"I don't know why, but I respond well to tortured characters"
About this Quote
The intent is practical, even self-protective. "I don't know why" lowers the stakes, sidestepping the expectation that women in Hollywood should justify their choices with tasteful gravitas. It also hints at something more complicated: that "torture" can be a shortcut to seriousness in an industry that too often equates female depth with suffering. Berry isn't celebrating pain; she's describing a reliable voltage. Tortured characters come preloaded with conflict, and conflict is what the camera can actually film.
The subtext brushes up against the economics of prestige. Award bait loves damage. An actor "responding well" to torment can mean she knows where the culture tends to reward women: in endurance, in visible struggle, in narratives that turn harm into meaning. It's also a quiet rebuke to the flat roles she's been offered across decades - the love interest, the fantasy, the symbol. Torture, for better and worse, is often the only door marked "complex."
Quote Details
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Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Berry, Halle. (2026, January 15). I don't know why, but I respond well to tortured characters. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-dont-know-why-but-i-respond-well-to-tortured-164753/
Chicago Style
Berry, Halle. "I don't know why, but I respond well to tortured characters." FixQuotes. January 15, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-dont-know-why-but-i-respond-well-to-tortured-164753/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"I don't know why, but I respond well to tortured characters." FixQuotes, 15 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-dont-know-why-but-i-respond-well-to-tortured-164753/. Accessed 18 Feb. 2026.








