Zoë Kravitz.Photo: Cindy Ord/WireImage
In a Tuesday post on herInstagram Story, the 33-year-old actress,who plays Selina Kyle/Catwomanin the newly releasedThe Batman, said “I was NOT told I was too urban to play Catwoman inThe Dark Knight[Rises].”
“I wanted to AUDITION for a small part in the film and was told (I do not know who said this but this is how it was worded to me ) that they were not going ‘urban’ on the part,” she continued “This is something I heard a lot 10 years ago — it was a very different time.”
“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,” Kravitz said. “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, andthe word urban being thrown aroundlike that, that was what was really hard about that moment.”
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Zoë Kravitz’s Instagram Story.Zoë Kravitz/Instagram
The star added in herObserverinterview that she has come to realize how to see the positive in rejections: “Even though it’s sometimes hard to see that in the moment, usually a few years later, you’re like, ‘Okay,thisis why this didn’t happen.’ "
On her Instagram Story Tuesday, Kravitz clarified that she “did not mention this to point any fingers or make anyone seem racist, namely Chris Nolan, the film’s producers or anyone on the casting team, because I truly do not believe anyone meant any harm.”
“I was simply giving an example of what it was liketo be a woman of color in this industryat that time,” she continued. “Again this was many years ago when words like that were thrown around very casually and although I’m very glad that we are attempting to evolve — let’s all calm down — as well as fact check before we write things that are untrue.”
Reps for Nolan, 51, have not responded to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
RELATED VIDEO: Robert Pattinson and Zoë Kravitz Talk Advice and Well Wishes Received from Former Bats and Cats
Kravitz also toldThe Observerthat “at one point, all the scripts that were being sent were about the first Black woman to make a muffin or something. Even though those stories are important to tell, I also want to open things up for myself as an artist.”
TheBig Little Liesstar said her parentsLenny KravitzandLisa Bonet"broke down boundaries in a lot of ways” as they “both dealt with being artists who didn’t act or dress or look or sound the way a Black person was supposed to act in terms of what white people specifically were comfortable with.”
“I was uncomfortable with my Blackness. It took me a long time to not only accept it but to love it and want to scream it from the rooftops,” she said, adding that her famous parents “focused on trying to make sure I understood that despite the color of my skin I should be able to act or dress or do whatever it is I want to do.”
The Batmanis in theaters now.
source: people.com
