'Ball' Games

Seems every Hollywood story has a back story. In a recent Newsweek article, Oscar-nominated actress Angela Bassett (left) kicked up a monster’s brawl by saying she rejected the sexually graphic lead in Monster’s Ball because she wasn’t ”going to be a prostitute on film.” The trouble? Technically, the character played by Halle Berry (right) was a waitress. Moreover, says Lions Gate production president Michael Paseornek, ”We never offered any actress but Halle that role.” Adds producer Lee Daniels, ”I was told [Bassett] was actually unavailable before giving a script to her, so she didn’t even know the content of the material before passing.” Bassett’s camp claims versions of the screenplay had been circulating in Hollywood for five years. ”I’m not saying there was a formal money offer,” says Bassett’s agent, Peter Levine, ”but can people say a script is an offer?”