Vanessa Kirby has declared her interest in playing Selina Kyle, otherwise known as Catwoman, in The Batman. After both Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice and Justice League attracted mixed reactions, Ben Affleck's role in the DCEU looked unclear, and the status of Matt Reeves' The Batman movie wasn't faring much better. After Affleck officially left the DCEU, however, The Batman's direction began to take shape. A 2021 release date was announced and Robert Pattinson was cast as Bruce Wayne, with plenty of other rumors regarding supporting cast and possible story details doing the rounds.
One key point of speculation regarding The Batman concerns the villains Pattinson's Caped Crusader will be going up against, and two of the current leading candidates are Penguin and Catwoman. The Catwoman role in particular has been linked with an interesting selection of actresses, with Batman's on-off love interest previously portrayed in live action by Michelle Pfeiffer, Halle Berry, Anne Hathaway and Camren Bicondova. Names mooted to play Catwoman in The Batman include Aubrey Plaza and Vanessa Kirby, the latter of which has recently appeared in Mission: Impossible - Fallout and Hobbs & Shaw.
While Kirby's potential casting has been nothing but speculation thus far, the actress herself has now addressed the rumors, confirming that she'd love to play Catwoman in The Batman, even though the role would likely demand plenty of physical preparation, but hasn't yet been approached by Warner Bros about it. Speaking with ET at the red carpet premiere of Hobbs & Shaw, Kirby stated:
"I don’t know anything about it... Are you kidding?! I would love to be Catwoman. Oh my god, it would be a dream. I'd have to do lots of squats. I mean, literally, lots of squats."
Strangely, Kirby's comments make her potential casting as Catwoman simultaneously more and less likely. On one hand, Kirby would evidently be delighted if the role were offered to her and would most likely accept without hesitation but, on the other, the actress would perhaps be a little more coy on the matter if she had actually been contacted about portraying the next Selina Kyle and her assertion that there has been no official contact between camps seems genuine.
Nevertheless, there is clearly a degree of fan support for Kirby to play Batman's diamond-stealing femme fetale and she remains firmly in the picture for the time being. With Pattinson's Batman supposedly around 30 years old, Kirby seems like a realistic choice if The Batman were to present the two characters as lovers, and not simply with hero and villain dynamic. Recent big screen roles have elevated Kirby's career considerably since her 2011 TV debut in the BBC period drama, The Hour, but a role in The Batman would undoubtedly be her most high profile part yet, especially considering all the circus and fanfare surrounding the release of any Batman movie.
Source: Entertainment Tonight
