To celebrate the 55th birthday of the one and only I thought we'd resurrect an old post about her Catwoman performance. If she's got nine lives so should this post. Please to enjoy...
Tim Burton's Batman Returns, the best Batman film (you heard me... throw down!) is now 15 21 years old and still one of the best comic book films. The movie didn't change cinema or its genre or significantly alter any careers. But it did send yours truly and millions of other Pfeiffer inclined moviegoers into a pfrenzy, arguably marking the apex of La Pfeiffer's cinematic reign. She was still in Oscar chasing mode (Love Field) and the full fledged move from heavy dramatic lifting into light mainstream fare (One Fine Day) and then blink and you'll miss her erratic appearances (Dark Shadows) was years away.
Ten Best Catwoman Line Deliveries
All the dialogue rocks but these are my favorite Pfeifferian readings
10 "Life's a bitch. Now, so am I"
Blockbusters love to shove quips on the public, in the hopes of catchphrase afterlife. This one’s pretty basic but Michelle sells it with true believer zeal.
9 more purring quips after the jump
09 "How can you be so mean to someone so meaningless?"
Right before her death early in the movie… she realizes she’s in big trouble. I love how pathetic LaPfeiffer is willing to make her mousy executive assistant — sorry, secretary.
08 "But last night... complete blur. Couldn't you just die?"
The morning after her own murder she shows up to work with a new perm, makeup, and flirtatious attitude --she’s yummier [see #5]. The boss who killed her and Bruce Wayne are both flabbergasted at her new appearance (for different reasons). Even out of Catwoman garb she has a delicious catlike appeal, she’s toying with Bruce and her boss whilst also spinning the joke for maximum audience joy.
07 "Did somebody say fish? I haven't been fed all day"
This line always makes me think of The Bening. Annette Bening was originally cast in this role but once knocked up by Warren Beatty she dropped out. Pfeiffer is perfect in the role but in this one specific line I swear I’m hearing Annette Bening’s voice every time. It’s as if Michelle asked her to do the post production looping in tribute.
06 "every woman you try to save winds up dead or deeply resentful. Maybe you should retire"
The Catwoman star turn is bursting with eroticism. Technically this line is a putdown but in her suddenly low purring it throbs with a challenge, a f***ed up come on.
05 "I don't know about you Miss Kitty, but I feel so much yummier"
A classic.
04 "I am Catwoman. Hear me roar."
There are so many ways this type of performance can go wrong [see also: Catwoman (2004)]. But this blonde superstar is phenomenal at stylization. She understands just how much heightening this genre of acting requires. The performance isn’t exactly real… but it has total authenticity. The delivery is equal parts sexy, theatrical, and unhinged. It's a "too much" that leaves you wanting more.
03 "I don't know who I am anymore"
The Spider-Man series gets a lot of things right but the emotional peak of the superhero genre is, to date, Michael Keaton and Michelle Pfeiffer’s face-off while slow dancing at a masked ball. They’ve just realized that their new lover is also their enemy. Keaton has just the right note of concern and gravitas and Pfeiffer breaks into several pieces right before your eyes with tears and laughter… her identities fusing and splintering, thoroughly undoing her. In short: this is the best performance ever given in a superhero film.
02 "Four, Five... Still alive! Six, Seven...all good girls go to heaven"
This particular quote, delivered while this anti-heroine lets herself be killed again and again -- throwing away her lives like she’s got more than nine, moves from raging taunts directed at her enemy to a nearly catatonic sing-song to herself. Catwoman has only nine lives but this Michelle Pfeiffer performance will live forever.
01 "...meow"