‘The Batman’: Zoe Kravitz Will Bring ‘Strong Femininity’ to Catwoman, Inspired By Michelle Pfeiffer
Principal photography on Matt Reeves’ “The Batman” kicked off this month in England, with Robert Pattinson as Bruce Wayne / Batman and Zoe Kravitz as Selina Kyle / Catwoman, his most enduring love interest, with whom he’s had a complex love-hate relationship.
Speaking to reporters on Friday after a Television Critics Association (TCA) presentation for her upcoming Hulu series “High Fidelity,” Kravitz suggested that, in preparing to play Catwoman, she was looking for inspiration from an actress who previously wore the black catsuit in a movie.
“I think Catwoman is an iconic character,” Kravitz said. “I was never into a lot of comic books, but that world was always really intriguing to me. And then of course Michelle Pfeiffer — her performance has always been super inspiring to me. It just felt iconic.”
Michelle Pfeiffer portrayed the character in 1992’s “Batman Returns” opposite Michael Keaton as the dark knight, in a film directed by Tim Burton, for which she received plenty of critical raves. So Kravitz certainly has big shoes to fill.
“I think Catwoman, Selina Kyle represents really strong femininity, and I’m excited to dive into that,” she said. “I think femininity represents power, and I think it’s a different kind of power than masculine power. That’s something that’s really interesting about Batman and Catwoman. I think Batman represents a very kind of masculine power, and Catwoman represents very feminine power — slightly more complicated, and softer, too. I like the idea that you can be soft, you can be gentle and still be very powerful and still be very dangerous.”
Kravitz was cast in the film, beating out a field of actresses that included Zazie Beetz, Eiza Gonzalez, and Alicia Vikander.
She joins actresses Julie Newmar, Lee Meriwether, Eartha Kitt, Michelle Pfeiffer, Halle Berry and Anne Hathaway, who have all played the character on the small and big screens.
It marks Kravitz’s second major Warner Bros. franchise movie following “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald.”
She’ll next be seen in Hulu’s “High Fidelity,” which is inspired by the 2000 film starring John Cusack, which itself is based on the 1995 British novel of the same name by Nick Hornby. The original drama series is set to premiere on February 14.
“The Batman” is the tenth film in the DC Extended Universe (DCEU) and a reboot of the Batman film franchise. Jeffrey Wright, Paul Dano, Andy Serkis, Colin Farrell, and John Turturro round out the main cast.
Warner Bros. has slotted “The Batman” for a June 25, 2021 theatrical release.
