Key Takeaways:
– Michelle Pfeiffer was set to star in her own solo Catwoman film, but Warner Bros lost interest.
– Halle Berry then starred in a Catwoman film, which was a critical and box-office failure.
– The film’s failure was primarily due to conflicting creative ideas and unclear direction.
– A script for Catwoman was prepared for Michelle Pfeiffer by director Tim Burton and screenwriter Daniel Waters.
– The Catwoman project was abandoned after Batman Forever, also a critical flop, was successful commercially.
Michelle Pfeiffer’s Missed Opportunity
In the early 90s, Michelle Pfeiffer gave a riveting performance as Catwoman in Tim Burton’s Batman Returns, sparking talks about her very own Catwoman movie. A script was in the pipeline, but the project did not materialize as Warner Bros. lost interest.
A Sole Catwoman Flop
Fast-forward a few years, the studio produced a new Catwoman film. This time, Halle Berry was in the lead. The result was far from what was hoped. The film notably flopped, both critically and at the box office. It performed so poorly; Berry even snagged a Razzie Award for her performance.
Behind-the-Scenes Chaos
The ill-fated film was the result of a confused creative team that had no clear vision of where they wanted to take the story. When the news broke that getting Michelle Pfeiffer back as Selina Kyle, everyone went back to the drawing board. The result was a newly woven backstory for the iconic character, but unfortunately, the outcome was far from impressive.
The script was jumbled with mismatched ideas, as revealed by screenwriter John Rogers. An initial draft contained a disjointed scene where Catwoman crashed through a department store window amidst a chase, followed by an out-of-place speech about body image. Concepts like the “domestic labor of housewives” and obscure bioweapon themes found their place in the script, leading to a storyline revolving around evil makeup. The lead character’s career fluctuated between being a vet and a graphic designer.
The Unearthed Script and Beyond
Tim Burton and screenwriter Daniel Waters had penned a promising script for Catwoman in 1995, the year Batman Forever was released. Despite Batman Forever meeting a similar critical fate, it was a commercial success. It seems this led Warner Bros. to drop Burton’s Catwoman, grounding the project indefinitely.
However, Halle Berry took up the mantle, playing a new character, Patience Phillips, who was not part of the original comic series. Looking back, having Pfeiffer’s Selina Kyle might have put the Catwoman franchise in a different light.
The conclusion from all this is clear: in their rush to do a big-screen adaptation of Catwoman, the creators lost sight of the essence of the story and the character. They perhaps forgot what the audience truly expected from a Catwoman movie, resulting in diluted creativity and ultimately a disjointed film.
What remains to be seen is whether we’ll eventually see a successful solo Catwoman movie, staying true to the character’s comic origins and captivating the audience. For the time being, fans can still watch Halle Berry’s Catwoman on Netflix.
