The Batman Star Zoë Kravitz Says She Was Rejected From The Dark Knight Rises for Being Too ‘Urban’

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The Batman star Zoë Kravitz reflected on the racism she faced while attempting to secure a role in the superhero franchise, sharing that she was rejected from The Dark Knight Rises for being too “urban.”

Kravitz, who is currently receiving rave reviews for her performance as Catwoman in Matt Reeves’ The Batman, spoke to The Guardian about her experience auditioning for Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises in 2012.

“I don’t know if it came directly from Chris Nolan,” she told The Guardian.  “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.”

Kravitz had spoken out about the incident before, telling Nylon in 2015 that she was denied a chance to audition for the Dark Knight trilogy because of the color of her skin.

“They told me that I couldn’t get an audition for a small role they were casting because they weren’t ‘going urban,'” she said. “It was like, ‘What does that have to do with anything?’ I have to play the role like, ‘Yo, what’s up, Batman? What’s going on wit chu?’”

While speaking to the Guardian, Kravitz also revealed that she faced racism while filming HBO’s Big Little Lies in Monterey, California, noting that it’s “such a White area.”

“There were a few moments where I felt a little uncomfortable,” she said, adding, “Just weird racist people in bars and things like that.”

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