Zoe Kravitz says Michelle Pfeiffer is ‘really encouraging’ about her playing Catwoman in The Batman

Michelle Pfeiffer ‘encouraged’ Zoe Kravitz earlier this year, before she embarked on the role of Catwoman.

Zoe is playing the role of Gotham City burglar Selina Kyle in Matt Reeves’ upcoming take on the DC Comics superhero tale – which will star Robert Pattinson as the Caped Crusader.

Speaking to Total Film magazine, Zoe, 31, revealed she consulted with the veteran actress, 62, who previously portrayed the character in Batman Returns.

‘I’ve met Michelle Pfeiffer several times, but we did talk about Catwoman when I saw her in January.

‘I told her I was nervous but she was really encouraging.

‘I want to make the character my own, although I want to respect her, so it felt important to acknowledge the amazing things she did with the iconic role.’

Zoe also recently revealed she had spent the last few months while filming was suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic training hard for the movie.

She said: ‘So I mean, it’s not like the studio called and said, “Don’t get fat, b****!” But I had been training now for maybe four or five months and the first couple weeks that I self-quarantined, I remember texting the director, I texted Matt and I was like, “We might have to make the cat suit a few sizes bigger when this is over.”

‘So I quickly decided to get my s**t together and I’ve been working out virtually with my trainer David Higgins five days a week.

‘And it’s actually been really great because it’s been giving me some kind of structure because I do it at the same time and it also makes the weekends feel like a weekend because I don’t work out on the weekends and it gives me just, oh, it’s a different kind of day.

‘So it’s actually been really great just for my mental health.’ 

Tim Burton’s 1992 sequel Batman Returns earned $266.8M at the box office and Michelle had previously expressed her delight that Zoe was taking on the role of the villainess.

‘I’m so excited,’ the Maleficent: Mistress of Evil actress told GMA co-anchor Michael Strahan last October. ‘Make sure, whilst designing the costume, they consider how you’re gonna go to the bathroom. Minor detail, but it’s an important one.’

Michelle had to wear her skintight black latex catsuit – created by costume designers Mary E. Vogt and Bob Ringwood – for 12-14 hours at a time with only one bathroom break at lunch during the six-month shoot. 

Other actresses to take on the role of cat burglar/Bruce Wayne’s love interest include Halle Berry, Julie Newmar, Lee Meriwether, Eartha Kitt, Camren Bicondova, and Lili Simmons.

Anne Hathaway played Selina in Christopher Nolan’s critically-acclaimed three-quel The Dark Knight Rises, which amassed $1.085B at the global box office.

Zoe beat out Alicia Vikander, Zazie Beetz, and Eiza González for the coveted role – according to Variety.

‘It’s very much a point of view-driven, noir Batman tale,’ The Batman director Matt Reeves told THR in January.

‘It’s told very squarely on his shoulders, and I hope it’s going to be a story that will be thrilling but also emotional. It’s more Batman in his detective mode than we’ve seen in the films. The comics have a history of that. He’s supposed to be the world’s greatest detective, and that’s not necessarily been a part of what the movies have been.

‘I’d love this to be one where when we go on that journey of tracking down the criminals and trying to solve a crime, it’s going to allow his character to have an arc so that he can go through a transformation.’