question, and after I got done reading, I thought, “I have to do this. I have to find a way to bring this to the screen.”
Never Let Go was released in theaters on September 20.