UPDATE: Zoë Kravitz says she was rejected from The Dark Knight Rises for being too “urban”
The Batman star had auditioned for a small role in Christopher Nolan's movie
Aux News Zoë Kravitz
Zoë Kravitz made her official DC universe debut in Matt Reeves’ The Batman as Catwoman (The LEGO Batman Movie doesn’t quite count), but she had her eye on being in a Batman movie for a while.
In an interview with The Guardian, the multi-hyphenate star says she tried to audition for a role in The Dark Knight Rises back in 2012, but was told she was too “urban” for it—which is code in Hollywood for “not white enough.”
Kravitz is careful not to place the blame on Christopher Nolan though, saying it “was probably casting director of some kind, or a casting director’s assistant.” She adds, “Being a woman of color and being an actor and being told at that time that I wasn’t able to read because of the color of my skin, and the word urban being thrown around like that, that was what was really hard about that moment.”
The actor had previously told Nylon about the experience, saying, “What does [her race] have to do with anything?”
Whoever decided to not go with Kravitz because she’s a woman of color is probably kicking themselves now, because there’s been plenty of positive chatter from fans about Kravitz taking on the role. She also makes a great Catwoman, bringing a balance of vulnerability, depth, and sultriness to the role.
The Batman’s final scene sets up the possibility for a sequel. Reeves said it doesn’t necessarily mean he’s creating his own Batman franchise, but if the sequel does come, there’s plenty of ground for Kravitz to delve into if she returns as Catwoman.
She told Empire last year that The Batman is an “origin story for Selina.” She explains, “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.”
UPDATE (3/8/21): Kravitz has posted a new statement on social media, clarifying her earlier comment and saying that her story had nothing to do with playing Catwoman in The Dark Knight Rises (which she says “would have made no sense” for her). What really happened is that she was denied a chance to audition for “a small part” because someone said that “they were not going ‘urban’ on the part.” She doesn’t know who said it and had no intention of trying to “point fingers” or “make anyone seem racist,” especially director Christopher Nolan, the producers, or anyone involved in casting.
Kravitz says she doesn’t think anyone “meant any harm” by it, she just wanted to use it as an example of “what it was like to be a woman of color in this industry at that time.” A screenshot of her post is below.
176 Comments
That fucking sucks.
if it’s true she should name the person who said it, then
It was 11 fucking years ago man
Suspicious verbiage aside, I’m not sure the TDKR character would really work as a 21 year old. It kind of requires being a “real” adult adult.
It wouldn’t have worked. Lately celebs (highly paid celebs) bitching about the parts they should have had, the awards they deserved… Most of us have been overlooked for jobs/promotions, whatever. It sucks. But whoever was casting TDKR knew who they wanted and hired them. I won’t presume to know why they cast Hathaway (aside from the obvious). If we are looking at accusations of racism, we need more than a claim that ‘someone’ mentioned the word “urban,” that they absolutely meant “Black” by that, and that her skin color was absolutely the reason for not getting invited to audition.
Sir this is an Arby’s.
That’s “madam” to you.
God you’re unfunny.
This is a very clean and articulate post.
Definitely one of the “good ones”.
I’ve been on this Earth a long time. I don’t remember a time any person was referred to as “urban” where it wasn’t code for “black.” Maybe white people refer to other white people as “urban” but I’ve never witnessed it.
What about people referring to Keith Urban?Checkmate.
Damn you, Karl Urban.
Who would do something like that?!
Maybe white people refer to other white people as “urban” but I’ve never witnessed it. Nah, you’re right. They do not. That’d be “urbane.”
Urbanite.
Some of my white friends referred to me as “urban” due to me being the first person in our group of friends to get a job located downtown and because I preferred to spend my weekends in dive bars rather than going on camping trips.
My point being that it happened once and is probably indicative of absolutely nothing in the grand scheme of things.
Honestly, outside of ear shot of someone of color, you are lucky if they just use the term “urban” to refer to black people.
White city folk are “urbanites.”
Maybe white people refer to other white people as “urban” but I’ve never witnessed it.
I can imagine them saying “urbane” though….
[Edit: aaand someone already said this. That’s what I get for not reading and memorizing all the comments before I post.]
Or you could just believe black women
I dont think they said they didnt believe her
Or you could shut the fuck up, but I think we all know that isn’t happening anytime soon.
“we need more than a claim that ‘someone’ mentioned the word “urban,” that they absolutely meant “Black” by that”Counterpoint: you could not pretend that urban means anything other than black when it comes to Hollywood.Or, alternately, you could stop being a coward and simply call her a liar, which is what you want.
I’m going to give you the benefit of the doubt, and assume you read the article before they stealth edited it to clarify she wasn’t auditioning for Catwoman.What is disappointing is that people still assume that racist hiring practices is the exception rather than the rule.
Because you’re in charge of all hiring?
But whoever was casting TDKR knew who they wanted and hired them.
I mean sure, you could just puke out the same excuse we’ve always gotten for difficulty non-white actors and actresses have breaking in to the business….
You sound like a shitty person.
What are the non-racist ways to tell a black person they’re too urban to read for a part?
You look too strung-out.
“You don’t look like someone Ann Hathaway would room with.”
Call them ‘Gail the Snail’ and throw salt at them until they leave.It would be unsettling, but hard to point out as racist.(Alternately, just say you’re going in a different direction or that they aren’t what you’re looking for. I figure there have to be a million ways to tell an actor that they’re not what you have in mind for a part without being a jerk or racist.)
This newswire has made a big leap in assuming that’s even the role she wanted to audition for. The interview doesn’t specify, and at that point in Kravitz’s career it makes much more sense that she was going for Juno Temple’s character – in part because of what you said.
Where in the article does it say she auditioned to play Catwoman in The Dark Knight Rises? In another article I read it said she auditioned to play Selina Kyle’s roommate. So still a shitty reason not to get cast but kind of a different story.
Looks like the error has been corrected without acknowledgment.On a side note, Eartha Kitt played Catwoman on TV more than 50 years ago, although the element of attraction between her and Batman was played down if not completely suppressed.
We also had a black Catwoman in Halle Berry in 2004, though maybe that’s just better forgotten.
Do you think some Executive with some disturbing ideas about race used that as an excuse to not cast black people in staring roles in block buster hopfulls?
That never happened.
Well she was epicly hot in that. The outfit is only thing I remember of that turd of a movie.
AFAIK she lasted very few episodes because of, you know, racism.
The AV Club correcting an error without acknowledgment? The hell you say!
And now there’s an update calling out “click bait bad journalism” that not only still doesn’t acknowledge it but implies that Kravitz was at fault (“clarifying her comment” when in fact she is paraphrasing what she already said).And the subhead of this article is STILL wrong (she never auditioned).
That tracks more; in TDKR, that role went to Juno Temple who’s only a year off Kravitz.
Hollywood casting is also a weird fit with our general ideas of fairness and discrimination. If I showed up for a job interview at McDonald’s and they sent me away for not being hot enough, or for being too old, or because they imagined the job going to a blonde, that would obviously be a problem. But, of course, casting works this way all the time, and there’s no real way for it not to work that way.We can (and should) encourage casting that looks outside narrow confines of race, and considers whether a character has to be of the race that was envisioned for it. And I’m sure it’s particularly galling to be told you don’t fit because you’re “urban,” when (1) its a stereotype to associate black people with being “urban,” and (2) the character in the movie was an underclass person living in the city, so it’s strange to have an aversion to casting someone “urban” even if you’re buying into stereotypes. But it is a little challenging to map our general assumptions — any consideration of a person’s race in hiring decisions is wholly wrong and unjustified — onto casting situations.
I do wonder if this is a damned if you do damned it you don’t situation. Like say she did get the part. Would the movie get criticized about how the only part for a non-white woman is a criminal pick pocket, possible sex worker (although that last part might just be me mixing some comic stuff into the movie in my head)?
I think so, but it’s also to important to remember that it’s also a damned if you do, damned if you don’t situation for minority actors, who probably would prefer that they could compete for roles without having to worry that they won’t get cast sometimes due to stereotype, and sometimes won’t get cast because someone is avoiding the stereotype.
Ummm I don’t know if that’s true. I’m an extroverted male and oh boy don’t get me standard on how many server/hosting jobs I’ve missed out on because I’m not a hot woman in heels. Don’t get me started “I can only have food delivered to me by a woman” is a line I’ve seriously heard in my life.
I genuinely want to see Cameron Britton and Zoe Kravitz auditioning for the same role
Either way, it’s going to be the best depiction of Golda Meir ever!
She would have also been waaaaaaaay too young to be Catwoman opposite Christian Bale, even by Hollywood standards. Hathaway, 8 years younger than Bale, seemed like a peer. Kravitz 14 years younger and only 23 at the time would have been off.
That was my thought as well, but doesn’t have anything to do with why she was told she wasn’t cast. I’d think “you’re too young to be a master thief who can hold her own against Batman” would be a reasonable response.
Considering that the script called for Bruce and Selina to end up together, I imagine many people would have had issues with the casting, since he is 14 years older than Zoe Kravitz and he would have been 37 and her only 23 at the time of the movie.
Sounds like all this is moot, since Catwoman isn’t the role she wanted to audition for anyway.
Yeah, looks like it.
Twenty-three year olds are not babies. I’d been married and divorced and remarried by that age. Why are people these days so determined to infantilise grown adults?
That’s coincidentally almost exactly the same age my parents were when they got married.
It was a very strange reasoning to deject Zoe Kravitz for being “Too urban” in the part where the setting is Gotham, a very downrotten, urban like setting, and the character she was tested supposed to be a street smart.
but was told she was too “urban” for it
It seems she wasn’t up for the role of Catwoman, which isn’t surprising — she was too young to be paired with Christian Bale, and wasn’t nearly as famous as Hathaway at the time. She wanted the Juno Temple role.
she was too young to be paired with Christian Bale
Since when has an actress being too young stopped them from getting paired with an aging leading man?Daniel Craig was pointing out the absurdity of questions about working with “an older actress” during Spectre when he and Monica Bellucci were only three years apart.
And they still ended up casting Seydoux as his long term romantic interest anyway despite her being nearly 20 years his junior.Also, given the actual use of Catwoman in Rises….it didn’t really need to be viewed as a romantic role.
Yet the reasoning of that casting director is very weird. “Too Urban”, for a setting 100% set on inner city Gotham, a very urban setting, and her character is street smart. Really a counter intuitive reasoning, without even touching to whole racist undertone.
It’s a case where attempted euphemism just makes matters worse. If they’d simply said “We’re looking for a white actor for the part,” then one could question whether that’s a reasonable casting requirement or not for that particular role, but the reason would at least make sense.
But you have to touch the racist undertone. lol It’s not weird or counter-intuitive reasoning if you understand what they meant by “urban.” It damn sure wasn’t “city.”
You’re soooo brave and such a good person.
It doesn’t really take much bravery to state the obvious but thanks anyway I guess. lol
She told Empire
last year that The Batman is an “origin story for Selina.” She
explains, “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.”
Guess she’s to young to remember Michelle Pfeiffer’s take on Catwoman in Batman Returns. An origin story as well. Also why not celebrate her being in a lead instead of boohooing about a lost role. How big of an impact would she have had anyway.
Tatiana, the diacritical marks above the [ë] are not called hyphens. Her name is actually uni-umlauted
Mötlëy Zöe?
multi-hyphenated usually refers to someone with more than one string to their bow, ie. singer-dancer-actor etc.
Yeah, sorry about that. In addition to not knowing that meaning, I had no idea she was anything other than an actor.
Yeah, it was weird to use that term without clarifying what the other thing (things?) she does is. I mean, her last name being Kravitz, I’m guessing something in music, but I have no idea.
I think we’re pretending she’s a dedicated musician who really care about the artform
Correction: The diacritical mark above the e in Zoë is not actually an umlaut but a diaresis.An umlaut shifts the sound of a vowel and usually comes from German loanwords. Significantly, there is no e+umlaut in German.
Diaeresis, on the other hand, is used when two vowels occur next to one another to indicate that they should not form a dipthong or make a silent e, but that both should be pronounced with their own syllable. Thus: “Zo-ee,” not “Zoy” or “Zo.”
Point taken, but I think it’s generally referred to as an umlaut when it’s just stylistic, which I believe it is here, since Zoe is pronounced the same way as Zoë. So I went with the comparably more recognizable term.
An umlaut is used to denote a vowel sound that has undergone a specific vowel shift in a Germanic language. For instance, if there was an High German word Zo that i-mutated to Zö then that ö has an umlaut. “Umlaut” is German for “re-sound” and is used both for the process and for the diacritic that sometimes denotes it in some languages. The Proto-Germanic manniz becoming men in English is an example of umlaut-the-process, even though the English word (unlike the identically pronounced Swedish män) does not have an umlaut-the-diacritic. If this seems confusing you can blame linguists, Germans, or both.
Since the dots in Zoë have nothing to do with any Germanic vowel shifts and are there to indicate vowel hiatus then they are not technically an umlaut. If you’re named Zoë after your French grandparent or some such and inherit their in French very useful ë then that’s still a diaeresis or trema, which is a completely different (but visually indistinguishable) diacritic mark from the umlaut.How much this matters is left as an exercise for the reader. Thank you for your coöperation, my geschätzter readers.
This is genuinely cool and interesting info, but you did catch my point that I specifically chose to use umlaut because it is a more recognizable term than diaresis, right?The Wikipedia article calls it a “metal umlaut” when it’s just pretty dots in names. Mötley Crüe did not major in German before choosing their name, after all. I’m not putting on airs here; I actually thought they were tittles before I researched to make sure. But I did look it up, and still chose my joke with exacting precision.
One the one hand, racist casting sucks. On the other hand, I think she dodged a bullet. Selena/Catwoman was a better part in this film.
Agreed. This rationale is stupid racist bullshit and always has been. But the end result is good: that role was inconsequential, and she probably wouldn’t have gotten this role.Despite my generally ambivalent feelings about The Batman, I think Kravitz’ take on Catwoman is excellent. Probably my favorite Catwoman. Zoe Kravitz is great in pretty much everything.
perhaps she was too young to play opposite Bale, whose Batman was actually older than Bale, so a 20+ year age difference. could be because she can’t act and has only that one thing she does with her eyes in her actor’s playbook. could be because the producers read the script and figured the movie was already going to suck a ton and didn’t feel like it needed to suck even more
Anyone using the term “urban” to disparage a black actress is a big problem. However, I’d always assumed that Juno Temple was cast in part because she looks a lot like this girl from Batman: Year One, which was the obvious inspiration for the character:
That makes sense. After all, comic book movies are well-known for their fanatical devotion to reproducing the original look of the characters on the page. 😉
I figured Kravitz was cast in this film because she looks like Year One’s Selina Kyle.
Gooooooood lord.Like, can someone explain to me, without it being racism, what exactly too “urban” for Gotham fucking City, specifically, is?Like, I mean, we all know it’s actually racism, but what even? Like, too urban for Smallville would’ve been racist too, but Gotham?!
Nobody can explain it as other than racism, because it’s racism.Specifically, I’d guess it’s the racist assumption by casting directors that unless a character is already marked as Other, it’s “confusing” to cast them as nonwhite. Like, if the plot doesn’t comment upon their background, or the character doesn’t fit racist stereotypes that require no comment, the audience will wonder why not. She’s “too urban” to play a character who isn’t obviously poor or from the streets or exotified in a very specific way.The weirdest way this plays out: white redheads are way more likely to be recast with POC actors than blondes or brunettes, because redheads are also historically Othered or exotic. See: Zendaya as MJ, Candice Patton / Kiersey Clemons as Iris West, Keiynan Lonsdale as Wally West, Jessica Henwick as Colleen Wing, Halle Bailey as Ariel, Mehcad Brooks as Jimmy Olsen. It’s really weird how specific it is.
That’s cool – more redheads for me!
Wait, hold up, is Colleen Wing a redhead in the comics?My only actual experience her in comics was in old Claremont X-Men comics, but I read the Essential editions, which were black and white.
Yep – Colleen Wing is part of Marvel’s stable of many redheads.I had a similar reaction to another aspect of Wing when “Iron Fist” premiered. I didn’t realize she was also of Asian descent. I feel like it’s been only within the past 10+ years that artists have been making a real effort to depict her as such.
This is Colleen from art done in 1976. The artwork is fairly typical for how Asian characters were depicted during that era.
Colleen Wing is sometimes depicted as a redheaded Asian woman in the comics. She has always been depicted as an Asian. The redheaded thing has been off and on constant over the years.
Why does she look like she’s in her pajamas and a dressing gown in that image?
Why does she look like she’s in her pajamas and a dressing gown in that image?
She’s a karate person and that’s how karate people dress
I thought it was because redheads are weirdly over-represented in the comics (which may just be that red stands out) so when ti came to live action there are fewer, but I never tallied it up to be sure.
That may be part of it, the red would stand out in print. But I also think “redhead” is a soft symbol to mark a character as kind of exotic or Other. Redheaded women in particular are “firey,” passionate, difficult, emotional, which are also stereotypes applied to Black and Latinx women, so maybe that feels like a lateral move for casting.Also, since a lot of these characters were conceived in the 30’s-60’s, it might’ve been shorthand to suggest they’re working class Irish vs. a neutral black/brown or an all-American blond.
Interesting! Probably a combination of things. Certainly seems like more women were portrayed as redheads which may go with them being seen as more emotional characters.
I hadn’t thought about the Irish/working class aspect of red hair in pop culture, but it makes sense. I actually always just figured that Stan Lee was into redheads, and that’s why Marvel in particular had so many.
It’s archaic as hell at this point, obviously, but ~70 years ago I can see comic writers thinking that. Stan Lee in particular was pretty into centering characters that weren’t rich WASPs, Iron Man excluded: Spider-Man’s crew were working class New Yorkers, the X-Men were civil rights analogs, etc.Some of it’s still in there. MJ in the Raimi movies is still really blue collar, and constantly condescended to by the Osbornes, etc.
No it isn’t. You’re just dumb as hell.
Rrrrracism!!!!!
Whoever decided to not go with Kravitz because she’s a woman of color is probably kicking themselves now Uh huh…or maybe its nothing. The part in question had how many lines? Not enough for any non movie person to care about.Go find something else to wring your pearls over.
If she’s looking for attention she should probably say she’s a dude like Juno.
“Whoever decided to not go with Kravitz because she’s a woman of color is probably kicking themselves now, because there’s been plenty of positive chatter from fans about Kravitz taking on the role.”Yes, I’m sure a casting director looking for a white girl in 2008 is devastated by…online fan chatter? Christ.Also, if Kravitz got the role as Catwoman’s friend then, there is a 0% chance she gets Catwoman now.So unless Juno Temple really wanted to be Reeves’ Catwoman, not one person will feel bad about how this played out.
Would have to imagine it was for the role that ended up going to Juno Temple.
Or possibly panicky Gothamite #3. We don’t really know.
She dodged a bullet. Dark Knight Rises is a ridiculous mess.
So now that all the good writers are gone, you guys are going with 100% outrage instead of the usual 85%? The last years of the AV Club are gonna be so lame.
Kravitz is careful not to place the blame on Christopher Nolan though,
saying it “was probably casting director of some kind, or a casting
director’s assistant.”
This is Kravitz saying what we all likely know but can’t say because she wants to continue having a career in Hollywood.That said, good for her. Whatever role she was “too urban” for was likely a pittance compared to what role she wound up getting.
White directors should not being directing BIPOC. Sounds like Dark Knight got it right and an obvious misstep here by Reeves and WB for The Batman. If you want BIPOC in your movie, cast a director of color.
I assume ten years from now we’ll be getting the story from actress that was rejected from this Catwoman role for being “too muscular”.
“too country”
“too roll-and-roll.”
“too post-neo-progessive shoegaze.”
“Too plain-looking”. Now that’s a discrimination barrier Hollywood would struggle with!
Been pushing that for years. I want more uggo representation. The closest we get is Danny Devito.
Not sure ‘plain-looking’ really describes Danny DeVito.
Too cat. Like an actual cat. The ratio of cat to woman is way off.
That’s how I felt about Cats the Musical.
And on the other end, the actress who was rejected for being too much woman, not enough cat.
I don’t see why Catwoman can’t be played by a 400lb obese woman, because frankly I’m sick of these chauvinistic stereotype that insist that burglars that specialise in second-story work need to be “fit” and “flexible” and instead want to see some representation for non-traditional body types in the role.
What does the VP of Marketing Urban Division of Steven and Lido think about this?
GAME TIME!
Can you think of any too SUBURBAN for a role in a movie you recently saw?
I’ll go first:
Jake Gyllenhall in Prince of Persia
Jake Gyllenhall in Source Code.
For the suburbs? I can believe that. His face even looks like a cul-de-sac.
I know I wouldn’t mind going round and round it.
Jake Gyllenhall in End of Watch AND The Sisters Brothers.
Liam Neeson in Batman Begins!
The entire cast of “Dancin’: It’s On!”
Sick RiffTrax pull!I watched the Talkin RiffTrax for that, and no, Dancin was not on, as it turns out.
I don’t consider it dancing unless you’re throwing chairs into a pool! I was disappointed in the lack of railing kills in this David Winters film.
100% less of this guy:
Sticking with the Nolan movies, I never liked Eric Roberts for Sal Maroni. Tom Wilkensen was great as Carmine Falcone, but that still bothered me too. These guys should be Italians! So where does the casting get off on Kravitz, when they can’t even get something as easy as this right?
I hate it when people trying to lampoon social issues of race and casting by feigning outrage at a Eureopean character not being played by the same type of European. We’re talking about skin colour not country of origin. As a White actor, one of the first things I was told in college was that I could basically play any Eureopean role and that I couldn’t place First Nations of POC. Nodody is going to get upset that I’m 3/4 Italian and I’ve got a sliver of Irish in me if I got casted as an Irish character. I look passable Irish.
It’s the same thing when people pretend to be outraged that Chris Pratt has been casted as Mario. Go home.
I don’t care that you think something called reverse-racism exists.
My point is the hypocrisy about WB seemingly being particular about race in one instance, but not in others. Bane is from Latin America, but they cast a white guy. (Something can be said about Ra’s Al Ghul as well.) I just don’t see what leg they have to stand on in rejecting Zoe the way she says they did.But what I hate is the “white is white, it doesn’t matter” argument people clutch their pearls about. That’s the same sensibility that’s been used to cast Asians for decades, and it’s lazy. But even sticking with Europeans, it’s pretty weaksauce, considering all the different types of Europeans there are. And I wouldn’t even care if the fact of the matter was Nolan’s aesthetic was trying to be ‘more realistic’ while forgetting that mafia structure is actually kinda specific about the ethnicity thing.
funny how no one has mentioned memoirs of a geisha casting zhang ziyi and gong li, two chinese women, to play japanese characters.
David Hyde Pierce was considered too urbane for many roles.
In the book by Bruce Beresford “Josh Harnett Definitely Wants to Do This: True Stories from a Life in the Screen Trade” – a book about the Academy Award winning director trying to make a film – any film over a two year period (stories usually end with the actor agreeing to do the film if he’s removed as choice for director – then don’t get made anyway) …https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1692378.Josh_Hartnett_Definitely_Wants_to_Do_This… the one film he does get to make, he says he found the perfect actress to play a small part as a hitchhiker. Only to be point blank be told no because she was black. This was in the year 2005 by the way. His argument that Morgan Freeman was also in the film didn’t seem to get him anywhere and he ended up with Emily Deschanel instead.The film in question was The Contract. It was filmed in Bulgaria and the recipient of a rare 0 percent on Rotten Tomatoes and also stars John Cusack.
I’m troubled that an ostensible “writer” appears not to know what hyphens are…
Multi-hyphenated because she’s also a musician.
Oh FFS… That you can read an article about a talented woman of colour getting told she’s “too black” for a movie and your first thought is to complain about the author’s hyphen use indicates that your priorities are a bit askew… Basically, you sound like the type of person who others would happily cut off their own arm to avoid at a party.
Whereas you’re the kinda party person who freaks out and plays the race card over someone pointing out a punctuation mistake.
You wanted the other commenter to focus on the color of the woman’s skin, and her talent exclusively? We’re not allowed to discuss any other aspects of the article here? Shit, did I miss new rules being posted somewhere?
My apologies – did not know that multi-hyphenate is an actual term, so looks like I’m the donkey here. Also in my head I meant the initial comment to be a light-hearted jab but it definitely does not read that way, so apologies for the tone even if I hadn’t gotten it wrong.
More or less troubling than not knowing what a “multi-hyphenate” is in the context of showbiz but still finding time to be needlessly snarky about the term’s usage?
I GUESS you could be a dick-bag commenter.
Multi-hyphenate is in the dictionary. It means someone who does a lot of different jobs, usually an entertainer, but not necessarily – the gig economy of the past decade made jacks-of-all-trades out of most of us.There’s plenty of legitimate things to complain about with this website, you can rag on those instead of making a fool of yourself.
Thats gross, but ultimately you could tell me catwoman wasn’t in the third Nolan batman movie and I’d believe it, let alone her white roommate. Most of her career has been better.
I don’t know’s crappier – that this happened to her, or that someone actually said that to her face.
She kisses Batman twice, and he seems generally repulsed by her (as with all things), then she asks if he wants her to stick around Gotham, to which he has no response.Batman 2: He’s Just Not That Into You
What a half-story. Was this just a snippet from a bigger interview that was excised to make a story?What was the small role in The Dark Knight Rises? Clearly it was not Catwoman, who is not a “small” part in the film. Yet it is somewhat implied by the later claims about her Catwoman spin on The Batman.
She was a bright spot in the otherwise completely forgettable The Batman.
On the plus side, she was cast as a lead in this new Batman for being stunningly beautiful.
Earlier today I saw a tweet reminding people that not every black or colored person lives in an urban area and the term “urban” should not be synonomous with people of color. No argument here, except for the reminder that people who use the word “urban” like that are using it as a code, because using the words they WANT to use might give them repurcussions (albeit barely). Doubt dogwhistlers care too much if their code words are accurate.
Chris ‘Ludacris’ Bridges, rejected for the part of black sharecropper Nathan Morgan in Sounder, for being ‘too urban’.
If it’s really the Juno Temple role we’re talking about, that’s a lot of fuss for a minuscule role. I remember wondering why Temple even took the part; she was never a big star but she was worth more than what was essentially a cameo. She may have been cast because she looked like Holly Robinson (which would explain why Kravitz couldn’t get the part) but the character went by another name, so I don’t know.It feels like this story wouldn’t have been talked about if many people hadn’t jumped to the conclusion that she was turned down for Catwoman.
Actors love to make claims in interviews that get people talking. Unless someone corrobrates this, I’m not buying it.
“Urban? I grew up in a small town. What about me seems ‘urban’ to you?”
Wait she is black?
Whoever decided to not go with Kravitz because she’s a woman of color is probably kicking themselves nowI doubt they’re kicking themselves over casting an Oscar winner in the role. The movie made a billion dollars and as far as we know, their career hasn’t suffered from not casting Kravitz. I doubt they’re filled with regret.
She’s a wooden actress whose main function in the film is eye candy. *Which only a racist would say.
Are we sure she wasn’t passed over because she’s one-dimensional? Perhaps the character was bubbly and happy. All she does is brood and look put upon. Not only in her roles, but in real life. My god, if life as a rich actress is so terrible, go do something else.
This is a ridiculous opinion lol. It sounds like you are the one bored with your life.
“Kravitz has posted a new statement on social media, clarifying her earlier comment and saying that her story had nothing to do with playing Catwoman in The Dark Knight Rises (which she says “would have made no sense” for her).”
Yeah, dumbass. That’s what we all said when the first version of this article tried to pretend otherwise.
Man when you guys bury this site now at days you aren’t wrong. We already knew she didn’t audition to play catwomen and I don’t know where anyone saw that. She was supposed to play her friend who was a thief and picked on guys pocket and tried to pick bruce’s pocket. Now I will say as a POC if she was cast in that role in 2012, I would have been annoyed that Annie Hathaway played the White women savior to her young POC friend thief. But saying she was too urban is a fucked up reason and they should be ashamed.Again thought, fucking awful article on AV clubs part.
“ok, let’s talk about click bait bad journalism”Pssstt… AV Club, she’s talking about you!
Let’s talk about Ellie Kemper KKK Princess
In fairness by ‘urban’ they meant ‘stilted and bland’
Tatiana Tenreyro – The new Sam Barsanti….so gross.PS – I’m loving the opening line of Kravitz’s most recent response. It’s like she is speaking directly to you Tatiana and your click bait garbage.
Am I alone in thinking that Kravitz’s update is pretty messed up? I’m guessing she’s trying to protect her agent, the mostly likely person to be the unnamed someone who would’ve told her not to audition, and who would know who had made the original comment Kravitz secondhand quoted. But she’s basically dropped the bomb that some decisionmaker(s) on that production were being racist, but now wants to throw out a “not to point fingers” disclaimer, as if it wasn’t too late for that.That said, kinda crazy for anyone to be told they’re “too urban” to be in a Batman movie.
Yeah, but it was back when they were planning to move Batman away from Gotham and set the movie in rural Iowa. Batman would have been fighting corn-themed supervillains. The majority of the supporting cast would have been cows.
No, because from the start, she clearly was not saying that anyone high up in the movie was being racist. It was someone in the audition process, which for a role as small as Juno Temple’s roommate, is not gonna involve Chris Nolan or the producers.
Oh, I forgot there was a farmer in that movie.
Somewhere out there is a non-white actress with 10 times Kravitz’s talent. But that woman didn’t have pro-beauty bigotry opening doors for her.Remember: people LOVE discrimination when it’s in their favor.
“ok- let’s talk about click bait bad journalism.”Better take some notes Tatiana!
Jesus Christ, was her update a response to the original version of this article?