Janet Jackson Almost Played Halle Berry’s ‘X-Men’ Role

Janet Jackson almost took Hollywood by storm. 

The Grammy-winning singer revealed she was once offered the role of superhero Storm in the big-screen adaptations of Marvel’s X-Men comics, as a preview clip from the Friday, April 26, episode of The Drew Barrymore Show indicates.

“I can’t remember the film but — Halle Berry played Storm,” Jackson, 57, told hosts Drew Barrymore and Ross Matthews in response to being asked if she was almost cast in 1999’s The Matrix. 

“But I couldn’t” accept the part, she added, “because I was just embarking on the Janet tour.” 

Barrymore, 49, and Matthews, 44, were asking Jackson about a picture of her circa 1999 in which she wore an all-black ensemble including a leather trench coat. But it was 2000’s X-Men rather than The Matrix that she almost joined instead. 

Berry, 57, played the iconic superhero in the comics-to-movie adaptations X-Men, 2003’s X2, 2006’s X-Men: The Last Stand and 2014’s X-Men: Days of Future Past.

The franchise also starred Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, Patrick Stewart as Professor Xavier, Ian McKellen as Magneto, Famke Janssen as Jean Grey, James Marsden as Cyclops, Anna Paquin as Rogue, and more. 

“X-Men!” exclaimed Barrymore, who then revealed another missed casting connection, that she herself was in contention for a role in 1997’s Mark Wahlberg and Julianne Moore movie Boogie Nights. “I think it’s when I went and did Ever After. I went in a very different direction.”

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In a 2021 interview with Vanity Fair, Berry revealed that she would “absolutely” revisit playing her X-Men character.

“I loved playing Storm, and people love Storm,” she said at the time. “If we could find a version that would make sense, or a storyline that would make sense, I would absolutely do that, for sure.”

While Jackson is known primarily for her music, the “Rhythm Nation” singer has starred as an actress in Poetic Justice, The Nutty Professor: The Klumps, and the Why Did I Get Married films, as well as the sitcom Good Times.

“I love you in movies,” Matthews told Jackson in the preview clip. “Would you ever do another one?” 

Jackson smiled and responded, “Sure, I would. For sure.”

Her appearance on The Drew Barrymore Show follows her stopping by The Tonight Show on April 12 to crash host Jimmy Fallon’s opening monologue. Jackson confirmed on the show that she’s in rehearsals for the upcoming dates of her global Together Again Tour.