Purrfect Anne Hathaway Has Big Stilettos To Fill.
Wednesday, January 19, 2011 at 4:00PM A horror movie serial is opening (at least) every month all over the internet for the next 18 months. It's called News and Rumors and Collective Freakouts Concerning Chris Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises. With each new chapter the internet will shiver and tremble, cry out or shake with alarm, fury, disbelief, fear and finally cathartic release. The latest chapter involves two official casting reveals from Nolan himself. The first is that Inception's Tom Hardy will be playing the grotesquely muscular "Bane" (who we last saw onscreen in the fiasco Batman & Robin, 1997) and the second is that Anne Hathaway, she of the backless gowns and "look at me, I'm fabulous!" nakedity in Love and Other Drugs, will be playing Selina Kyle. Selina is, rather famously, Catwoman's alter ego but given Nolan's two previous Batman films we have no indication that we'll actually get Selina as Catwoman, just that we're getting Selina.
Julie Newmar (the first Catwoman) | Anne Hathaway (the latest)
Remember when Sam Raimi kept setting up Dylan Baker to play The Lizard in his Spider-Man trilogy and never delivered?
I'd say the most we can hope for is that Anne gets to let her bitchy freak side fly a bit. Rachel Getting Married minus the babbling and the "L'Haim!"s divided by Get Smart physicality? She'll probably use a weapon at some point but sadly, it'll probably be a plain ol' gun and not sewing machine claws. What I'm trying to say is that I wouldn't exactly expect her to have nine mystical lives or suit up and throwdown with Christian Bale with pithy one liners and claws out. Maybe she'll get a whip if we're lucky. Nolan likes his female characters as dangerous window dressing or as damsels in distress and on either front Hathaway will be terrific. Or at least more terrific than previous Nolan women.
Believe it or not I don't consider the role too sacred to be recreated. (Someone will reinterpret The Joker before too long, too, even though everyone currently thinks that that'll never happen. It always happens. Trust.) Superheroes and Villians are just from that school of roles that are meant to be constantly reinterpreted, like uh.. .Shakespearean protagonists! Not that the birth of any new feline fatale will ever measure up to Michelle Pfeiffer and that snowy alley with pussies galore.
We'll always hear her roar.
Anne Hathaway, Batman, Catwoman, Chris Nolan, Michelle Pfeiffer, Tom Hardy, casting
Reader Comments (32)
"We'll always hear her roar." Yes, we will, yes, we will.
I like Hathaway as Selina Kyle but I do hope she gets to play Catwoman (I really just want to see Hathaway in a skin tight outfit but seeing her play a villain would be nice too). As for Hardy, I'm not sure about Bane as a main villain but I think Hardy is a great choice. Either way, I like both casting choices because they're unexpected just like Ledger as The Joker (Who I shamefully admit to being skeptical of when he was first cast).
I was a little skeptical when I read this a few hours ago, but then I thought: She's brunette, she's convincingly played a drug addict and she will get naked. That (along with Ledger's Joker) is enough to dispel any doubts for the moment.
Nobody will ever measure up to La Pfieffer's interpretation - but as in theater, I guess it's fun to see somebody else give it a go.
Given Nolan's track record, I'm not sure that he "gets" female characters, period.
In one of the graphic novels, she plays a prostitute named Selina Kyle who becomes a cat burglar and uses the suit to disguise her identity.
I agree, she definitely will not have nine lives. But, I think she'll definitely have a costume. Perhaps the bent will be S & M and the costume (and whip) will be part of her act.
Did you think that Beelzebub was a damsel in distress in "Insomnia"? She was young, earnest and impressionable, but she was also kind of smart. I have to admit, I kind of fell in love with her (just in that movie, NOTHING since has continued the love) for two hours. I can't remember the specific plot details, but didn't she play a role in finding the killer?
But, I do wonder with Nolan's limited and dubious history of strong female characters. He's right down there with Spielberg when it comes to such things. Though, it wouldn't be fair of me to hold it against them. But, I prefer a director who is actress-obssessed.
Great casting, if Anne Hathaway has proved one thing during her career trajectory is that she will alway surprise you with just how awesome she is at anything she tries her hand at.
I can't think of any reason they would actually name the character Selina Kyle if they weren't going to have her be catwoman.
Well, Harvey Dent didn't *exactly* become Two-Face in The Dark Knight.
I liked Eva Green more. I love Hathaway work, but... I don't know, Miss sad-eyes as the feline Selina?!
Not just in the footsteps of the (untoppable) La Pfeiffer - Eartha Kitt too...
The best female character in any Nolan film? Maura Tierney's character in Insomnia. Not exactly a key role, but a real human being. And yes, that is the best Swank has ever been in a film not costarring Chloe Sevigny. Rebecca Hall was great in The Prestige, but beyond the requirements of the role.
Laika
I agree about Maura Tierney in insomnia. It was a small role but felt very real. Perhaps it was to do with Tierney though...
I think the best character's in Nolan's films are (naming the actresses)
Marion Cotillard (Inception)
Carrie Anne Moss (memento)
Maura Tierney/ Hilary Swank (Insomnia)
Rebecca Hall (the Prestige)
There's really no one else who made an impression. its not a great track record.
The worst has to Katie Holmes. She wasn't believable for a second as a high profile lawyer, or as someone who would make Batman fall in love. Maggie Gyllnahaal did better, but the role was pretty much ruined by then for me.
I'm not a huge fan of Hathaway, I remain unconvinced, but I shan't count her out cos I know she's talented. I love Tom Hardy, and I'm happy with whoever he plays.
For anyone who has doubt in Anne, just see Valentine’s Day especially her scenes. She plays as sex phone call girl. I always can remember how she made that purr as she seduces the caller scratching . She was good.
I always felt Anne Hathaway was a bit of a ham, like she's "acting", even in Rachel Getting Married. But that just might work very well in a feisty, flamboyant role in a comic book blockbuster.
Nolan's female characters have been weak, underwritten and underplayed, specially in the Batman series.
Anne Hathaway is not the kind of actress I would think of for Catwoman. She comes off as very bubbly, has a girl next door vibe, can be dorky and presents herself as too much of a cute adorable sweetheart.
And she is funny/weird/odd looking.
For Catwoman I'd imagine someone with a more sophisticated allure, a more adult,womanly appeal, with a more mature air about her. I'd imagine someone like Rachel Weisz, Jennifer Connelly, Marion Cotillard, Angelina herself, or if they wanted a younger actress, Eva Green. I'd never picture Anne as a cold, mysterious, sophisticated femme fatale. She comes off as much more normal, cute, sweet and approachable than that.
I was hoping that the Selina Kyle role would be gritty and psychological, like Ledger's Joker. With Hathaway, I don't see that happening.
:(
I would have loved Rachel Weisz, but, even though she was considered, she was probably deemed "too old" next to her younger competitors.
:(
Well, he has gotten better with each subsequent film. I think he was trying to set up a style, and, yes, that style was heavily centered toward masculinity. Ellen Page in Inception...wasn't bad, mostly because HEY she's dependable. Not great, and if I were to want anyone from this movie as the recipient of an Oscar nom, it would be Cotillard. I think the 4th and 5th slots are potentially between 7 people (here goes: Kunis, Steinfeld, Weaver, Mara, Hershey, Pike, Cotillard.) I'm not sure if I'd want HBC in The King's Speech here. As bad as the movie is, I'd probably prefer the overcooked Alice in Wonderland part to the potentially undercooked prestige role. And I'm unsure if I'd react well to Kunis, Steinfeld or Adams. (Leo I'm pretty sure on.) Dream field:
Mara (single scene wonder. "_ing you is like _ing a stairmaster." It'll become one of the touchstones. Along with, "Lawyer up, asshole" and citations of the "Do I have your full attention" comeback.)
Leo
Weaver
Pike (she was probably the life raft in the B- grade An Education. Without her, it's probably a C. Just to see her name on the ballot once would be great.)
Cotillard (Seriously. Name one Actress who managed more with less this year, in either lead OR supporting.)
Fortunately, Hathaway will not be stepping into Pfeiffer's shoes because, however great she was in the role, that character was Selina Kyle/Catwoman in name only. Eartha Kitt, Julie Newmar and the like were playing camp Catwoman from the older comic books. I'm hoping that Nolan and Hathaway are leaning in the direction of the working class ex-dominatrix prostitute with sapphic shadings.
Vince in WeHo: Really!? Have you seen Rachel Getting Married!!? It's not Batman level dark, but it shows she's pretty much able to do anything, even if that specific performance does dive into the smokehouse on occasion. (Though the character is also kind of written as a theatrical sort.)
Paul Outlaw: No. Just no. The first movie was mostly The Man Who Falls stretched out, with minor aspects from The Long Halloween and Year One. The second movie was mostly based on early Joker appearances with minor aspects taken from The Long Halloween and Year One. The next one: It looks to be a condensed Knightfall, cutting most of the villains. I'm guessing this may be a very different Selina as well. (Specifically, as the holistic therapist with, maybe, subtle hints of her proclivities written in.) The original character (Shondra Kinsolving) was only used in two storylines and has no future writing potential at this moment.
Volvagia, I hope you are wrong. Very wrong.
Yeah, Anne's natural personality is too bubbly and adoreable for the part. well, thank god she's an actor otherwise she really wouldnt be believeable as catwoman.
It seems as if Anne Hathaway will be better than Halle Berry as Cat Woman but then again, so would I and I'm neither cat nor woman.
Volvagia -- i could name dozens. I don't get the raves for Cotillard in Inception at all. It's such a nothing part 'pissed off ghost/femme fatale" and she's sexy and a bit sinister but ta-da that's it. really don't understand the reaction to her but she's an actress I obviously don't respond to with the fervent charge that others do since I was also cool on her work in La Vie En Rose.
Adam -- tell it! She was just so terrible in that. Not that the movie was helping but still...
Many people seem to have forgotten that Harvey Dent appeared in Tim Burton's 1989 "Batman" and yet never developed into Two Face so the that the press release only mentions Selina Kyle makes me raise an eyebrow.
I'm just so disappointed in Nolan for doing this. So very, very disappointing.
Vince,
Rachel Weisz would have been perfect. She has the mature, sophisticated, adult, wordly, grown up, mysterious, refined allure about her, and her eyes are somewhat cat-like- something Hathaway's eyes are not. She has those gigantic, very far apart, droopy, downwards, cartoonish, caricaturesque eyes that are not cat -like at all.More mouse-like, actually.
It says a lot about the world we are living in thta a woman such as Rachel Weisz is considered too old to do anything, or that a woman as stunning and impossibly beautiful like Jennifer Connelly may also be considered so. How old is Christian Bale anyway?
Amanda -- Chrstian Bale turns 37 on Monday. Rachel Weisz and Jennifer Connelly are both 40 but they all look about the same age. It's kind of hard to imagine that Bale is only 37 but then he was very young when he got famous.
I thought Bale was a bit older, but then again, Weisz and Connolly wouldn't look old next to him, three years is barely any difference anyway.
I read that both Weisz and Eva Green, who seem much more suited for the role, both auditioned. I wonder why they werent chosen. Maybe Weisz was considered old and Green....foreign? Was already a bond girl? Not high profile enough? Maybe she just did a bad audition.
I wonder if Marion would have been cast if she weren't pregnant.
Another Catwoman? For f--k sake. I'm more excited about Tom Hardy as Bane.
I really like Tom Hardy as well. I just remembered now reading Cal's post that Charlotte Riley, once the Catherine to his Heathcliff and real life fiancee was also auditioning and being tested for the role.
She would have been an unexpected, non-obvious and interesting choice. She is not as famous, is absolutely stunning and has a wild, feisty, mature and fiery quality about her that would be interesting to see in this role.
I call this as I hear, Mr. Outlaw. Nolan wants every character to be 3 things: 1. Major. 2. Desexed. 3. Able to spurt high philosophy at a whim. The second requirement means THERE WILL BE NO PROSTITUTES. The first means SHE HAS TO REPLACE A MAJOR CHARACTER. The third? Nolan can bend anyone to be the third, so long as they're reasonably educated. At this moment it's clearly the Knightfall storyline, so that means Kinsolving is gone.
Hmm maybe just maybe Anne nailed her audition and the other actresses didn't ? Just putting it out there :)