Much like the Dark Knight himself, every actress to have played Catwoman in live-action has been encouraged to put their own spin on the character, with Zoë Kravitz the latest to bring Selina Kyle to life in Matt Reeves’ The Batman.
We’ve seen Michelle Pfeiffer’s sultry and seductive turn in Batman Returns, Anne Hathaway’s femme fatale in The Dark Knight Rises, and whatever the hell Halle Berry was doing in Catwoman on the big screen during the last three decades, so there was a fair amount of leeway available for Kravitz to create her performance.
However, despite the name and penchant for felines suggesting otherwise, the actress revealed during a press event for The Batman (via CBR) that Reeves had to tell her to dial down the more overtly cat-like instincts during shooting.
“I mean, I think for Selena, I think a lot of her power comes from her vulnerability. I think I really wanted to … this idea of what it is to be feminine, and what it is to be sexy, what it is to be strong. I didn’t want to have to imitate masculine strength or power. I really wanted to allow her to be soft and feminine, and that be part of her power.
A lot of it was, I mean, it’s in the script. Whenever we would kind of go off the rails a little bit and get too excited thinking I’m going to play with Catwoman, I’m going to do a cat thing, [Reeves would] be like, ‘Don’t do that.’ Don’t do the Catwoman thing that you’re doing. It was helpful, and it really keeps the tone of the film very, very clear.”
While the director telling the person playing Catwoman to act less like a cat may sound as though it defeats the purpose somewhat, Kravitz has already said that The Batman features the introduction of Selina, who will eventually evolve into the antihero everyone knows and loves in the inevitable sequels.
