(Cover) - EN Showbiz - Anne Hathaway embraced the "madness" of Gotham City in her role as Catwoman.
The 29-year-old actress plays the feline heroine in director Christopher Nolan's upcoming Batman action feature The Dark Knight Rises.
Anne was deeply inspired by the ambience Christopher, who also co-wrote the script, created in his interpretation of the fictional metropolis.
"Gotham City is full of grace. You look at [Heath Ledger's] performance [in 2008's The Dark Knight] as the Joker, there was a lot of madness there but there was also a grace and he had a code there," Anne told the Los Angeles Times. "There's a lot of belief and codes of behaviour in Gotham and my character has one, too. A lot of the way she moves and interacts with people is informed by her worldview. Chris has given us all such complex, defined, sophisticated worldviews that it's just a matter of doing your homework and getting underneath the character's skin."
Numerous Hollywood legends have played the role of Catwoman in the past. Anne is not intimidated by these iconic portrayals of her character, as she approached the project with fresh eyes.
"What's come before doesn't limit or even affect this new version. It doesn't affect me because each Catwoman and this is true in the comics as well she is defined by the context of the Gotham City created around her," Anne explained. "Catwoman is so influenced by Gotham and whoever is creating Gotham at the time. Michelle Pfeiffer's Catwoman was informed by Tim Burton's Gotham and Eartha Kitt was informed by Adam West's Gotham. You have to live in whatever the reality of the world is and whatever Gotham is."
Anne felt that her Catwoman attire was very fitting. The functionality of the superhero ensemble astounded the star.
"I love the costume because everything has a purpose, nothing is in place for fantasy's sake, and that's the case with everything in Christopher Nolan's Gotham City," she said.
The Dark Knight Rises starring Anne and Christian Bale will be released in summer 2012. (C) Cover Media