Catwoman would like to press paws on the chatter surrounding her recent statement.
In a recent interview with The Guardian, Zoë Kravitz, who stars in The Batman, out now, recalled the word "urban" being "thrown around" when she considered auditioning for The Dark Knight Rises 10 years ago. Now, the star is taking to social media to officially set the record straight.
"I was NOT told I was too urban to play catwoman in the dark knight," Zoë, 33, wrote in a March 8 Instagram Story. "It would have made NO sense for me to even be considered for that role at that time."
She clarified, "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 20 years ago—it was a very different time."
Zoë recalled the moment as a small part of a much larger conversation. "I did not mention this to point any fingers or make anyone seem racist, namely [Dark Knight director] 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."
"Again, this was many years ago when words like that were thrown around very casually," she concluded. "And although I'm very glad that we are attempting to evolve—let's all calm down."
During her interview with the publication, Zoë recalled wanting to participate in the 2012 blockbuster film but ultimately didn't audition.
"I think it was probably a casting director of some kind, or a casting director's assistant," she told The Guardian about her guess as to who said she wasn't right for the part. "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."
This isn't the first time Zoë opened up about the incident.
"In the last Batman movie [The Dark Knight Rises], they told me that I couldn't get an audition for a small role they were casting because they weren't 'going urban,'" she said in a 2015 interview with Nylon. "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 wit chu?'"