USA Today

With Catwoman finally dead and buried under six feet of kitty litter, Halle Berry is ready to get serious again in a TV flick.

Halle Berry is serious again in Oprah Winfrey Presents: Their Eyes Were Watching God (The TV movie, based on the popular Zora Neale Hurston novel could land Berry back on an award show stage, and we don’t mean the Razzies). Berry’s resurrection began last Saturday, when the 38-year-old Oscar winner helped euthanize her Cat-astophe for good by attending those dubious awards, where Catwoman earned Berry the trophy for worst actress of the year. Meowww!

During Watching God premiere on March 2 , executive producer Oprah Winfrey admitted she caught Berry in Catwoman and felt “it wasn’t her best choice.” But she applauded the actress’s bold move to face her critics at the Razzies. “That was the best decision ever,” said Winfrey. “Now nobody can say another darn thing. I’d like to say I told her to do it.” Berry’s decision to attend the Razzies was a no-brainer. “The day I heard I won,” she recalled, “I thought, ‘Oh, great! I’m going to get a nice dress and pick it up myself!’” While friends and

confidants advised her against it, Berry “never had a second thought about going and making fun of those who made fun of me. It was wonderful. Life is eternal new beginnings.” She hasn’t yet received her Razzie because she gave it back to her presenters, requesting they have it engraved. Once she gets it back, the small golden berry probably will land on Berry’s kitchen table.

Berry and Winfrey were at the Academy Awards watching Jamie Foxx win his best-actor Oscar for playing Ray Charles. With biopics hotter than ever, Winfrey knows it’s only a matter of time before someone attempts to tackle her rags-to-riches tale. But she won’t be the one producing that film. “It would be too self-serving,” she said. Berry, however, would very much like to produce The Oprah Winfrey Story, with another actress cast as the big O. “I don’t think I could play Oprah, because I’m a bit too close to her,” she said. “And I think Oprah needs to be a lot older before anyone can play her.” Instead of her own life story, Winfrey, 51, announced plans to develop a film based on the life of Lena Horne, the 87-year-old Stormy Weather chanteuse who weathered racism and tragedy.

“I’m working on it myself,” said Winfrey, who has been spending a lot of time working in LA and has opted to stay in the home of close pal Quincy Jones. “That is a life that deserves to be depicted on screen, a life the rest of America deserves to know about.” Though Winfrey has been talking with her agent, Kevin Huvane, about getting back into acting, don’t expect Winfrey to cast herself as Horne. “Absolutely not,” said Winfrey, who’s envisioning Alicia Keys in the role. “I know what I can do and what I can’t. The role calls for a light-skinned, long-haired, really pretty girl — and I know that’s what I ain’t.”