For at least a few people, the casting of Robert Pattinson as the new lead in The Batman was a lot to process, but the same could not be said about the reveal of the new Catwoman. The announcement that Zoë Kravitz would Selina Kyle in Matt Reeves' upcoming DC reboot was met almost unanimous acclaim among fans of the character.
The 30-year-old, Los Angeles born actress is no stranger to big budget franchises already, having played an insect-winged exotic dancer in X-Men: First Class, a member of Dauntless in Divergent, one of Immortan Joe's five escaped wife slaves in Mad Max: Fury Road, and the infamous Leta Lestrange in Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald. Her less geektastic roles should not go unnoticed, however, such as her debut at 18 in the romance No Reservations, the 2017 ensemble comedy Rough Night, and the hit HBO drama Big Little Lies.
Zoe Kravitz's life is far less scandalous than that of the ladies on Big Little Lies. However, behind the scenes, Zoë Kravitz is, nonetheless, a particularly fascinating individual. Take this seven bits of trivia for instance.
Entertainment Runs In The Family For Zoë Kravitz
It's not much of a secret that Zoë Kravitz is rock royalty, being the daughter of musician Lenny Kravitz, who also has acting experience of his own. Other inspirations who come from her family tree would include her late grandmother (The Jeffersons actress Roxie Roker) and her own mother, Lisa Bonet, who rose to stardom on The Cosby Show. In 2017, years after splitting from Lenny when Zoë was 5, Bonet would marry her longtime boyfriend Jason Momoa, who has playing a DC character in common with his stepdaughter since playing Aquaman in Justice League and the Atlantean superhero's self-titled box office hit. Furthermore, while "entertainment" is not really how his line of work would be described, Today correspondent Al Roker is also a member of this clan as a distant cousin to Lenny.
Zoë Kravitz’s Rolling Stone Cover Pays Tribute To Her Mother
Speaking of family, while Zoë Kravitz was able to start her successful acting career on her own, she is certainly not one to be ashamed of her roots. In fact, in 2018, she showed her appreciation for her strong parental bond with her first Rolling Stone cover shoot. As Stephen Colbert pointed out in an interview with Kravitz on Late Show, her nude pose is an almost exact recreation of her mother, Lisa Bonet's, cover photo for the magazine from 30 years earlier.
Before Becoming Catwoman, Zoë Kravitz Was Denied An Audition For Another Batman Movie
You know, The Batman will actually be Zoë Kravitz's second time portraying Catwoman after voicing the Gotham City foe in 2017's The LEGO Batman Movie, but it could have also been her third Batman movie had a certain role come with less specific requirements, to say the least. As she recalled to Nylon in 2015, Kravitz wanted to try out for a small part in 2012's The Dark Knight Rises but was told she could not even audition because they were not "going urban" with that character. Well, it is nice to see that Warner Bros. has since changed their tone on how casting decisions should be handled, apparently.
Zoë Kravitz And Her Band Opened For Miley Cyrus On Tour
Like her father, Zoë Kravitz does have a passion for music, which she has been able to meld with acting as the star of Hulu's series adaptation of Nick Hornby's novel High Fidelity, in which she plays a record store owner struggling through a breakup. She has also made music a side career venture as the lead singer of two bands, Elevator Fight (an Indie alternative group she started at 16) and the electropop act she formed in 2014 called Lolawolf. The latter has traveled on tour with a number of artists, including one Miley Cyrus, who has collaborated on a track with the duo as well.
A Photo Of Teenage Zoë Kravitz Inspired Her Mad Max: Fury Road Haircut
One of Zoë Kravitz's most memorable blockbuster roles to date is Toast the Knowing, one of the five wife slaves of the post-apocalyptic fascist Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne) in 2015's Oscar-nominated action masterpiece Mad Max: Fury Road. When speaking with the actress about the role, CBR was curious about her character's haircut, specifically if she already had the pixie cut at the time if it was a creative choice. Kravitz responded with the following:
I had quite long hair, actually, at the time, and I had had short hair when I was like 17 or something. And George saw some picture [from that time] -- it was a really punky haircut, and he was like, 'I really like this! Could you do it again?' And I was kind of like, 'Oh, man. I'd just grown my hair out.' But once we actually talked about the character a little bit more, and we kind of built it into her backstory, the idea that she cut her hair off to try and look less feminine, so that she wouldn't be desirable to Immortan Joe. And once we had that concept, I was all in. I loved that about her. And I like the haircut. And then it was easy to take care of because there's sand everywhere. I didn't have to like deal with that.
Why Zoë Kravitz Was Excited To Star In The Fantastic Beasts Sequel
In 2018, Zoë Kravitz joined the Wizarding World in Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald (the second chapter in the proposed five-part Harry Potter prequel franchise) as Leta Lestrange, a character whose actions in the film are not the most admirable. Yet, the actress was thrilled, not just to get the part, but by its mere existence. While speaking to the LA Times, she said:
I thought it was really important. And this takes places in the 1920s, so what was it like to be a person of color in this world at this time? She might have been one of the only children of color in Hogwarts at that time. She's an outcast and whether it's spoken about or not, I associate that, of course, partly with what she looks like. I think they were mostly only auditioning women of color for this role. I know it was an important thing for Jo. She was very aware of what she was doing.
The Funny English Translation Of Zoë Kravitz’s Tattoo
While the body art you see above in the promotional photo for Divergent is fake, in reality, Zoë Kravitz has a known total of 55 tattoos, one of which has a hidden meaning that's pretty amusing. Inscribed on her right forearm are the words "être toujours ivre," a quote from French poet Charles Baudelaire that translates to English as "Always be drunk." Also carrying this saying with him at all times is Kravitz's stepfather, Jason Momoa, who has the exact same tat on his arm.
For more information and updates on Zoë Kravitz and her talented family, be sure to check back here on CinemaBlend.
