Catwoman (film)
Encyclopedia
Catwoman is a 2004 American superhero film
and quasi-spinoff of the Batman film series directed by Pitof
and released by Warner Bros.
and Village Roadshow Pictures
on July 23, 2004.
The film was inspired by the DC Comics
character of the same name
, who is traditionally a supervillain
and love interest of the superhero Batman
. This story features a completely new character, Patience Phillips, donning the Catwoman costume.
The film stars Halle Berry
, Sharon Stone
, Benjamin Bratt
, Lambert Wilson
, Frances Conroy
, and Alex Borstein
. It was poorly received by critics and audience and is commonly listed as one of the worst films ever made.
Lying washed up on the shore and lifeless, Patience is mysteriously brought back to life by an Egyptian Mau cat, and from that point on develops catlike abilities and an insatiable desire for justice. With the help of a researcher named Ophelia Powers, who tells her that Egyptian Mau cats serve as messengers of the goddess Bast, Patience understands that she is becoming a "catwoman" reborn with abilities that are both a blessing and a curse. Wearing a mask to disguise her identity, Patience stalks the night as Catwoman seeking the answer of who killed her and why.
Eventually, her search leads her to Laurel Hedare, who murders her husband for his infidelity and frames Catwoman for it, causing her to be taken into custody by the police. Yet Patience slips out of confinement and confronts Laurel in her office, revealing that she is the one responsible for her death. During the fight, Laurel's face is scratched by Patience, and she nearly plummets to her death when she falls out of a window, grabbing onto a pipe for dear life. However, when Laurel sees her face in a reflection, she chooses not to be rescued by Patience and instead falls to her death.
Though Patience was cleared of any charges made against her regarding the deaths of the Hedares, she chooses to continue living outside the law enjoying her newfound freedom as the mysterious Catwoman.
Missy Peregrym
(uncredited) appears as the Hedare factory computer monitor image (Beau-line graphics model), depicting the bad effects of the beauty product.
ultimately awarded screenplay credit to John D. Brancato, Michael Ferris
, and John Rogers
, and story credit to Theresa Rebeck
, Brancato, and Ferris.
gives it a 10% freshness rating, based on 168 reviews. It has been named among the worst films ever made.
The film appeared on the list of Roger Ebert
's most hated films. He criticized the filmmakers for giving little thought to providing Berry "with a strong character, story, supporting characters or action sequences", but his primary criticism came from the failure of the film to give the audience a sense of what her character experienced as she was transformed into Catwoman.
Film critic Bill Muller
of the Arizona Republic suggested that maybe Berry should give back her 2001 Academy Award as a penalty.
nominations in 2005, including Worst Supporting Actress (Sharon Stone), Worst Supporting Actor (Lambert Wilson) and Worst Screen Couple (Halle Berry and either Benjamin Bratt or Sharon Stone). It won in the categories of Worst Picture, Worst Actress (Halle Berry), Worst Director, and Worst Screenplay. Berry, while clutching her Academy Award statuette, accepted the award for Worst Actress personally, saying, "First of all I want to thank Warner Brothers. Thank you for putting me in a piece of shit, God-awful movie . . . It was just what my career needed." She has gone on to speak frankly in interviews about her views regarding problems with the film.
Aaron McGruder
's The Boondocks ran a series of comic strips in which Riley is punished by being forced to watch Catwoman. He subsequently campaigns to have Catwoman considered to be a form of child abuse
.
' "Outrageous
", but Spears broke her knee on the set of the music video, and the idea was scrapped. Instead it was replaced with Mis-Teeq
's "Scandalous".
Superhero film
A superhero film, superhero movie, or superhero motion picture is: action, fantasy and science fiction film; that is focused on the actions of one or more superheroes, individuals who usually possess superhuman abilities relative to a normal person and are dedicated to protecting the public...
and quasi-spinoff of the Batman film series directed by Pitof
Pitof
Jean-Christophe "Pitof" Comar is a French visual effects supervisor and director notable for Vidocq and Catwoman.-Career:...
and released by Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
and Village Roadshow Pictures
Village Roadshow Pictures
Village Roadshow Pictures is an Australian motion picture production company. It is a subsidiary of Village Roadshow Entertainment Group, an Australian entertainment company. Most of its films are co-produced in partnership with Warner Bros. and New Line Cinema...
on July 23, 2004.
The film was inspired by the DC Comics
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
character of the same name
Catwoman
Catwoman is a fictional character associated with DC Comics' Batman franchise. Historically a supervillain, the character was created by Bill Finger and Bob Kane, partially inspired by Kane's cousin, Ruth Steel...
, who is traditionally a supervillain
Supervillain
A supervillain or supervillainess is a variant of the villain character type, commonly found in comic books, action movies and science fiction in various media.They are sometimes used as foils to superheroes and other fictional heroes...
and love interest of the superhero Batman
Batman
Batman is a fictional character created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger. A comic book superhero, Batman first appeared in Detective Comics #27 , and since then has appeared primarily in publications by DC Comics...
. This story features a completely new character, Patience Phillips, donning the Catwoman costume.
The film stars Halle Berry
Halle Berry
Halle Berry is an American actress and a former fashion model. Berry received an Emmy, Golden Globe, SAG, and an NAACP Image Award for Introducing Dorothy Dandridge and won an Academy Award for Best Actress and was nominated for a BAFTA Award in 2001 for her performance in Monster's Ball, becoming...
, Sharon Stone
Sharon Stone
Sharon Vonne Stone is an American actress, film producer, and former fashion model. She achieved international recognition for her role in the erotic thriller Basic Instinct...
, Benjamin Bratt
Benjamin Bratt
Benjamin Bratt is an American actor. He is most famous for his role as Rey Curtis on the TV series Law & Order; and his appearances in the movies Blood in Blood Out, Miss Congeniality, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Traffic, and Piñero.-Early life:Bratt was born in San Francisco, California,...
, Lambert Wilson
Lambert Wilson
Lambert Wilson is a French actor. He is internationally known for his portrayal of The Merovingian in The Matrix He was born in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France, the son of Georges Wilson, who was an actor, theatrical manager and director of the Theatre National de Paris.Wilson screen tested for The...
, Frances Conroy
Frances Conroy
Frances Conroy is an American actress. She is best known for playing Ruth, the matriarch of the Fisher family, on Six Feet Under, which earned her a Golden Globe and a Screen Actors Guild Award.-Early life:...
, and Alex Borstein
Alex Borstein
Alexandrea "Alex" Borstein is an American actress, singer, voice actress, writer and comedian. She is best known for her long-running role as Lois Griffin on the animated television series Family Guy, and as a cast member on the sketch comedy series MADtv.A native of Highland Park, Illinois,...
. It was poorly received by critics and audience and is commonly listed as one of the worst films ever made.
Plot
Artist and graphics designer Patience Phillips works for a cosmetics company called Hedare Beauty which is ready to ship a new skin cream called Beau-Line which is able to reverse the effects of aging. However, as Patience visits the factory where it is being manufactured, she overhears a discussion between the scientist Dr. Ivan Slavicky and Laurel Hedare, the wife of company owner George Hedare, speaking about the dangerous side effects from discontinued use of the product. Laurel's henchmen discover Patience overhearing and are ordered to dispose of her. She tries to escape using a conduit pipe, but Laurel's men have it sealed and Patience flushed out of it, drowning her.Lying washed up on the shore and lifeless, Patience is mysteriously brought back to life by an Egyptian Mau cat, and from that point on develops catlike abilities and an insatiable desire for justice. With the help of a researcher named Ophelia Powers, who tells her that Egyptian Mau cats serve as messengers of the goddess Bast, Patience understands that she is becoming a "catwoman" reborn with abilities that are both a blessing and a curse. Wearing a mask to disguise her identity, Patience stalks the night as Catwoman seeking the answer of who killed her and why.
Eventually, her search leads her to Laurel Hedare, who murders her husband for his infidelity and frames Catwoman for it, causing her to be taken into custody by the police. Yet Patience slips out of confinement and confronts Laurel in her office, revealing that she is the one responsible for her death. During the fight, Laurel's face is scratched by Patience, and she nearly plummets to her death when she falls out of a window, grabbing onto a pipe for dear life. However, when Laurel sees her face in a reflection, she chooses not to be rescued by Patience and instead falls to her death.
Though Patience was cleared of any charges made against her regarding the deaths of the Hedares, she chooses to continue living outside the law enjoying her newfound freedom as the mysterious Catwoman.
Cast
- Halle BerryHalle BerryHalle Berry is an American actress and a former fashion model. Berry received an Emmy, Golden Globe, SAG, and an NAACP Image Award for Introducing Dorothy Dandridge and won an Academy Award for Best Actress and was nominated for a BAFTA Award in 2001 for her performance in Monster's Ball, becoming...
as Patience Phillips/CatwomanCatwomanCatwoman is a fictional character associated with DC Comics' Batman franchise. Historically a supervillain, the character was created by Bill Finger and Bob Kane, partially inspired by Kane's cousin, Ruth Steel... - Benjamin BrattBenjamin BrattBenjamin Bratt is an American actor. He is most famous for his role as Rey Curtis on the TV series Law & Order; and his appearances in the movies Blood in Blood Out, Miss Congeniality, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Traffic, and Piñero.-Early life:Bratt was born in San Francisco, California,...
as Detective Tom Lone - Sharon StoneSharon StoneSharon Vonne Stone is an American actress, film producer, and former fashion model. She achieved international recognition for her role in the erotic thriller Basic Instinct...
as Laurel Hedare - Lambert WilsonLambert WilsonLambert Wilson is a French actor. He is internationally known for his portrayal of The Merovingian in The Matrix He was born in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France, the son of Georges Wilson, who was an actor, theatrical manager and director of the Theatre National de Paris.Wilson screen tested for The...
as George Hedare - Frances ConroyFrances ConroyFrances Conroy is an American actress. She is best known for playing Ruth, the matriarch of the Fisher family, on Six Feet Under, which earned her a Golden Globe and a Screen Actors Guild Award.-Early life:...
as Ophelia Powers "Catlady" - Alex BorsteinAlex BorsteinAlexandrea "Alex" Borstein is an American actress, singer, voice actress, writer and comedian. She is best known for her long-running role as Lois Griffin on the animated television series Family Guy, and as a cast member on the sketch comedy series MADtv.A native of Highland Park, Illinois,...
as Sally - Michael MasseeMichael MasseeMichael Massee is an American actor perhaps best known for his roles as villains in film and television, as well as his unintentional and accidental involvement in the death of Brandon Lee.-Career:...
as Armando - Byron MannByron MannByron Mann is an actor who has made films in both Hollywood and Asia. He is perhaps best known for his performance as Ryu in Street Fighter.-Biography:...
as Wesley - Alex CooperAlex CooperAlexander Cooper, FAIA often credited as Alex Cooper, is an American architect and urban designer.In his piece on Cooper in The New York Times, Paul Goldberger wrote that Cooper "just might be the most influential architect in New York right now...
as Gloria Ojeda - Kim Smith as Drina
- Peter WingfieldPeter WingfieldPeter Wingfield is a Welsh born television actor, well known for his television roles as Dan Clifford in Holby City, Dr. Robert Helm in Queen of Swords and Inspector Simon Ross in Cold Squad...
as Dr. Ivan Slavicky - Berend McKenzie as Lance
- Michael Daingerfield as Forensics Cop
- Benita HaBenita HaBenita Ha is a Chinese Canadian actress. She is best known in Canada for her appearance in the television show Street Cents. Her most recent appearance is in the film Scooby-Doo! The Mystery Begins. She also appeared in Smallville, X-Men: The Last Stand, Psych, Paycheck, Catwoman, and Flight 93...
as Forensics Technician - James Lloyd Reynolds as Hottie Doctor
- Jill KropJill KropJill Krop is a Canadian television journalist and one of the Global BC anchors, as well as radio personality.She was born in Edmonton, Alberta in 1963 and raised in British Columbia where she studied journalism at The British Columbia Institute of Technology and graduated with her BCIT Diploma of...
as Newscaster - Dagmar MidcapDagmar MidcapDagmar Midcap is a media personality originally based in Vancouver, British Columbia.A graduate of British Columbia Institute of Technology's broadcast journalism program in 1990, Midcap began her television career on WBNX-TV in Akron, Ohio, appearing on a weekly current affairs program...
as Television Reporter - Gordon Sharplin as Nightclub Patron
- Ryan RobbinsRyan RobbinsRyan Robbins is a Canadian actor. He was married to the actress Rebecca Reichert and they have one daughter.-Biography:...
as Bartender
Missy Peregrym
Missy Peregrym
Melissa "Missy" Peregrym is a Canadian actress and former fashion model. She made her feature film debut in the 2006 gymnastics comedy drama Stick It. She played a recurring role as Candice Wilmer on the NBC television series Heroes, and starred in the CW television series Reaper...
(uncredited) appears as the Hedare factory computer monitor image (Beau-line graphics model), depicting the bad effects of the beauty product.
Production
Initially there was debate about the writing credits, with 28 writers involved in the arbitration, but the Writers Guild of AmericaWriters Guild of America
The Writers Guild of America is a generic term referring to the joint efforts of two different US labor unions:* The Writers Guild of America, East , representing TV and film writers East of the Mississippi....
ultimately awarded screenplay credit to John D. Brancato, Michael Ferris
John Brancato and Michael Ferris
John Brancato and Michael Ferris are a pair of American screenwriters, whose works include The Game, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, Terminator Salvation and Surrogates....
, and John Rogers
John Rogers (writer)
John Rogers is a screenwriter, comedian, film producer, and comic book writer. Although born in Worcester, Massachusetts, he attended McGill University in Montreal and is better known publicly as a Canadian writer...
, and story credit to Theresa Rebeck
Theresa Rebeck
Theresa Rebeck is an American playwright, television writer and novelist. Her work has appeared on the Broadway and Off-Broadway stage, in film, and on television. Among her awards are the Mystery Writers of America’s Edgar Award.-Biography:...
, Brancato, and Ferris.
Box office
Catwomans world wide box office reached $82,102,379. Its US DVD rental gross during its stay on the weekly top 50 chart was $35 million.Critical response
Catwoman was poorly received, both critically and at the box office. Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
gives it a 10% freshness rating, based on 168 reviews. It has been named among the worst films ever made.
The film appeared on the list of Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
's most hated films. He criticized the filmmakers for giving little thought to providing Berry "with a strong character, story, supporting characters or action sequences", but his primary criticism came from the failure of the film to give the audience a sense of what her character experienced as she was transformed into Catwoman.
Film critic Bill Muller
Bill Muller
William S. "Bill" Muller was an American journalist and film critic, primarily for the Arizona Republic newspaper. He switched positions from reporter to film critic in 2000.-Background and career path:...
of the Arizona Republic suggested that maybe Berry should give back her 2001 Academy Award as a penalty.
Awards and recognition
This film received seven Golden RaspberryGolden Raspberry Awards
A Golden Raspberry Award, or Razzie for short, is an award presented in recognition of the worst in movies. Founded by American copywriter and publicist John J.B. Wilson in 1981, the annual Razzie Awards ceremony in Los Angeles precedes the corresponding Academy Awards ceremony by one day...
nominations in 2005, including Worst Supporting Actress (Sharon Stone), Worst Supporting Actor (Lambert Wilson) and Worst Screen Couple (Halle Berry and either Benjamin Bratt or Sharon Stone). It won in the categories of Worst Picture, Worst Actress (Halle Berry), Worst Director, and Worst Screenplay. Berry, while clutching her Academy Award statuette, accepted the award for Worst Actress personally, saying, "First of all I want to thank Warner Brothers. Thank you for putting me in a piece of shit, God-awful movie . . . It was just what my career needed." She has gone on to speak frankly in interviews about her views regarding problems with the film.
Aaron McGruder
Aaron McGruder
Aaron McGruder is an American cartoonist best known for writing and drawing The Boondocks, a Universal Press Syndicate comic strip about two young African American brothers from inner-city Chicago now living with their grandfather in a sedate suburb, as well as being the creator and executive...
's The Boondocks ran a series of comic strips in which Riley is punished by being forced to watch Catwoman. He subsequently campaigns to have Catwoman considered to be a form of child abuse
Child abuse
Child abuse is the physical, sexual, emotional mistreatment, or neglect of a child. In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Children And Families define child maltreatment as any act or series of acts of commission or omission by a parent or...
.
Soundtrack
Originally, the film's theme song was to be Britney SpearsBritney Spears
Britney Jean Spears is an American recording artist and entertainer. Born in McComb, Mississippi, and raised in Kentwood, Louisiana, Spears began performing as a child, landing acting roles in stage productions and television shows. She signed with Jive Records in 1997 and released her debut album...
' "Outrageous
Outrageous
"Outrageous" is a song by American recording artist Britney Spears from her fourth album, In the Zone. It was released on July 13, 2004 by Jive Records as the fourth and final single from the album. It was written and produced by R. Kelly...
", but Spears broke her knee on the set of the music video, and the idea was scrapped. Instead it was replaced with Mis-Teeq
Mis-Teeq
Mis-Teeq are a British R&B girl group, comprising singers Alesha Dixon, Su-Elise Nash and Sabrina Washington. Originally a quartet which included Zena McNally, the group was formed in 1999 and released three major studio albums and seven consecutive UK top ten singles, including international hits...
's "Scandalous".