Not only does Anne Hathaway go in depth into how Nolan’s Gotham has affected her take on Catwoman, but the interview is followed by a very spoilery description of a pivotal scene from The Dark Knight Rises.
In an interview with HeroComplex (via CBM), Anne Hathaway spoke up about a number of things that have contributed to her interpretation of Catwoman.
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.”
Personally, we couldn’t imagine a better way for Hathaway to interpret the character. Nolan’s take on Gotham is a very unique live-action universe, and to draw from other performances (which took place in different universes) doesn’t make any sense.
Now, the scene description below is one big spoiler so if you plan on walking into The Dark Knight Rises completely clueless we would suggest avoiding the next hundred words or so.
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.
So what do you think? Will Hathaway’s Catwoman (much like Ledger’s Joker or Eckhart’s Two Face) prove to be the best interpretation yet? What happens in the crucial scene above? Has Catwoman arrived to save Batman or is she loyal to Bane?
We pointed out back in August that Catwoman might have some secret weapons in her catsuit and it seems that we were correct since two very dangerous stiletto heels were spotted on set. What other weapons lurk in that tactical suit?