While Selina Kyle takes center stage in the DC Animated Universe’s new anime film Catwoman: Hunted, she’s not alone in the fight. DC’s iconic cat burglar teams up with Batwoman to stop an international cabal of supervillains. Following her acclaimed role in Pixar’s Encanto, Stephanie Beatriz takes up the cape and cowl in Catwoman: Hunted. In the DC anime film, Batwoman faces emotional vulnerability while reminding everyone how much of a badass superhero she is, battling the villains’ private army for the fate of the DC Universe.
In an exclusive interview with CBR, Beatriz discussed what appealed to her about bringing Catwoman: Hunted‘s iteration of Kate Kane to life. The Brooklyn 99 star explained how she balanced Batwoman’s tough-as-nails exterior with a nuanced inner self.
CBR: Stephanie, how did the opportunity to portray Batwoman in Catwoman: Hunted come about?
Stephanie Beatriz: It came through my agency and manager as an offer and I jumped at the chance. I was really excited to do it, thrilled that it was presented to me, which was amazing and incredible. I remember when I would’ve killed to have an audition so this was really rad!
With Batwoman on TV and in comics, how did you find your own voice for the role?
That’s a good question because you mentioned these different iterations and something that’s been going around is the discussion of a metaverse. These stories that we love and how they get translated into different facets of themselves from the writers and through the lens of different directors to different actors being cast in these roles. What I relied on in this iteration of Batwoman is myself, the director, and the writing.
That stuff is what helps me make the choices that you hear in the film. That’s what’s cool about different versions of the same character being out there. There are different takes on a beloved character. None of them are right or wrong. They’re just all different and that’s very thrilling.
In talking about the writing, was there a specific line or scene that helped inform how you approached your performance for this role?
I don’t know if there was a specific line or scene. I think the juxtaposition of some of the scenes is what led me to find what you saw. There are some scenes where there’s so much strength and badassery, and there are other scenes where you can feel vulnerability and softness there. Those two things make up who she is, really.
One of my favorite scenes is between you and Catwoman where, all at once, we see how tough Kate Kane is but also vulnerable underneath that exterior. How is it leaning into all that emotional nuance?
I love doing that kind of stuff, particularly in voiceover work because [in live-action] you get the added benefit of the audience getting to see your face and how you’re moving on-screen. In voiceover work, it’s a totally different challenge trying to do it all with your voice. That informs or marries what the animators have done in the scene and that’s really cool because it’s a totally different kind of acting that is based on the same thing: truth.
You’ve got Jamie Thomason as the voice director on Catwoman: Hunted. How was it working with him on this project?
I think it was definitely collaborative and mutual. I sometimes slowed things down a lot because I would ask for multiple takes of things. [laughs] I think a lot of actors are like that and I think a lot of directors have a really clear vision of where they’re going. I can be a little more insecure about what I’m doing, where I’m going, and how I’m going to get there. I don’t always have the whole picture of how something is going to be shaped and all come together.
So much of being an actor is trusting the director, your producers, and the process. Part of that is why I like doing what I do because it really is a collaborative thing that you create with lots of different people.
As someone who has done a lot of voiceover work, including the new series The Legend of Vox Machina, what is it about voiceover roles that you find personally and creatively fulfilling as an actor?
It’s your imagination. That’s what’s so fun because your imagination is limitless. It’s only limited by what you say. It can grow like any acting talent you have. You can get better at it with practice, and I really like my imagination and playing pretend a whole lot. [laughs] I know that sounds a bit childlike but I don’t really care because I think it’s true. My imagination served me well as a lonely, awkward kid and as a very awkward teenager. It helped me see beyond what was in front of my face at the moment. Having a hard time in middle school? Don’t worry, you can imagine a future where things are better and more interesting and exciting [laughs].
You can fill out these worlds that you get invited into and all these projects that I take part in — they’re all springing from the imagination of somebody else. All these scripts and stories are created by somebody else, and I get to go in there and bring my imagination and connect it to theirs. It’s a really fun job that I have and I’m really grateful!
As someone with the inside track on the role, how do you personally see Batwoman?
I think she’s really smart and tough and I think she’s more brittle than she imagines herself to be. Underneath that hard exterior hiding is a desire to be seen in a different way. She can’t even see herself in that way. I think that’s what’s really interesting to me about this iteration to be seen in this way. I think she has a lot to learn about herself. I’d be really interested to see where that storyline could go because I think, in her mind, she knows who she is. She’s a badass and can really do some badass stuff and yet there are parts of her that are not sure if she’s completely in that badass mindset when she’s living in those parts of her.
With this being such an action-heavy performance and the animation style being so unique, did you modify your performance at all after seeing the animation while doing ADR pickups?
I don’t know if I’d say “modify” but I do love to do ADR for action sequences because I find it really freeing and fun. I think the animation in this is just awesome. I feel like it’s on a totally different level. When I saw it — I think I saw it before it was fully lit — it just looked so good! It was so exciting to me that this is the world created for this world.
Directed by Shinsuke Terasawa, Catwoman: Hunted goes on sale on Feb. 8 for 4K UHD, Blu-ray, and Digital HD.
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