- Primary Subject: Anne Hathaway's viral behind-the-scenes audition story for her role as Selina Kyle (Catwoman) in The Dark Knight Rises.
- Key Update: While promoting her new movie, The Odyssey, Anne Hathaway detailed a hilarious audition blunder where she spent a week channeling "demonic Harley Quinn energy," only to find out Christopher Nolan wanted her for Catwoman.
- Status: Confirmed
- Last Verified: July 8, 2026
- Quick Answer: Anne Hathaway mistakenly believed she was auditioning for Harley Quinn in The Dark Knight Rises, wearing a striped top and Joker-like flats to the meeting.
Before turning in an iconic, slick performance as Selina Kyle in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises, Anne Hathaway actually spent a week preparing to play a completely different, psychopathic DC villain.
During recent press interviews for her massive historical epic, The Odyssey, the Oscar-winning actress looked back on her monumental superhero casting process, detailing a hilarious, hour-long misunderstanding that occurred right in front of the director.
Anne Hathaway Reveals Major Dark Knight Rises Audition Gone Wrong
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When Hathaway initially booked a high-profile meeting with director Christopher Nolan for the third installment of the Dark Knight trilogy, she was given very few specific details about the female lead role.
Under the assumption that she had "gamed out" Nolan's top-secret strategy, Hathaway convinced herself that there was no way the director would attempt to adapt Catwoman so soon after Michelle Pfeiffer's universally iconic performance in 1992's Batman Returns. Her impression pretty much explains why she believed Nolan was introducing Harley Quinn to the grounded universe.
"I was meeting with Chris [Nolan] for the female role in the Batman trilogy, the next installment," Hathaway recalled, sharing on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, "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!'"
Hathaway added she spent the week "developing demonic Harley Quinn energy", only to find out two hours later, "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."
The Devil Wears Prada star won the part and went on to earn acclaim for playing Selina in The Dark Knight Rises, marking her first collaboration with Nolan. The duo has since worked together on Interstellar and the upcoming The Odyssey.
Why Anne Hathaway Was Fit for the Catwoman Role
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Despite walking into the room with the completely wrong villain in mind, Hathaway's seamless transition mid-audition proved exactly why she was the perfect fit for the role.
Nolan was looking for a flexible actress who could portray a master of disguise, and Hathaway's accidental chameleon act put those exact survival instincts on full display.
Hathaway's eventual portrayal of Selina Kyle received widespread praise from critics and fans alike, largely because she grounded the character in a realistic world of high-stakes corporate espionage and street-level survival.
She captured the flirty, morally grey cat burglar with effortless precision, showing that even if she started out looking for mayhem, she was born to play the slinky thief of Gotham.
For now, she plays Penelope, Queen of Ithaca, in Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey, set to premiere in theaters on July 17, 2026.
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