In 1992, Michelle Pfeiffer’s portrayal of Selina Kyle/Catwoman in Tim Burton’s Batman Returns rendered my 9-year-old self disturbed. Pfeiffer portrayed Selina Kyle as a mousy and bespectacled secretary who people just walked all over. It took a defenestration and a resurrection via felines to drive Selina into becoming the over-the-edge, apartment-wrecking, misandrist Catwoman…complete with skin-tight vinyl and a whip! In 2004, my 21-year-old self saw Catwoman starring Halle Berry. I found a torrent for it and viewed it via computer. At the end of the film, I was sooo happy that I downloaded it and didn’t waste a penny on that garbage film. Then came 2012, which saw the end of the Christopher Nolan Batman trilogy in the form of The Dark Knight Rises. While it’s both a good film and my least favorite of the trilogy, the one takeaway from the movie was that they did a good, grounded portrayal of Selina Kyle/Catwoman. A Brooklyn-born/Jersey girl named Anne Hathaway through herself into that role and opened my eyes. How so?
Because, before that, I looked at her as the one actress who’s the closest approximation to the girl-next-door archetype: She’s nice and pretty, but was always missing something. In TDKR, she did what Amy Adams did in The Fighter (2010) and what Blake Lively did in The Town (2010): She got tough and sexy. Ms. Hathaway’s roles are as varied as the genres she’s been in. She’s been doing more adult roles and nabbed the best supporting actress Oscar for Les Misérables (2012). She got extra points with me when she participated against her real life BFF Emily Blunt in Lip-Sync Battle, doing dance moves and having a synchronous lip movement to a Mary J. Blige song.
Anne Hathaway, we are proud to have you as our honoree for this week’s Woman CRUSH! Wednesday! Please click the pictures for full resolution.
Finished? Then let your saliva collect right here.
