Anne Hathaway’s NO CAT or Is she?
Posted by Nicholas Rapp on February 6, 2012 at 12:05 am
Our newest writer, Nick Rapp, has something to say about Anne Hathaway’s Cat Woman....
It’s been a long time since the news was announced that Anne Hathaway would play Cat Woman in the upcoming Nolan film, The Dark Knight Rises. Well, I’m still not happy about it. Christopher Nolan has brought integrity to the super hero movie genre with The Dark Knight. It wasn’t just a good super hero movie, but a terrific movie altogether. I felt a similar excitement upon watching Heath Ledger perform his villain as I did with Javier Bardem in No Country For Old Men - a Best Picture winner. The addition of Anne Hathaway scraps this integrity.
It was not typical Anne Hathaway in her performance in One Day. She attempted a British accent and just did not deliver. The world of acting is too competitive for that to be okay. If Rooney Mara can master a Swedish accent, then an Oscar nominated actress [Rachel Getting Married (whiney, in my opinion)] should certainly be able to pull off British. But integrity isn’t the only reason Hathaway doesn’t fit Nolan’s Cat Woman. Let’s talk about type.
When you think “Anne Hathaway,” what’s the first thing that comes into your mind, other than the frustration that she’ll be Selina Kyle? I think of Princess Diaries and Ella Enchanted. I think of a sympathetic, and nerdy character who is always the reacher in romantic comedies, and despite her good looks, never the settler. What with her whiney voice and teenage angst, she does the reacher well! But Selina Kyle is no reacher. And there are plenty of women in Hollywood that fit Selina far better. Olivia Wilde for her slinkiness, and confident sex appeal. Rooney Mara for her attitude and capabilities for depth. And Scarlett Johansson for her sultry voice.
Love and Other Drugs was a good example of Anne Hathaway venturing to be received as an actress who could convey heartbreaking realities of life – you can’t change disease. Some might argue for Rachel Getting Married, but I still think it was just adolescent whining. Maybe Cat Woman is Hathaway’s attempt to further tread down the path of fulfilling character work. Alas, it’s hard to escape your type. As much as she might like to grow, her essence will not falter, and her voice will not change. I can only hope Nolan keeps her from using it to whine, and hell, I might even enjoy it.
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I thought it was good, and i’m still on the fence for Hathaway, but I think she might surprise us this time. Sure she’s unconventional, but that’s what might be her secret weapon this time around. I mean that picture itself is pretty seductive for her, something I wouldn’t normally expect from The Princess Diaries star. Of course i’m hoping she’ll be good, because honestly i’m not too pumped for TDKR, but that’s probably how most people are feeling as well due to it being put off as not going to be as good as TDK. Guess we’ll have to wait and see though.
Well if you remember, none of us were expecting Heath Ledger to be what we got.
We all were shocked and thought it was bad casting…then we were blown away.
I’m going to give Anne here the benefit of the doubt. Nolan had to have picked her for a reason.
It’s definitely unconventional, but most of the casting has been. Nolan picks specific actors and not just for their ‘name’ and speaking of which, in any film he’s done I’m not sure he’s offered a part up without some sort of audition. There’s a lot of big name starts that STILL have to audition for roles to show the directors and producers what they can do within the role. Granted it’s not a whole lot of time to see the actor fulfill the character.
I’ll wait to see in the film before I decide if it was the ‘right’ choice or not. Remember believing she’s the wrong choice before you even see her in the film is not only unfair, it will cloud your vision when you do see the film. I understand the high expectations, and the need to ‘get it right’ but there are have been films where I said, “Ugh, that’s not the right person for the film” prior to seeing the film and went to see it and the actor gave a solid performance and I still thought they were not the right fit because of my expectations, then later I would watch on DVD and do my best to remove my perception of wrong casting and just watch and found that the actors/actresses were actually pretty good. I wish I could give some specific movie titles and actors, but I can’t think of any off the top of my head.
I credit Nolan for taking a risk, in hiring Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle/Catwoman – it’s why actors and actresses want to work with him, he doesn’t usually type-cast. As an actor myself, we deal with it, but we don’t like it. The biggest thing for me as an actor is range because it broadens your role and your career. Sure some make a living playing the same type throughout their career, but…
Also a director I despise type-casting. I always look for slightly odd choices in roles, something you haven’t seen actors/actresses do before because if you’re open to giving them the chance to try something new, they’re usually more responsive in wanting to work with you on future projects.
Sure it’s a risk, but the majority of films themselves are a risk.
In any case, I’m ready to see this film. Batman!