Why I'm Still Not Sold on Anne Hathaway as Catwoman!

Okay so when Heath Ledger was cast as The Joker in The Dark Knight, my first thought was hmmmm!?!  When Ledger first started out with films such as 10 Things I Hate About You...I hated him! (Pictured below in all his cheesiness!)  Now if I had only seen the film once or twice I'm sure it wouldn't have bothered me as much, but my darling beloved house mate Becky, the gorgeous darling that she is...she spent the whole freakin' summer I lived with her watching that goddamn movie!

After that he continued to do cheesetastic films and I just was NOT a fan!  When he did movies like Ned Kelly and The Sin Eater, I started to warm a little bit more to him but it wasn't until Lords of Dogtown (pictured below) that I saw a truly great performance and started to realise what a wonderful actor he really was.

Now I'll put my hand up and say I've never actually seen Monster's Ball so can't actually comment on that.  Brokeback Mountain was another good performance but I don't totally love that film.  Hanging around with a bunch of lads definitely dimmed my viewing of that movie though, I'll be perfectly honest. Too many Brokeback Mountain jokes prior to my first viewing made it impossible for me to watch without laughing...which was really annoying!  Candy and I'm Not There are other good examples of excellent Heath performances prior to The Dark Knight but I didn't see either of them until after The Dark Knight!  So anyhoo, even though I was warming to him more and more, I was still incredibly sceptical and didn't think he could pull off the part of The Joker!

And then the first picture of him all Joker'ed up was released.  I was dumbfounded!  The photo was haunting, it sent a shiver down my spine.  Straight away I thought, The Crow. If he wasn't playing The Joker he would have been perfect as Eric Draven.  In hindsight this was a fact that was all too close to the truth and when Heath was pronounced dead before The Dark Knight was released, I knew this shuddering similarity was all too real.

So anyhoo, pretty much sold on him as The Joker I was in Glasgow airport, we were dropping my friend Gog's off as he was leaving for China that day.  Waiting around in the airport, I'm sure someone had went to the toilet or to get food or whatever...anyhoo, I was standing outside WHSmiths.  I turn around and sitting on the shelf was the latest edition of Empire magazine...I scream, with delight...and run over to grab the magazine, "OH MY GOD"ing all the way.  On the cover was Heath fully dressed as The Joker, it was amazing.  It was one of the most beautiful things I'd ever seen, and one of the best Empire covers EVER!  He looked amazing.  That was it, I was sold!  From this moment, I knew that he WAS The Joker.  End of.  So I literally bounce over to the counter in excitement to buy the magazine, the guys behind the counter bemused by my dorkiness!  From here on out, everything I saw prior to the film being released, I became all the more giddier with excitement.  

The first time I saw The Dark Knight was at the IMAX in London.  It was one of the best days of my life!  I was with my one of my bestest friends in the world, Nia...and my new found friend Yvonne.  Earlier on that day I had met two of my idols, Chris Carter and Frank Spotnitz!  Creator and producer of The X Files.  After meeting the two men who we all deemed to be Gods, we went back to the place we were staying, got changed into our Batman t shirts and set off for The London Dungeon.  Which is beyond awesome by the way!  After screaming and laughing our way round the Dungeon we got ourselves some rubber bats and set off for the IMAX.  

Now the opening sequence was done in 3D and that on an IMAX screen was immense.  You were literally sucked into Gotham City, it was amazing.  Too much more of that giddiness though would have been a bit too much so I'm quite happy it was just that scene that was 3D.  Anyhooooo, I loved the film.  It was perfect.  It was a thing of beauty.  The hospital scene and then also the scene where the Joker is speeding through the streets at night with his head hanging out the car vehicle window, I thought to myself, this is one of the defining moments of modern cinema.  Heath Ledger as The Joker was the most perfect choice ever.  He was flawless.  My doubt had been completely retarded and I, alongside pretty much the rest of the world, had been proven wrong.  Heath Ledger WAS The Joker.  He IS The Joker.  Nobody even comes remotely close.  Simples.  

So now that I have explained my thoughts on Heath and how I was oh so happily proved wrong, here is my problem with Anne Hathaway being cast as Catwoman.  As a girlie, Catwoman is a very important character, I want to see her done right...so badly!  What actually incited this blog was the fact that I was watching Batman Returns last night and posted to Facebook that Michelle Pfeiffer WAS Catwoman and that I thought she was perfect.  Which I do.  Now I have conversed with people before about how we all thought the same when The Joker was cast and that how Christopher Nolan is brilliant and we totally trust him.  Now the thing is...I do trust him...110%...with male characters!  With female characters he's not so shit hot, as the Rachel character proved with Batman Begins.  But still...I'm keeping my hopes up.  Even if it doesn't seem like I am.  Now obviously his Batman lives more in the real world, that's almost what makes it so good.  Tim Burton's Catwoman wouldn't work so well in a Nolan film, I am perfectly aware of that!  In all fairness, I would rather that Nolan hadn't went with Catwoman at all.  If I had to choose a female villain I would have went with Harley Quinn.

But for whatever reason, he has went with Catwoman, a reason that is more than likely down to studio pressure.  When Anne Hathaway was cast as Catwoman, both myself and pretty much every other female nerd I know expressed a massive bleugh reaction!  She has never been one to stand out as an actress to me, and with the exception of the fact that I love her wonderfully pale skin...that's pretty much where it ends for me in any kind of liking towards her.  BUT...I still kept telling myself that Nolan knows what he's doing, we're all going to be eating our words in no time...just wait till we get the first pics of her.  And then we get THIS -

Now don't get me wrong, I'm all for Nolan's realistic vision but doesn't she kind of remind you of Jessica Alba in the latest Spy Kids movie??

Only time will tell if this works or not, and I truly hope that it does!  I want her to be good as Catwoman, I'm just really not feeling it just now.  Michelle Pfeiffer is still Number One in my Catwoman eyes, yup yup yup!  But as I said, only time will tell...I hope I'm wrong in my doubt!