The Batman star Zoë Kravitz says that she and her stunt coordinator studied the behavior of cats and lions to nail down a fighting style for her character, Selina Kyle (A.K.A. Catwoman). The upcoming 2022 reboot – helmed by writer/director Matt Reeves – will mark the fifth live-action cinematic incarnation of the character, most recently coming off the heels of Anne Hathaway's performance in the final chapter of Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy, The Dark Knight Rises. Over the years, Catwoman has served various roles within the Batman mythos ranging from deranged villain to morally ambiguous anti-heroine. Promotional materials for The Batman tease that Kravitz's Catwoman will lean toward the latter interpretation.
Across the various incarnations of Catwoman, the character's link to actual feline animals varies as well. Michelle Pfeiffer and Halle Barry's versions both possess an eccentric fixation with cats, while Anne Hathaway's Selina adopts the cat association in reference to her occupation as a cat burglar. Once again, Kravitz's Selina appears to align more closely with the grounded take pioneered by Nolan's films; however, the animal parallels aren't completely off the table, as Kravitz reveals in a recent interview.
While speaking with Empire, Kravitz revealed that her stunt team observed actual footage of "cats and lions and how they fight" to find inspiration for Selina's fighting style. She goes on to explain that the final product resulted in an amalgam of "different kinds of martial arts [...] and a kind of feline, dance-like movement." Check out the actress's full comments below:
We watched cats and lions and how they fight and talked about what is actually possible when you’re my size, and Batman’s so much stronger than me. What is my skill? It’s being fast and tricky. So we did some really interesting floor work that incorporated different kinds of martial arts and capoeira and a kind of feline, dance-like movement.
Kravitz's reference to her size in relation to Robert Pattinson's Batman hints that the two may physically confront each other at some point during the film. This lines up with common interpretations of the Batman-Catwoman dynamic, which typically starts out as adversarial and ends with the pair becoming either lovers or partners with mutual respect for one another. With recent promotional images confirming the inclusion of Catwoman's iconic whip, the two characters are poised to have a classic showdown ripped straight from the pages of DC comics.
Although the film is still three months from release, The Batman has already proven itself to be a ripe source for spinoffs. Reeves is confirmed to be developing two spinoff shows for HBO Max set within the world of his upcoming film: one titled Gotham PD, and the other following Colin Farrell's Penguin. If Kravitz's character proves to be a fan-favorite in The Batman, hopefully the studio will consider future solo spinoffs for the character down the line.
Source: Empire
