It has just been announced that Zoë Kravitz will play Selina Kyle/Catwoman in Matt Reeves’ new comic book movie reboot ‘The Batman’. For quite some time now, it has been rumored that Reeves specifically wanted a woman of color for the role, and specifically, he was seeking a “Zoë Kravitz-type.” Mission accomplished! But believe it or not, the world might have gotten a Zoë Kravitz performance in a Batman flick almost a decade sooner, in Christopher Nolan’s ‘The Dark Knight Rises’.
In an interview from 2015, sith Nylon magazine, Kravitz discussed being turned down for even an audition to play a small part in that film:
“In the last Batman movie [The Dark Knight Rises], they told me that I couldn’t get an audition for a small role they were casting because they weren’t ‘going urban.’ It was like, ‘What does that have to do with anything?’ I have to play the role like, ‘Yo, what’s up, Batman? What’s going on wit chu?'”
Gotham City is typically depicted as an extremely urban metropolis, along the lines of New York or Chicago. ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ was mostly shot in Pittsburgh. And such cities are not only “urban” but extremely racially diverse.
RELATED: Zoë Kravitz Officially Claws Away The Competition To Become Catwoman In ‘The Batman’
But in all honesty, Kravitz tends to shy away from characters that are specifically urban, as many of her roles are in genre projects, such as mutant Angel Salvadore in ‘X-Men: First Class‘, Senshi Raige in the futuristic ‘After Earth‘, Christina in the dystopian ‘Divergent’ saga, Toast the Knowing in the apocalyptic ‘Mad Max: Fury Road‘, and Leta Lestrange in the fantasy ‘Fantastic Beasts’ pictures.
Kravitz stated that she wanted to audition for a small part, so presumably, she wasn’t even considered to play that version of Catwoman, who was portrayed by Anne Hathaway.
RELATED: Welcome To The Cat Club: Halle Berry & Anne Hathaway Congratulate Zoë Kravitz On Her ‘The Batman’ Casting, Along With Gal Gadot & Jason Momoa
Kravitz herself has already played Catwoman once in a tiny capacity. She voiced the character in ‘The LEGO Batman Movie’. She also lent her voice to another comic book character, Mary Jane Watson, in ‘Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse’. That character is Caucasian and remained as such in the animated film, yet Kravitz provided her voice with no problems or complaints.
At this time, Robert Pattinson (Bruce Wayne/Batman) is the only other actor confirmed for Reeves’ ‘The Batman’, although Jeffrey Wright has been reported to be in talks to play Commissioner Gordon. It was just revealed that Jonah Hill is no longer negotiating to play The Riddler.
Check back for more news, as it appears the casting process is in full swing.
‘The Batman’ is scheduled to arrive in theaters on June 25, 2021.
