Halle Berry locks lips with Adrien Brody as two recreate 2003 Oscars kiss

Article content

Halle Berry got “payback” on Adrien Brody for kissing her at the 2003 Oscars by planting her own smooch on the actor Sunday night ahead of the Academy Awards.

As Brody, 51, walked the red carpet, Berry, 58, approached him with her arms wide open before canoodling with The Brutalist star in a moment captured by Access Hollywood and shared on TikTok.

Berry apologized to Brody’s partner, Georgina Chapman, before locking lips with the actor.

“I’m sorry Georgina, but I gotta do it,” she said.

“Surpriseee @adrienbrody!! I had to get some payback 😉,” Berry captioned a video of the interaction shared to her Instagram and X accounts.

In the comments section of her post, one follower called it “the reunion the world needs.”

“He didn’t wanna let go,” another person wrote.

Others praised the pair for looking “just as good” as they did 22 years ago.

The official Academy Award Instagram account also shared a clip of the viral moment, calling it, “A reunion 22 years in the making.”

After winning the best actor Oscar for his role in The Pianist back in 2003, Brody famously kissed Berry onstage in an unscripted moment before accepting his award.

“I bet they didn’t tell you that was in the gift bag,” Brody joked at the time.

At 29, Brody became the youngest Best Actor winner in Oscars history for his work in The Pianist, beating out fellow nominees Nicolas Cage (Adaptation), Michael Caine (The Quiet American), Daniel Day-Lewis (Gangs of New York), and Jack Nicholson (About Schmidt).

During an appearance on Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen in 2017, Berry said she was caught off guard by Brody’s behaviour. But having won the best actress statuette the year prior for Monster’s Ball, she said she was unbothered “because … I know the feeling of being out of your body.”

I just f—ing went with it,” she said. “But I was like, ‘What the f— is going on right now?'”

In a 2015 interview with Vanity Fair at the Toronto International Film Festival, Brody called the kiss “one of the most memorable moments ever” at the Oscars.

“You could say time slowed down. That was that moment where I really, really felt it slow down. In fact, it must have, because by the time I got finished kissing her, and people kinda settled in, they were already flashing the sign that said, ‘Get off the stage, your time is up,'” he said.

In an interview with Variety’s Marc Malkin on the Oscars red carpet Sunday night, Berry said she hadn’t seen Brody at an awards ceremony in many years before she ambushed him.

“I’ve seen him out at parties, but this is the first time since that night that I’ve seen him on the red carpet somewhere. He’s nominated this year. He deserved that,” she said.

“That was one hell of a night for him, and for me as well. To be a part of his moment,” Berry said reflecting on their 2003 smooch, before adding, “tonight I had to pay him back.”

For his part, Brody recently told Variety that he never intended to try and make Berry feel uncomfortable 22 years ago.

“We live in a very conscious time, which is a wonderful thing,” Brody said. “And nothing that I ever do or have done or would’ve done is ever done with the intention of making anyone feel bad.”

As Brody made his way through awards season for his portrayal of a Hungarian-Jewish architect in the post-Second World War epic, Berry cheered on his success.

“Congratulations my friend,” Berry commented on Brody’s Instagram post after he won the Golden Globe prize for best actor in January. “You are truly one of one!”

mdaniell@postmedia.com