HOT RIGHT NOW
Is sharpenIng her edge...
Zoë Kravitz is your new Catwoman in The Batman.
Despite celebrity parents in Lisa Bonet and Lenny Kravitz, Zoë Kravitz didn’t see major Hollywood roles as her birthright. “I truly believed I didn’t fit into that world,” she said, declaring a preference for pursuing theatre and indie roles.
After formative indie gigs and recent deviations from such, Kravitz has sunk her claws into a role that should change that. Following in the paw-steps of Julie Newmar, Eartha Kitt, Michelle Pfeiffer, Halle Berry, Anne Hathaway and others, Kravitz will play Selina ‘Catwoman’ Kyle in Matt Reeves’ The Batman, where she’ll join Jeffrey Wright’s Gordon and Paul Dano’s Riddler alongside Robert Pattinson’s Bats.
Kravitz’s stepdad and fellow DC lead Jason Momoa (Aquaman) celebrated the casting, declaring himself “freaking stoked” on Instagram. Pitched between indie cool and stealthy Hollywood in-roads, Kravitz’s CV gives Cat-fans plenty of reasons to feel stoked, too. Kravitz has indeed put in time in the indie trenches, beginning with a role as a Selina-chic goth nanny in No Reservations and continuing in films including teen-pic crowdpleaser Dope, where her performance sharpened underwritten dream-girl Nakia.
Meanwhile, she’s left more than scratch-marks in crossover roles. She banked a pivotal role in Mad Max: Fury
Road, while Bonnie in TV’s Big Little Lies stretched her long-form range. TV beckons again with a series adaptation of Nick Hornby’s High Fidelity, where she will take the role played by John Cusack and indulge self-proclaimed “music nerd” tendencies: she also fronts bands Lolawolf and Elevator Fight.
Elsewhere, Kravitz’s genre form has been on-key. In X-Men: First Class, she revelled in Angel Salvadore’s ambiguities; in Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes Of Grindelwald, she stole the scene as Leta Lestrange. Animation gigs have included Spider-Man: Into The SpiderVerse’s MJ and The Lego Batman Movie, where she voiced a certain Catwoman. She had less luck with The Dark Knight Rises, recalling being told she couldn’t audition for a “small role” because they – ouch - “weren’t ‘going urban’”. But a big Bat-verse entrance awaits. “I feel,” she said recently, “like I’ve proven I’m here to stay.” Not before time, this cat’s got the cream.
ETA | 25 JunE 2021 / ThE BATmAn opEns in summEr 2021.