Halle Berry Braves Red Carpet in Daring Sheer Dress at ‘The Union’ Premiere: “Because I Can”

“Because I can, goddamn.”

So said Halle Berry last night when asked by The Hollywood Reporter why she selected a sheer, lingerie-style La Perla creation last night for the world premiere of Netflix‘s The Union. The Julian Farino-directed action drama casts the 57-year-old Oscar winner as Roxanne, a member of a covert intelligence operation who recruits Mike, a down-to-earth construction worker from New Jersey played by Mark Wahlberg, to join a high-stakes mission. They happen to be high school sweethearts, and that’s another reason Berry braved the red carpet in the daring dress.

“I thought with the theme of this movie being lovers reuniting, it was time to bring this out,” she continued. “This is also where I’m at today.”

Another place Berry finds herself with The Union is starring opposite Wahlberg for the first time in their respective careers following a friendship that has stretched past 30 years. It might be a surprise but Berry said there had never been an opportunity for the two to come together before this project. “Never at all,” she said. “When this happened, I thought, wow, this is the thing I didn’t know that I needed. I’ve known Mark forever and a day and it was a joyous experience. It was fun. He’s such a collaborator. It was like going home in a way. We have so much in common, and through working together, we realized all those commonalities and we used them for the movie and hopefully we put ’em on the screen.”

The Union also stars Mike Colter, Jackie Earle Haley, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Jessica De Gouw, Alice Lee, Dana Delany, Lorraine Bracco, Patch Darragh and J.K. Simmons. Wahlberg also produced alongside his longtime partner Stephen Levinson and Jeff Waxman.

Wahlberg has said that he wanted the film to balance action, humor, romance and witty banter found in films starring Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn, something Berry was on board with from the beginning. “I got to do action with humor, and there’s drama. Usually with a rom-com or a straight up action movie like John Wick, you miss all the extra stuff and with this movie, it gave me a taste of all the elements and I can’t remember the last time I got to do that in a movie with someone that I like.”

Berry has a busy half of 2024 coming. Her Alexandre Aja thriller Never Let Go from Lionsgate just moved up its release date from Sept. 27 to Sept. 20. And she told THR last night that she’s readying to star opposite Angelina Jolie in Maude v Maude “next year” while also prepping another directorial outing to “come soon,” which would follow her Netflix MMA drama Bruised.

As for Wahlberg, he had plenty of nice things to say about Berry during his pre-premiere comments from the stage at Hollywood’s Egyptian Theatre. After joking that his Union character is “the Jersey James Bond” with a nickname of “double go fuck yourself,” he turned his attention to his longtime friend.

“The reason why this movie is going to be so successful is because of the chemistry that we have together and the talent that she brings every single day,” Wahlberg told the audience. “And she demands that level of commitment and hard work from everybody. She delegates everybody and she really sets the tone. You’ll see why my character would wait 25 years sitting in his mom’s house, in the bar, in his neighborhood, working the same job, hoping that one day she would come back.”

He continued: “Nobody else can pull that off but Halle Berry, so I can’t wait for you guys to see this movie. … When you meet Halle Berry in person, you realize she is the most accessible, sweet, kind, talented, thoughtful, tough.”