Zoë Kravitz Opens Up About Being Called ‘Too Urban’ to Audition for ‘The Dark Knight Rises’
The Batman has brought us the definitive Catwoman in Zoë Kravitz, as our Princess Weekes wrote. She was the kind of Selina Kyle that I have been dreaming of seeing in live action, and Kravitz delivered in a way that should get everyone excited about her future as a performer, as well as the stories still out there for Bruce and Selina. But it hasn’t been an easy journey for Kravitz, who opened up about past rejection in a new interview.
Talking to The Observer, Kravitz was very open about her journey as an actress, her struggle with an eating disorder as a teen and how it played into her training for Catwoman, and about being rejected for roles—one of those rejections being that of an audition for Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises.
According to Kravitz, she was told that she was “too urban” for what the movie was going for, which seems to just be a way of this casting director, or whoever the note came from, to say—without saying it—that they were not looking at Black women for the role.
Imagine telling Zoë Kravitz no …
Kravitz made it clear that she wasn’t sure who the note came from, just that she was not who they were looking for. How she’s too “urban” for a role is beyond me, but it clearly hurt Kravitz to hear that in response to simply asking for an audition.
“I don’t know if it came directly from Chris Nolan,” Kravitz said. “I think it was probably a casting director of some kind, or a casting director’s assistant … 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.”
Back in 2015, Kravitz also told Nylon that it was a smaller role, but she didn’t understand the response that the film wasn’t going “urban” for the role. “It was like, ‘What does that have to do with anything?’ I have to play the role like, ‘Yo, what’s up, Batman? What’s going on with you?’” And Kravitz is right. It doesn’t have anything to do with her acting and is clearly a racism issue, which says a lot about whoever sent that note back to Kravitz and her team.
Kravitz also had to release an Instagram story on March 8th, calling out those clickbait headlines for making this into something entirely different. Zoë Kravitz own words were that she wanted to audition for a small role and that she didn’t know who said it and her point in bringing it up was to focus on how hard it was for a woman of color in the industry at the time. “i was NOT told i was too urban to play catwoman in the dark knight. it would have made NO sense for me to even be considered for that role at that time,” Kravitz wrote, going on to point out that she didn’t point blame at Nolan or his team.
“i wanted to AUDITION for a small part in the film and was told (i do not know who said this but this is how it was worded to me) that they were not going ‘urban’ on the part. this is something i heard a lot 10 years ago–it was a very different time,” she wrote.
“i did not mention this to point any fingers or make anyone seem racist, namely Chris Nolan, the film’s producers or anyone on the casting team, because i truly do not believe anyone meant any harm. i was simply giving an example of what it was like to be a woman of color in this industry at that time,” the post continued.
“again this was many years ago when words like that were thrown around very casually and although i’m very glad that we are attempting to evolve-let’s all calm down- as well as fact check before we write things that are untrue.”
But Kravitz came out on the winning end, sharing that when the news broke of her playing Selina Kyle in The Batman, everyone was so excited for her. “It was crazy,” she said. “My phone was blowing up more than any birthday I’ve ever had.”
Kravitz is already a big deal and an A-lister, but after The Batman, she’s going to be on everyone’s dream call sheet. It was a long time coming for her to join the world of DC, and whoever gave her the comment of being “too urban” should be ashamed (because it is ZOË KRAVITZ). What does that even mean?
(image: Warner Bros.)
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