Anne Hathaway talks inspiration for her Catwoman role in ‘The Dark Knight Rises’
Much of the public’s focus on 2012’s The Dark Knight Rises has been directed towards the absurdly bulky villain Bane, but he’s only one of several to make an appearance in the movie, including the infamously morally ambiguous Catwoman.
Anne Hathaway, as you may recall, was cast to play Catwoman in the movie, and she said in a recent interview that she looked back in time – back to the source – for inspiration for her portrayal of the character in The Dark Knight Rises.
Bob Kane, the creator of the Batman comics, once said that the late actress Hedy Lamarr was the primary source of inspiration for the Catwoman character, and that’s exactly who Hathaway is drawing inspiration from herself. She says she’s taking into account Lemarr’s mannerisms, even down to her “extraordinary” breathing.
“I know this sounds odd, but her breathing is extraordinary,” Anne Hathaway said of the late actress Lamarr in an interview with the LA Times. “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.”
Hathaway will be following in the footsteps of the likes of Halle Berry, Michelle Pfeiffer, Julie Newmar, but she says she’s not letting past portrayals of Catwoman affect her performance in The Dark Knight Rises.
“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.”
Are you looking forward to seeing Hathaway’s portrayal of Catwoman in The Dark Knight Rises?
Source: LA Times
