Anne Hathaway spent a week prepping for Harley Quinn before learning Nolan wanted her as Catwoman. The story behind her Dark Knight Rises audition is wild.
Hathaway Harley Quinn prep energy almost gave us a very different Dark Knight Rises. Anne Hathaway revealed on the Happy Sad Confused podcast that she spent an entire week channeling “demonic Harley Quinn energy” before her meeting with Christopher Nolan, convinced she was auditioning for the Joker’s accomplice rather than Selina Kyle. She wore weird jester flats and a striped top. She practiced unhinged laughter in the mirror. She was ready to be the chaos to Christian Bale’s bat-shaped order.
Then, two hours into their conversation, Nolan casually dropped “the part’s Catwoman” and Hathaway had to perform the fastest personality pivot in Hollywood history. She looked down at her outfit, decided the striped top was “very sensual,” and transformed into a psychopath on the spot. It worked. She got the role. And honestly, that ability to switch gears mid-conversation might be the most Catwoman thing about her.
Hathaway Harley Quinn prep wasn’t just a funny anecdote—it was a career-saving moment. At the time, Hathaway was dealing with intense online backlash following her Oscar win for Les Misérables. She told Vanity Fair in 2024 that “a lot of people wouldn’t give me roles because they were so concerned about how toxic my identity had become online.” The top Google search about her was literally “Why does everyone hate Anne Hathaway?” which is the kind of internet cruelty that makes you want to delete your entire existence.
Nolan didn’t care. He cast her in Interstellar as Dr. Amelia Brand, giving her what she called “one of the most beautiful roles I’ve had in one of the best films that I’ve been a part of.” Now they’re reunited for The Odyssey, in theaters July 17 from Universal Pictures, where she plays Penelope opposite Matt Damon’s Odysseus. Hathaway Harley Quinn prep might have been a near-miss, but the Nolan partnership it launched has become one of the most rewarding actor-director pairings in modern cinema.
See Hathaway in The Odyssey starting July 17 and witness the collaboration that almost began with a jester flat.
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