What's the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Catwoman? One of the most famous characters in Batman's orbit – sometimes friend, sometimes foe, often something in between – she's notoriously stealthy, a crafty cat-burglar. But she’s also a formidable fighter too, able to hold her own against Gotham's finest. They're big, pointy, extremely threatening shoes to fill, and Zöe Kravitz knew just how much work she'd need to put in to embody the role in Matt Reeves' The Batman. When working with stunt coordinator Rob Alonzo for her physical training, she found a characterful way to pin down Selina's movements – getting her David Attenborough on, and poring over bits of nature footage.
“We watched cats and lions and how they fight," Kravitz tells Empire in the world-exclusive newThe Batmanissue, "and talked about what is actually possible when you’re my size, and Batman’s so much stronger than me. What is my skill? It’s being fast and tricky. So we did some really interesting floor work that incorporated different kinds of martial arts and capoeira and a kind of feline, dance-like movement.”
The result is a Catwoman who moves with precision – and with a purpose rooted in the character's emotional state. “[Rob]’s not just trying to do a bunch of impressive backflips that wouldn’t be possible for that person to do, and he takes into account where we are in the story and where the characters are emotionally," explains Kravitz. "So it was really fun to work from that place.”
And with Reeves taking a noir approach to the material, it offers up another side of Selina Kyle for Kravitz to play into – the burgeoning femme fatale, slinking in the shadows around Robert Pattinson's brooding hero. “This is an origin story for Selina," she says. "So, it’s the beginning of her figuring out who she is, beyond just someone trying to survive. I think there’s a lot of space to grow and I think we are watching her become what I’m sure will be the femme fatale.”
To read more on the new Catwoman, pick up Empire’s world-exclusive The Batman issue – talking to director Matt Reeves, stars Kravitz, Robert Pattinson, Colin Farrell, and Paul Dano, and producer Dylan Clark about their radical reinvention of the Caped Crusader. Find it on shelves from Thursday 23 December, and pre-order a copy here.