Monster's Ball

As part of his research for the film, director Marc Forster actually sat in an electric chair and was horrified to see the nail marks that the electrocuted prisoners had involuntarily scratched into the wood.

In a 2009 interview with Monster's Ball producer Lee Daniels, he revealed that Wes Bentley did not actually turn down the role of Sonny Grotowski, as was reported at the time. What actually happened was that Bentley committed to the role but then pulled out at the very last minute, and Lionsgate gave them only 48 hours to find a replacement (who turned out to be Heath Ledger). In 2010, Bentley admitted that his erratic, unpredictable, and unreliable behavior throughout much of the 2000s had been caused by a longstanding addiction to heroin.

During an interview, Halle Berry was asked if she felt her nudity and the sex scene were really necessary for the film. She replied "....without this scene, I think it would be a very different movie. I think it's a pivotal moment and from that moment on, you understand why these two people get together." She added that if being nude serves the part, she would be happy to disrobe again. "If another role affects me like this, and I feel it's something the character would do - then I'll use my body in way to best serve the character." The actress seems to favor nudity in real-life too. "If the world wouldn't persecute me, I'd take nude pictures every day of the week."

Halle Berry took home the Best Actress Oscar for her turn as Leticia Musgrove in the 2001 drama Monster's Ball. The actress bravely tackled a graphic sex scene with costar Billy Bob Thornton in which she bared it all for the camera. "We both agreed to be uninhibited with our bodies, so it wasn't just the woman who was being exposed, and we just said, 'Let's service these characters,'" she said in an interview with the Guardian. "We only had to do it one time, which is good, because you don't really want to have to go there that many times..."

According to Angela Bassett, who is eight years older than Halle Berry, turned down the role of Leticia which won Berry a Best Actress Oscar. Bassett told Newsweek she "wasn't going to be a prostitute on film" because "it's such a stereotype about black women and sexuality." However, Lions Gate Production President Michael Paseornek and the film's producer Lee Daniels rebut Bassett stating she was never even offered the role, and was already committed to Supernova (2000).