Matt Reeves Confirms What We Suspected All Along About New Batman And Catwoman
On Saturday, the second annual DC FanDome was livestreamed to audiences everywhere. The show featured numerous updates about upcoming DCEU movies and DC television shows. The final panel of the big event focused on Warner Bros. "The Batman," which stars Robert Pattinson as a young Bruce Wayne in the early days of his Batman tenure. The movie also stars Colin Farrell as Penguin, Andy Serkis as Alfred, and Zoë Kravitz as Selina Kyle, aka Catwoman. The director spoke with Pattinson and Kravitz about a variety of topics related to their new Batman-centric movie. The actors revisited their unusual screentests for their respective characters, Pattinson shared why he wanted to play Batman, and Kravitz opened up about what makes Catwoman such an enticing character to portray.
Additionally, Reeves spoke about what most convinced him that the two stars would be the perfect actors to explore the complicated dynamic between these two Gotham vigilantes. In "A History of Batman and Catwoman's 78-Year Courtship," Vulture gives an in-depth timeline of DC's most infamous will-they, won't-they frenemies, but even a passive fan of the "Batman" movie franchise or DC comic books knows that Batman and Catwoman run on a prickly combination of chemistry, attraction, repulsion, and rage. It's with this canonical dynamic in mind that Reeves approached the casting of the couple. The fact that Kravitz and Pattinson share a connection in real life only made "The Batman" helmer's decision a whole lot easier.
Pattinson and Kravitz's real life friendship created a natural chemistry
At the DC FanDome event (via YouTube), "The Batman" director Matt Reeves and two of the stars of the Warner Bros. feature, Robert Pattinson and Zoë Kravitz, assembled for a brief panel chat and to debut the latest trailer for the DCEU entry. Early in the panel, Reeves touched on his appreciation for the connection Pattinson and Kravitz share. He specifically commented on the pair's chemistry, which springs from their deep-rooted friendship (which Pattinson also touched on in a 2019 Entertainment Weekly interview), saying it was beneficial for their paired screen test. He recalled, "There was something very special and magical about the way you guys played off each other right from the beginning. So, I just knew right away... I was going, 'Wow, there's a really neat —' like, I know you guys are friends, and so there was a great chemistry right from the beginning that I felt like there was a connection which you naturally had. I feel like, when we were filming, obviously that came out more and more."
In the latest trailer for "The Batman," fans get a glimpse of Catwoman's intense connection with Batman. That said, it's clear that Kravitz will bring far more to the character of Selina Kyle than mere chemistry. "I don't want her to be an idea," she stated at DC FanDome, "I want her to be a real human being in a real situation... [she is] trying to survive and reacting to her own pain and her history." Based on what we've seen and heard so far, Kravitz's natural chemistry with Pattinson, coupled with her determination to tell a real story, has the potential to introduce a far more complex Catwoman than the franchise has historically embraced.