Anne Hathaway's audition story about The Dark Knight Rises is going viral again... and it'll always be iconic.
"Here's the thing that worked in my favor: she's a chameleon," Hathaway said in a new interview with Josh Horowitz during press for The Odyssey, which can be viewed below. "So, I knew I was auditioning for... I was meeting with Chris [Nolan] for the female role in the Batman trilogy, the next installment. I thought that I'd gamed it out, because I was just like, 'It can't be Catwoman because Michelle Pfeiffer was so iconic... [gasp] It's going to be Harley Quinn!'"
There are a few villains in The Dark Knight Rises, but none of them are The Joker (as Heath Ledger's untimely passing led to the introduction of Bane and Ra's al Ghul in the third and final installment). Though times have changed and it wouldn't be weird to introduce Harley Quinn as a solo character in 2026, it wouldn't have made much sense back in 2012. Still, Hathaway's reasoning that there's no way they could introduce Catwoman does make some sense...
"So, I spent a week developing demonic Harley Quinn energy. I was wearing weird jester flats and a striped top. And then, about two hours into our conversation, Chris is like, 'So, the part's Catwoman,' and I was like, 'Transform!' So, I just then decided that I was like, 'Well, this top is very sensual.' And I was going to be very... like a psychopath. I changed personalities like a psychopath."
Zoe Kravitz is the newest live-action Catwoman, having starred as Selina Kyle in Matt Reeves's The Batman. Margot Robbie famously played Harley Quinn in the last few DCEU projects. The newly rebooted DCU, however, has yet to cast its new Batman, Catwoman, or Harley Quinn (as the Reeves projects live in what's called Elseworlds, a separate universe that runs in tandem with the new DCU).
Hathaway can be seen next as Penelope in Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey, which hits theaters on July 17. For more, check out our list of all the upcoming DC movies and shows.
