At the height of her success with The Batman, Zoe Kravitz sat down with The Guardian to talk about her acting career, future plans as a musician, and past struggles with racism as a bi-racial actress in Hollywood. During the virtual interview, the actress confessed that she auditioned for a Batman movie before landing the role of Selina Kyle in Matt Reeve’s The Batman (the role that has earned Kravitz an abundance of media attention). As the actress was diving into the struggles of being rejected for roles, Zoe Kravitz confessed that she was rejected from a role in The Dark Knight Rises (a role I’m pretty sure went to Anne Hathaway). The reason? Apparently, Kravitz was too “urban.”
Zoe Kravitz Talks About Being Rejected From The Dark Knight Rises
Although Kravitz couldn’t confirm that the decision came from Christopher Nolan himself (Zoe thinks the decision may have come from a casting director or assistant), it still left the actress feeling hurt all the same “Being a woman of color and being an actor and being told that I wasn’t able to read because of the color of my skin and the word urban being thrown around like that was what was really hard about that.” It seems like Zoe Kravitz is getting the last laugh all the way to number one at the box office; after just 3 days in theaters, fans are already declaring The Batman to be the best Batman movie to date. As of today, The Batman has grossed over $120,000,000 and has had the biggest opening weekend in the US for the year so far.
Zoe’s experience is, unfortunately, the experience of many actors in Hollywood who have been rejected from roles or typecast because of their race or ethnicity. The good news is that we have been seeing a more aggressive push in Hollywood to be more inclusive to races and genders than ever before. Additionally, creators of all kinds of backgrounds continue to make names for themselves in the movie industry, making huge strides for representation. When asked how she felt about being cast in The Batman nearly a decade later, Guardian tells us the actress cracked a triumphant smile as she should.
Zoe Kravitz stars as Catwoman in Matt Reeves’ The Batman, playing now in theaters. Subscribe to The Nerd Stash for more news about your favorite actors.