When Anne Hathaway speaks, we listen. When she purrs, Batman better listen up.
Hathaway, who plays Catwoman in the upcoming blowout Batman finale "The Dark Knight Rises," sat down to talk with the LA Times about how she prepared for her role in Christopher Nolan's summer epic. Turns out, she went way back to the original comics, and the actress who helped inspire the feminine feline villain: Hedy Lamarr.
"I know this sounds odd, but her breathing is extraordinary," Hathaway told the paper. "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."
According to the book "Hedy Lamarr: the most beautiful woman in film" by Ruth Barton, Batman co-creator Bob Kane was inspired by both Lamarr and Jean Harlow when he created the character, who was first introduced in 1940 (Stylelist.com recently put together some of the most iconic style shots of Lamarr, in case you're wondering what she would look like without a catsuit).
As for Hathaway's performance, as Christian Bale said in November, she may have studied Lamarr, but she made Catwoman her own.
"When [director] Chris [Nolan] watched the screen test, he agreed that Anne did a wonderful job," Bale told the Philippine Daily Inquirer. "In many ways, she has the hardest job. There are a number of people who feel that the Catwoman role has been defined previously. So, I always saw Anne's role as being the toughest job of any of us."
The LA Times also reveals a pivotal scene in the film: Gotham is in ruins and Bane (played by Tom Hardy), has captured Batman. In walks Catwoman...
For more, click over to the LA Times.
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