Monster's Ball

Billy Bob Thornton says filming sex scenes made his marriage to Angelina Jolie tough. The actor was wed to Jolie from 2000 to 2003, during which time he filmed this movie - featuring explicit scenes with Halle Berry - which put pressure on them both. He told The Sun newspaper: "If you are an actor, even doing a Disney movie or cartoon voices, you could still be away from each other for six months. Look how it applied to me. I go away and do a film like Monster's Ball with a very explicit sex scene with Halle Berry. She is one of the most beautiful women in the world and I am talking on the phone to my wife, and she says, 'What have you been doing today?' And I say, 'Oh, I did that sex scene with Halle Berry.' You are then asked if you actually touch her. I say, 'I had to - it's in the scene'. Other people's situations are hard, with areas of doubt. But if you are a thousand miles from home on a film set simulating sex with a beautiful woman, it's even tougher."

Throughout the movie there are conflicting references to its being set in Louisiana, Mississippi, or Georgia although the movie was filmed entirely in Louisiana.

Thanks to Sam, Austin, Gabrielle. Scott Lambert is thanked twice.

The initial cut of the picture included more explicit footage during the sex scene between Halle Berry and Billy Bob Thornton, which was trimmed down after the MPAA threatened to give the film a NC-17 rating. The uncut version premiered at the Berlin Film Festival on February 8, 2001. The R-rated US theatrical release is the cut version; the version released theatrically in Canada and most other countries is the uncut version.

Featured in Siskel & Ebert: The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring/Monster's Ball/Joe Somebody/Ali (2001)