Zoë Kravitz reveals she was rejected for a role in Christian Bale's The Dark Knight Rises

Zoe Kravitz may be the star of the next Batman film, but she was originally rejected a part in the series due to her skin colour. The 33-year-old actress, who portrays Catwoman/Selina Kyle in the film The Batman, told The Observer that she tried out for a part in the 2012 sequel The Dark Knight Rises but was turned down because she was considered too "urban" for the character.

Christopher Nolan directed The Dark Knight Rises, which stars Christian Bale, Tom Hardy, Gary Oldman, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Marion Cotillard, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, and Anne Hathaway as Catwoman. "I don't know if it came directly from Chris Nolan. I think it was probably a casting director of some kind, or a casting director's assistant. … 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," said Kravitz, as per PEOPLE.

However, The actress went on to say that she has now learned to recognise the good in rejections as she added, "Even though it's sometimes hard to see that in the moment, usually a few years later, you're like, 'Okay, this is why this didn't happen." Kravitz is already earning praise for her portrayal of the renowned cat-burglar in The Batman, which has previously been played by Michelle Pfeiffer, Halle Berry, and Eartha Kitt. Over the weekend, the picture debuted at No. 1 at the box office.

Interestingly, Kravitz also discussed her wish to appear in films that aren't only about her ethnicity, recalling that at one time, all the screenplays that were being offered to her were about the first Black woman to "cook a muffin or something." The Batman is now in theaters.

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