The tumultuous production of The Batman amid the coronavirus pandemic ended up informing how Zoë Kravitz approached the character of Selina Kyle / Catwoman in the gritty superhero drama.
While the movie first began filming back in Jan. 2020, in Leavesden, England, it was quickly shut down in March of that same year, along with many other productions around the world, when the tempestuous COVID-19 illness first plagued the world.
Then in Sept. of 2020, production was once again filming, but Batman actor Robert Pattinson swiftly contracted the virus soon after, halting the film’s production was again.
Kravitz said when the second shutdown happened, it was hard for her and Pattinson to meet up off-set, so the pair depended on the script, director Matt Reeves’ guidance, and their organic chemistry to make the sparks fly in front of the lens, she told Entertainment Weekly.
The exhaustive process of making the film on-again, then off-again over such a long period rendered her ready to say goodbye to the cat ears by the time the production wrapped, saying, “It was the solitude and the routine that was really hard.”
But Kravitz said that isolation and fear of the uncertainty of the future, which many people around the world were experiencing at the time, actually ended up contributing to the actor’s portrayal of the character.
“I know all of us were in lockdown and it was intense for everybody, but I was away from home and completely isolated because of COVID and not wanting to get sick for the movie’s sake…It was really interesting to tell a story about a city in turmoil while the world was the way it was, or is right now. It made it almost easier to connect to the characters and understand how high the stakes are.”
The Batman swings into theaters March 4.
