Anne Hathaway Thought Her Catwoman Audition Was For Harley Quinn

Ann Hathaway says she actually thought she was auditioning for Harley Quinn when she went in for The Dark Knight Rises. Released in 2012, the third and final film in Christopher Nolan’s trilogy of Batman movies followed in the lucrative footsteps of the preceding two cinematic offerings by grossing $1.084 billion at the worldwide box office.

The third go-around for Christian Bale as Batman, the Dark Knight Rises brought in a pair of classic DC characters in Catwoman and Bane, with Hathaway taking on the role of Selina Kyle and Tom Hardy playing the villainous masked bruiser Bane. Catwoman of course was played previously on the big screen by Michelle Pfeiffer in Batman Returns and Halle Berry in the much maligned standalone film Catwoman. And the character is set to return in Matt Reeves’ The Batman, with Zoe Kravitz embodying the mysterious woman behind the mask.

Hathaway was certainly a memorable Catwoman in Dark Knight Rises, but as the actress revealed in a recent interview, she originally thought she was auditioning for an entirely different character. Speaking to BBC 1 Radio (via CBR), Hathaway said she went to her audition with Nolan believing she was up for Harley Quinn, but was quickly set straight. Hathaway explained:

"I came in and I had this lovely Vivienne Westwood kind of beautiful-but-mad tailoring top with stripes going everywhere. And I wore these flat Joker-ey looking shoes. And I was trying to give Chris [Nolan] these crazy little smiles. About an hour into the meeting he said 'Well, I'm sure I don't have to tell you this, but it's Catwoman.' And I was shifting into a different gear. 'Now ok, we're slinky. We're slinky. And I hate my shirt. I love my shirt, but I hate it right now. We're slinky.'"

Hathaway’s anecdote about thinking she was auditioning for Quinn (a character who of course would later be introduced in the DCEU with Margot Robbie in the role) when she was really up for the role of Catwoman is funny because, for one thing, it shows just how secretive Nolan was during production of his Dark Knight movies. It’s also funny because, in fact, Quinn and Catwoman are very different characters and it must have come as quite a shock for Hathaway to have to change gears in the middle of her audition and bring more of a classic Catwoman vibe after doing full-on nutty in hopes of winning the role of quirky oddball Quinn.

Of course, there are some similarities between Catwoman and Harley Quinn as well, the big one being that both are women who were somewhat buttoned down in their original lives before undergoing experiences that resulted in them unleashing completely different, much more dangerous sides of their personalities. But that’s pretty much where the similarities end. Catwoman ultimately is closer to Batman in her mysterious ways, while Quinn is a more in-your-face character (indeed, Catwoman is basically the female Batman, while Quinn is in many ways the female Joker).

No doubt, Hathaway would have made an interesting Harley Quinn had Nolan sought to put that character in The Dark Knight Rises. But at the end of the day, Quinn really doesn’t seem like the kind of character who would have fit in Nolan’s version of the Batman universe, so it’s no surprise that he wanted Hathaway for Catwoman instead. Ultimately, the world lucked out in getting a good Catwoman with Hathaway and a good Harley Quinn with Robbie.

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Source: BBC Radio 1 (via CBR)