Thursday, January 31, 2013

Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle

I have to admit that when  I found out that Anne Hathaway was cast to play Selina Kyle I was skeptical as to whether she would be able to pull off the role. Anne always seems to play the girl next door types and Selina Kyle is certainly not the girl next door. However I have to say I was pleasantly surprised what a good job she did.
"I take what I need from those who have more than enough. I don't stand on the shoulders of those with less."―Catwoman
Anne's Catwoman is a femme fatale antiheroine that blurs the line between villainy and heroism. Selina is hired to steal Bruce Wayne fingerprints and also steals a necklace that belonged to Bruce's mother. She leads Batman into Banes trap without realizing that they are the same person, she attempts to flee Gotham, fearing that Bane and his men will eventually kill her. However when Bruce offers her the "Clean Slate", she aids Batman and his allies in liberating Gotham City from the League of Shadows, in particular by shooting Bane and helping Batman destroy Talia al Ghul's convoy.

As in the original comic books the Selina Kyle character in The Dark Knight Rises is not referred to as Catwomen but only 'the Cat'.

Anne based her portrayal of Selina Kyle on the original comic book Selina as created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger which in turn was inspired by Kane's cousin, Ruth Steel, Jean Harlow and Heady Lamarr. Anne draws heavily on Heady Lamarrs acting style.

“I know this sounds odd, but her breathing is extraordinary,” Hathaway told Hero Complex in a new interview. “She takes these long, deep, languid breaths and exhales slowly. There’s a shot of her in [the 1933 film] ‘Ecstasy’ exhaling a cigarette and I took probably five breaths during her one exhale. So I started working on my breathing a lot.”

Anne stated in an interview that the way Catwomen is played depends on the Gotham that the director has created and Anne's femme fatale Selina Kyle suits Nolan's film noir style Gotham perfectly.

The Backstory:
The comic books have many different backstories for Selina Kyle but the movie doesn't really go much into a backstory only stating that Selina broke out of a womens correctional facility when she was 16 and has a long criminal record that she is hopping to wipe clean.

The Catsuit:
The catsuit Anne wears is based on the one that Julie Newmar wore in the Batman TV series. Anne described as "Julie Newmar 2.0". Selina does not use a whip as in the comics but carries a pistol instead. She wears stiletto heels that double as serrated knives (seemingly referencing Cooke's design where switch blades release from her combat boots), in lieu of the claws she's donned in nearly every other iteration.
Other outfits:
A lot of Selina's everyday outfits are a very classic tailored style. This outfit is especially reminiscent of one Audrey Hepburn wore in Breakfast at Tiffanys. Costume designer Lindy Hemming stated her influences for Selina Kyles outifts were  La Femme Nikita, and Audrey Hepburn, with a medium dose of Thierry Mugler thrown in for theatricality.

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