As is usually the case with Christopher Nolan productions (let’s not forget, almost nothing was known about “Inception” until a week or two before release), a deep veil of secrecy hangs over the production of “The Dark Knight Rises” — we know who most of the actors are playing, but little beyond that, and even then it’s generally thought that both Marion Cotillard and Joseph Gordon-Levitt‘s characters have more to them than the official descriptions. Unfortunately for Nolan, he’s been shooting a huge battle scene in public in Pittsburgh this week, and spoilery set photos have been all over the Bat-fan-sites in recent days.
Perhaps as an attempt to shut the stable door after the horse has already bolted, or more likely as an attempt to control the message, the studio released overnight the first image of one of the major characters whom, as yet, we haven’t had much of a glimpse of: Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle, who, traditionally, becomes Batman’s adversary and occasional ally, Catwoman. From the looks of the image, she certainly seems to be getting in on the action: she’s in a sleek black costume, some kind of hi-tech goggles, and rides what seems to be a modified version of the Batpod from “The Dark Knight,” laying credence to reports that she teams with Bruce Wayne to fight the evil attacking Gotham City.
We’re sure the fanboys will find plenty to complain about here, because, you know, that’s what they do, but we’ve not got much to nitpick about: Pretty Lady + Motorbike = Good Enough For Us. Now, all we need is an official photo of Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Egghead and the pieces will start to fit together. “The Dark Knight Rises” will, of course, hit theaters on July 20th, 2012, and you can click here for a bigger version of the image. (AICN)
You guys snark all over the incredible SUPERMAN photo released yesterday but give THIS a pass? Baffling …
yikes.
It looks like she\’s wearing high tech 3D glasses. This time, its THE AUDIENCE that\’s gonna in 3D. Whoa!
Also no rear view mirrors? That\’s totally not road safe.
I think for the first time Im actually kind of wary on whether is going to be a good film. Anne Hathaway never really seemed like a great Catwoman to begin with, would\’ve prefered Marion Cotillard.
Egghead? I thought he was playing Killer Croc.
Meh. Wake me up when they unveil her costume.
She\’s just basically a chick in leather on a bike. Doesn\’t really give off a Catwoman vibe does it? Meh. Not really impressed.
Could pass as a photo from an Annie Liebovitz Vogue shoot. She looks stylish but not intimidating.
It\’s a little better than some of the recent, on-set pics of Bane where he looks like a homeless bum.
Yeahright = Michael Bay??
I actually agree with you though, Nolan\’s women are not \”sexy,\” but only in the sense that they\’re not one-dimension cleavage bearing only-there-to-satisfy-thirteen-year-olds types. They\’re sophisticated and unconventionally sexy. It\’s the character\’s intellectual prowess and attitude that give them their sexiness. Sorry that she probably won\’t be purring, licking people\’s faces, and making coy double-entendre allusions to her \”pussy.\” But that\’s not a bash against Phfeiffer; I literally hit puberty the second I saw that scene.
I found ScarJo to be appropriately sexy for the tone of The Prestige, but I\’m sorry she wasn\’t bent over some hog, busting out a shameless ass-shot while she dubiously pretended to know what bolt she was tightening.
I am, however, somewhat underwhelmed by this picture. I have absolute faith in Nolan, but I feel he\’s taken away a lot from her costume. No, I didn\’t expect Halle Berry or Phfeiffer, but I thought there\’d be more of a disguise in her disguise. But I suppose it remains to be seen how the character will be developed. I\’m still pumped up for this, fanboys be damned.
The more I look at it, the more I like it. She looks like a badass anti-hero tough chick. I like that the neckline of the suit almost resembles a zipped up biker\’s jacket, only ya know SKIN TIGHT. Very nice.
We\’ve already had really campy Catwoman costumes with Pfieffer and Berry….the ears, claws, whip… This seems like a throwback to the minimalist versions from the old TV show, only updated and tailored to this specific story.
It looks like she\’ll have nightvision goggles, which is definitely a feline trait, and I bet when she pushes her goggles up on her head they resemble cat ears.
See that\’s how you release a first look.
VISIBILTY.
Not a murky mess and some messing around with the liquify tool in Photoshop.
Oh Brandon Routh swoon etc.
Hardly looks like an improvement over the miscast Halle Berry fashion disaster called Catwoman.
How come the pic released from the Batman movie is in brighter, better lighting than the release from the Superman movie, which was so dim you wanted to take a flashlight to it?
The one thing that has me worried, more than the questionable Bane and Catwoman photos (since I have faith Nolan will make them look fine on screen) but rather that Nolan seems to have fallen in the trap that has ruined so many superhero movies: the additional of multiple villains and too many characters.
Fastdub, I can dig it, but what you say doesn\’t fit the Nolan world
\”Catwoman isnt portrayed as a psychotic in anyway in the comics, she’s more a playful foil for batman as well as a reoccurring love interest.\”
While that might be so, Nolan likes to ground his movies in \”reality.\”
Normal, functioning, well adjusted people don\’t dress in leather, swing through the air on whips and fight crime. In the controlled environment of a S&M dungeon, with safe words and rules of conduct maybe. But not on the streets in a crime infested city.
As for love interest, if Rachel and Bruce can\’t be together because of his Batman alter ego, then it makes sense for Kyle to understand Batman and not the Bruce Wayne alter ego.
well said
None of the Nolan characters really identify themselves as their comic book names. Batman tends to known as \”The Batman\” by the Gotham folks. I don\’t think The Joker or Two-Face ever actually said their own names, or introduced themselves as such. So it wouldn\’t surprise me if we never actually hear Selina Kyle described as \”Catwoman\”. Instead of a literal translation of the character, complete with cat-ears on the costume, I think we\’re getting a less obvious adaptation. That\’s fine with me – we don\’t need another Halle Berry Catwoman.
\”Chris Nolan doesn’t do “human”\” — that\’s a hot load of horseshit.
Yeahright. Catwoman isnt portrayed as a psychotic in anyway in the comics, she\’s more a playful foil for batman as well as a reoccurring love interest. she has more often than not erred on the side of what is right, not good maybe but certainly not evil.
She\’s dangerous and I think maybe Hathaway can pull it off, especially considering she has never played a part like it so is in the perfect position to pull it off to great effect if all the pieces fall into place.
I have to say, one of the first things I thought as well was \”short hair\” would have been better. Weird.
Wish he did Catwoman with short hair. OR maybe this photo is just a decoy and isnt the final.
\”Chris Nolan’s women are cold and impenetrable. They lack sex appeal and they lack warmth.\”
Chris Nolan doesn\’t do \”human\”.
Is that a tire or obese liquorice?
Chris Nolan\’s women are cold and impenetrable. They lack sex appeal and they lack warmth. Even in the Prestige Scarlet Jo, seem awfully de-sexed, even as a girl with loose morals.
Cat woman is dangerous sexy, she\’s psychotic, a succubus, nothing about that image correlates to that. I don\’t feel any threat from her, I don\’t feel risk, and danger any psychosis. Ann Hathaway is a fine actress but she soooo mickey mouse.
I know Nolan can\’t tip his hat to Burton, but Burton\’s cat-woman– Phiffer was amazing. Sexy, dangerous, psychotic, and extremely emotionally vulnerable.
I know how Hath will play this part–she\’ll play it like every other Nolan woman, Stoic, stoic, stoic, stoic, a cypher.