Geoff Boucher over at
Hero Complex got a chance to sit down with the newest Catwoman, Anne Hathaway and talk about
The Dark Knight Rises. While no spoilers or anything major was revealed she did talk about tons of interesting things, including the Catwoman suit, reading comic books, and how other portrayals of Catwoman affected her performance.
On Catwoman's costume:
“I love the costume, because everything has a purpose, nothing is in place for fantasy’s sake, and that’s the case with everything in Christopher Nolan’s Gotham City.”
On Gotham City:
“Gotham City is full of grace. You look at Heath’s performance as the Joker, there was a lot of madness there but there was also a grace and he had a code there. There’s a lot of belief and codes of behavior in Gotham and my character has one, too. A lot of the way she moves and interacts with people is informed by her worldview. Chris has given us all such complex, defined, sophisticated worldviews that it’s just a matter of doing your homework and getting underneath the character’s skin.”
On getting in to comics after she got the part:
“I really got into the comics after I was cast and I like that when she made her first appearance she meets Bruce Wayne and says ‘Let go of me or I’ll claw your eyes out,’ and he says, ‘Careful, claws in or papa spank,’” Hathaway said. “So I’m glad we’ve come a long way since then. I’m not saying anything against Bob Kane, though.”
On How she used Hedy Lamarr's (Bob Kane's inspiration for Catwoman) work to help her:
“I know this sounds odd, but her breathing is extraordinary. She takes these long, deep, languid breaths and exhales slowly. There’s a shot of her in [the 1933 film] ‘Ecstasy’ exhaling a cigarette and I took probably five breaths during her one exhale. So I started working on my breathing a lot.”
On how other interpretations of the character have affected her performance:
“What’s come before doesn’t limit or even affect this new version. It doesn’t affect me because each Catwoman, and this is true in the comics as well, she is defined by the context of the Gotham City created around her. Catwoman is so influenced by Gotham and whoever is creating Gotham at the time. Michelle Pfeiffer’s Catwoman was informed by Tim Burton’s Gotham and Eartha Kitt was informed by Adam West’s Gotham. You have to live in whatever the reality of the world is and whatever Gotham is.”
Hero complex also offers up this scene description from the movie that will feature Hathaway as Catwoman. This also confirms just exactly what those goggles on her head are for.
WARNING this small paragraph does contain some spoilers from the film so make your way past the photo if you want to read it.
Gotham City is a war zone. A ruthless madman named Bane has ripped away any sense of security and the citizens, haggard and clutching suitcases with refugee anxiety, sit behind barbed wire waiting to see what will blow up next. A hooded prisoner is dragged in – it’s Bruce Wayne, one of Gotham’s most famous faces – but the eyes of the crowd go instead to the woman in black standing at the top of the staircase.
“Sorry to spoil things, boys, but Bane needs these guys himself,” says sultry Selina Kyle, played here by actress Anne Hathaway, navigating the steps with stiletto heels that, on closer inspection, turn out to have serrated edges capable of leaving nasty claw marks in a fight. She also wears night-vision goggles that, when not in use, flip up and resemble feline ears.
The Dark Knight Rises stars Christian Bale, Anne Hathaway, Tom Hardy, Marion Cotillard, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman, and will be released on July 20, 2012.
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