New Catwoman: She was rejected for auditioning in The Dark Knight Rises because of her skin color

The new Batman was a big hit at the box office after its release, and the new Catwoman Zoë Kravitz received rave reviews. However, Zoë recently revealed that she was rejected for an audition in The Dark Knight Rises because of her skin color.

Zoe talked about this in an interview in 2015. Recently, she was interviewed by The Observer and mentioned the troubles caused by her skin color again. Zoe revealed that she wanted to star in "The Dark Knight Rises", but the film team did not even give her an audition opportunity because she was too "urban" ("urban" is closely related to black culture, and here it is a euphemism for her black identity).

Zoe said: "I don't know if this decision came from Nolan, I think it might have been a decision made by a casting director or assistant... As a woman of color, as an actor, when I was told that I couldn't audition because of the skin color, plus the word 'urban' was used indiscriminately, I felt very uncomfortable at the time."

Zoe did not reveal whether the role she wanted to compete for was Catwoman. She just said that the role she wanted to audition for was a small role, so it should not be Catwoman. Nolan's version of Catwoman was eventually played by Anne Hathaway.

Zoe later clarified her remarks in the interview on Instagram. She said she was not told that she could not audition because she was too "urban". She said: "I did not accuse someone of being racist, I just gave an example to illustrate the situation of women of color in the industry at that time."

In October 2019, Zoe was selected to play Catwoman in The New Batman. Zoe said that after the news came out, her phone was bombarded with text messages, more than she received on her birthday.