Halle Berry lives every parent's nightmare in thriller 'Kidnap'

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Halle Berry plays a mom on a mission in her latest big screen thriller, "Kidnap."

She said she hopes parents see a story that isn't just trying to scare you. She hopes they view it as empowering.

Berry's character lives through any parent's worst nightmare. One minute her child is happily playing in the park; the next, he's vanished.

"The reason I wanted to make this movie - this actually happened," said Berry. "That's real. But the beauty of it is it made me know there is a hero inside every woman, there's a hero inside every parent. If this happened to your child I think every parent would do the exact same thing."

In real life, Berry is mother to a 9 year old daughter and 3 year old son. She says this film hit her right in her heart.

"All those feelings were real every single day. Every moment," said Berry. "I had to manage those feelings. That was the hard part for me, not to muster them up. It was to manage them and calibrate a performance that actually made sense for the story."

Berry has more than four dozen acting credits on her resume. And two more films slated for release before the end of the year. She's also been a producer on several films, including "Kidnap." The Hollywood veteran thinks it's important for women to continue to try to make strides behind the scenes.

"Hollywood responds to dollars, unfortunately, so if we spend the time making these movies but women don't go out, then what do you think is gonna happen?" said Berry. "So this summer I'm so excited because we have 'Wonder Woman,' and Gal Gadot, we have 'Girls Trip' that people are coming out to see. So I think women are starting to say we want these movies but we have to go support these movies, ladies. That's the only way to really make change."

"Kidnap" is rated R and is in theaters Friday.