Zoë Kravitz is being hailed for her role as Catwoman in “The Batman,” but the actress revealed that she was once unable to audition for the 2012 movie “The Dark Knight Rises,” because she was considered “too urban.”
“Being a woman of color and being an actor and being told at that time that I wasn’t able to read [lines] 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,” she told British newspaper, The Guardian. “I think it was probably a casting director of some kind, or a casting director’s assistant,” she said.
This is not the first time Kravitz has spoken about the turndown.
In a 2015 Nylon profile, she told the interviewer that she was told she wouldn’t be cast even for a small role because the film wasn’t “going urban.”
“It was like, ‘What does that have to do with anything?'” Kravitz told the magazine. “I have to play the role like, ‘Yo, what’s up, Batman? What’s going on wit chu?'”
If success is the best revenge, then Kravitz is laugh all the way to the bank.
“The Batman” raked in a massive $128.5 million at theaters in the United States and Canada over the weekend. The movie is currently the second pandemic-era film to earn over $100 million at the domestic box office in its debut. “Spider-Man: No Way Home” made over $260 million.
Kravitz is the daughter of actress Lisa Bonet and rocker Lenny Kravitz. She credits them for her tenacious perspective.
“They both dealt with being artists who didn’t act or dress or look or sound the way a Black person was supposed to act in terms of what white people specifically were comfortable with,” she shared. While they did not sit her down and break down racism in Hollywood, they prepared her in other ways.
“They never warned me or anything,” Kravitz said. “I think they were more focused on trying to make sure I understood that despite the color of my skin I should be able to act or dress or do whatever it is I want to do.”
