Anne Hathaway recently spoke to the Los Angeles Times about Batman, her character, Selina Kyle a.k.a. Catwoman, and Bane (who is apparently Catwoman’s ally) in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises.
During their chat, Anne describes Gotham City, which was pieced together from scenes shot in Pittsburgh, New York City, and Los Angeles for the movie, as being “full of grace”, despite being a war zone after Bane has (literally) ripped it apart:
Gotham City is full of grace. You look at Heath [Ledger]’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.
Anne also says that this version of Gotham helped her take on the role of Catwoman, which has previously been played by Halle Berry, Michelle Pfeiffer, Julie Newmar, Eartha Kitt and Lee Meriwether in film or television.
“What’s come before doesn’t limit or even affect this new version,” Hathaway said. “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.”
The Dark Knight Rises hits theaters on July 20, 2012. To read the full interview with Anne (beware of spoilers) visit Hero Complex.
