While there are some people that aren’t over the moon about “The Batman,” the film has received overwhelmingly positive reviews and has earned a ton of money in its opening weekend (more than $250 million worldwide). And one of the breakouts in the new superhero film is Zoe Kravitz as Selina Kyle, aka Catwoman. Fans are loving Kravtiz’s take on Catwoman so much, there are many that say she is, without a doubt, the best on-screen version of the character. Interestingly, “The Batman” isn’t the first time Kravitz has tried to land the role of Catwoman on the big screen. And her first attempt was derailed by a ridiculous, racist reason.
Speaking to The Guardian, Zoe Kravitz talked about her role as Catwoman in “The Batman.” And in addition, she talked about auditioning in Hollywood as a Black woman. This led to her sharing an anecdote about attempting to land the role of Selina Kyle, aka Catwoman, in Christopher Nolan’s “The Dark Knight Rises.” The role would end up going to Anne Hathaway. And when Kravitz was told she wasn’t right for the role, she was told she was too “urban” for Catwoman. Obviously, “urban” is used by many people as a code word for Black.
“I don’t know if it came directly from Chris Nolan,” Kravitz said. “I think it was probably a casting director of some kind or a casting director’s assistant… Being a woman of color and being an actor and being told at that time that I wasn’t able to read because of the color of my skin, and the word urban being thrown around like that, that was what was really hard about that moment.”
As she says, Kravitz doesn’t know if the “urban” comment originated with Nolan or not, but the actress clearly was upset over the racist reasoning for why she wasn’t allowed to audition for the role. No offense to Hathaway, who does a decent job as the character, but Kravitz is clearly a better Catwoman than the ‘Rises’ actress. If nothing else, Nolan’s film lost out.
But that’s not all of the casting discussion coming from Kravitz in the interview. She also talked about how there are people who are upset when cisgender actors are cast in trans roles and straight actors are cast as gay characters. While she clearly has experienced discrimination in her life, she doesn’t think that there should be specific rules for playing certain characters.
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“The idea of certain actors not being able to play a certain part because you’re not that thing in real life, I think that’s really dangerous,” said Kravitz. “Because I don’t know what acting is, if we’re not allowed to play someone. It’s about empathy. It’s about stepping outside yourself.”
This has come up quite a number of times, including with Eddie Redmayne’s performance in “The Danish Girl” and Scarlett Johansson’s attempt to play a trans man in a failed project, “Rub & Tug.”
“The Batman” is in theaters now.