Anne Hathaway Is Pur-r-r-fect As 'Catwoman'

Warner Bros. has confirmed that actress Anne Hathaway will star as the character 'Selina Kyle', aka 'Catwoman' in director Christopher Nolan's third "Batman" feature "The Dark Knight Rises".

"I am thrilled to have the opportunity to work with Anne Hathaway, who will be a fantastic addition to our ensemble as we complete our story," said Nolan.

This is good news for fans, as the only prominent females that have appeared in Nolan's previous "Batman" films have been Katie Holmes in "Batman Begins" and Maggie Gyllenhaal in "The Dark Knight", with neither performance creating any kind of sexy spark with audiences.

'Catwoman' was created by writer Bill Finger and illustrator Bob Kane, partially inspired by Kane's second cousin by marriage, Ruth Steel.

The original and most widely known Catwoman, 'Selina Kyle', debuted in DC Comics "Batman #1 (Spring 1940) as 'The Cat', a beautiful whip-carrying burglar with a taste for high-stake thefts.

Catwoman was portrayed in the 1966 "Batman" TV series by actresses Julie Newmar, Lee Meriwether and Eartha Kitt.

In film, Michelle Pfeiffer portrayed the definitive version of Selina in 1992's "Batman Returns", followed by Halle Berry in a stand-alone "Catwoman" feature in 2004.

Catwoman is skilled in hand-to-hand combat, with razor-sharp "Wolverine"-like retractable claws, wielding an assortment of bullwhips and cat o' nine tails.

Catwoman is also one of Batman's most enduring love interests, usually depicted as his one 'true love'.

Click the images to enlarge...

Vancouver Celebrates With "McCabe & Mrs. Miller"

Director Robert Altman's 1971, British Columbia-lensed feature "McCabe & Mrs. Miller", starring Warren Beatty and Julie Christie, will screen @ Vancouver's Vancity Theatre, January 28, 29, 30 and February 2 and 3, in celebration of Vancouver's 125th birthday this year :

"...Happy Birthday, Vancouver, 125 years young! To kick off the celebrations, what better movie than Robert Altman's masterpiece 'McCabe & Mrs Miller', probably the greatest film ever made in British Columbia, and set in the fictional town of Presbyterian Church in the early years of the twentieth century, just up the road from our own fair city.

"Warren Beatty stars as 'John McCabe', a hazy romantic and professional gambler with entrepreneurial dreams of setting up a saloon and a brothel on the gold rush trail. He finds an ideal partner in Julie Christie's madam, 'Constance Miller', a businesswoman with all the savvy McCabe himself patently lacks.

"But their luck runs out when a zinc mining company decides to muscle in on the action..."

Regarded as an 'anti-western' by Altman, 'McCabe and Mrs Miller' is notable for its naturalism and opium-dreamy, poetic rumination, imbued with the aching sadness of classic Leonard Cohen songs "Sisters of Mercy" and "The Winter Song" that substitute for a score.

The film was shot in sequence between October 1970 and February 1971, initially on the Howe Sound near Squamish, then in West Van, where the crew constructed the entire town of 'Presbyterian Church'.

In 2010, McCabe and Mrs Miller was selected for inclusion in the National Film Registry at the Library of Congress.

Click the images to enlarge and Sneak Peek "McCabe & Mrs. Miller"...