Ah.

[trinityvixen]

While I was griping about stuff that is, aside from the second item, more important in the grand scheme of things, there was a press release about the third Nolan-helmed Batman film.

I'm actually not at all upset about Tom Hardy playing Bane. As several of the commenters at io9 pointed out pictorially, he could pull off the shape just fine. We only have to hope that Nolan uses him in the slyer, smarmier way that he did in Inception (rather than how Joel Schumacher used the character in that film I refuse to believe exists). It could work.

It's Anne Hathaway I remain unconvinced by. Anne Hathaway is, in a word, cute. She's cute, cutesy, pretty, girly, twee, etc., etc., etc. None of these are things I associate with Catwoman. I don't doubt her abilities as an actress, though, again, most of what I've seen her in has generally fit into the label "twee" without spilling over. (Before you tell me, I'll let you all know I still haven't seen her in Brokeback Mountain, in which I hear she was great. I promise I will get on that.)

Perhaps I'm just disappointed that my much-preferred casting choice for the role, Rachel Weisz, didn't get it. Maybe they're saving her for Talia al Ghul? I don't know. But Rachel Weisz is TEH SEX in mind, body, voice, and attitude. Funnily enough, the first thing I saw her in was The Mummy, in which she plays what I would call the Anne Hathaway type--ditzy, pretty, somewhat smart but not overly arrogant. But ever since then, the woman has been made of sex (including in the less-good sequel to The Mummy in which she wears so much eyeliner I died). It's a missed opportunity to have her in the movie.

Still? It's a Nolan Bat-film, so it'll be good, Anne Hathaway or no. I should just be glad that Catwoman has plot immunity and can't be killed off just to make the hero feel ways about stuff like Nolan does in all his movies....right?

Comments

[ivy03.livejournal.com]

Rachel Weisz is also edging up there for a Hollywood leading lady.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

Oy! She's hotter at 41 than Anne Hathaway at, what, 30? She's also sexy which Anne Hathaway just never will be. Dead pretty, sure, but not sexy.

[ivy03.livejournal.com]

I'm just saying I am not surprised to see her not cast in such a role. Hollywood thinking being what it is and all.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

I think glvalentine has her finger on the issue: Nolan sucks at casting women in his movies. He spends all his efforts wringing great performances out of great actors and then he just has actresses hang around, look pretty, maybe die so the hero looks good. I'm not denigrating the talent of Marion Cotillard or Ellen Page or Maggie Gyllenhaal or even Katie Holmes (who did what she could with the part as written). But he hasn't made the most of his casting or cast female roles to show off the talents of the good actresses he's gotten since Carrie-Anne Moss rocked the shit out of Memento.

And Anne Hathaway is not making the best case for him breaking away from this trend.

[lnbw.livejournal.com]

Ohhh, Rachel Weisz would have been good. I like Anne Hathaway, though, so I'm generally pleased, especially after hearing that the next runner-up was Keira Knightley.

Did you see Agora? I really wanted to but never got around to it.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

I have yet to see Agora. To the surprise of no one, it is on my Netflix queue. I do want to see it, though, more than my usual it's-on-the-queue-I'll-get-to-it movie.

Ugh, Keira Knightly. I suppose I should be grateful for small favors.

[wellgull.livejournal.com]

Keira Knightly? Small favors? I see what you did there.

Agora was good, but a little. . . obvious? Heavy-handed? at times. I still think you'd probably like it (I certainly did) but it's far from a perfect film.

[wellgull.livejournal.com]

And *this* was the movie that I remember her from and couldn't think of. Sigh.

[jethrien.livejournal.com]

I like Anne Hathaway, but she's just so darn wholesome. She reminds me a bit of Audrey Hepburn. Catwoman should have a certain naughty sizzle.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

Ah, yes, "wholesome" is another synonym for "Anne Hathaway is too darned adorable for this role." She's no Michelle Pfeiffer, that's for sure. Hell, she's no Lee Merryweather, to say nothing of Julie Newmar or Eartha Kitt.

[jethrien.livejournal.com]

It's not Kittengirl.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

(http://photobucket.com/images/kitten%20rawr)

[chuckro.livejournal.com]

...I think she can do it. Also, seeing her in a cat suit is worth my $14 any day of the week.

[six-demon-bag.livejournal.com]

I read about this on Yahoo's front page earlier today and was initially content with the Hathaway decision because, in the photo of her they had to go along with it, she looked like someone I could imagine playing Catwoman. Of course, as you point out, attitude is a major part of Catwoman's persona and I'm not sure Hathaway can pull that off. Still, it's hard for me to imagine playing the role poorly enough to make me wish it was someone else.

Holy crap, that was Rachel Weisz in The Mummy! I saw it in the theater and maybe once since, and only saw The Mummy Returns (which I thought was a piss poor sequel) in the theater. I didn't know who she was then. The first time I heard her name was back in '05 when some friends and I went and saw Constantine -- she looks so different than she did in The Mummy! Also, you mention the loads of eyeliner she wore in The Mummy Returns...perhaps that's why I wasn't sure it was the same actress when I saw it.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

I need to walk back some of my lack of enthusiasm for Hathaway, if only because it's entirely possible that Nolan might pull a performance out of her akin to what Heath Ledger gave in The Dark Knight.

And, yes, Rachel Weisz is the hotness. (And, yes, The Mummy Returns was a pathetic sequel.)

[six-demon-bag.livejournal.com]

That's kind of what I'm thinking. Well, I wasn't thinking about a performance up there with that of Heath Ledger, but I figure that she's not a bad actress as far as I can tell and thus, theoretically, should be capable of pulling off moods/persona that we don't associate with her.

[linaerys.livejournal.com]

Between Anne Hathaway and Rachel Weisz, I'll take Anne Hathaway, actually.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

Rachel Weisz hits the lesbian-lust buttons for me. That's all!