Though it hits DVD and Blu-ray for the general public as an extra feature on Batman: Year One next week, visitors to the New York Comic Con tomorrow will have the chance to sneak a peek at the 15-minute short film, “Catwoman.” You can also check out four all-new images from the short beneath information from the official press release:
Featuring Eliza Dushku as Selina Kyle/Catwoman and Kevin Conroy as Batman, the film will premiere at the DC Universe Animated panel on Friday, October 14 from 3:00-4:00 p.m. in the Con’s IGN Theater.
The panel includes animation legend Bruce Timm, nine-time Emmy Award-winning dialogue director Andrea Romano and Conroy himself. The panelists will discuss the Catwoman short, the upcoming release of Batman: Year One, and next spring’s release of Justice League: Doom.
The world premiere of the Justice League: Doom trailer is another New York Comic Con exclusive to be unveiled during the panel.
The short, written by Paul Dini, finds Catwoman posing as an “entertainer” in a strip club to get close to black market diamond smuggler Rough Cut – who doesn’t take kindly to Catwoman’s interference in his business, leading to an all-out battle through the streets of Gotham City.
“When Alan Burnett and I first started discussing the idea of a Catwoman short, we both agreed that we wanted to make the story and the settings as adult as we could,” Dini explains. “The world of burlesque has returned in a big way to the contemporary consciousness, and that proved to be a very natural setting for this Catwoman story. At the time I wrote the initial screenplay, I didn’t know the short would be paired up with Batman: Year One, but the steamy setting that Selina inhabits in that book also proved to be ideal for the short.”
For the short, Dini created the character Rough Cut, a villain whose smuggling interests beyond diamonds catches Catwoman’s attention.
“I liked the idea of a villain who was obsessed with diamonds, but as this story takes place in the down and dirty side of Gotham, I felt the bad guy couldn’t be too glamorous,” Dini says. “I came up with the name Rough Cut both to describe the man and the kinds of crude, unfinished diamonds he pedals. There’s always a market for industrial diamonds, but lately Rough Cut has been feeling the economic pinch, so he’s smuggling more precious cargo. That’s what brings Catwoman into the picture.”
Dushku was very happy to return to her Batman: Year One role, having already taken equity in the part of Catwoman/Selina Kyle. Dushku has definitely found a clear understanding of her character’s emotional make-up.
“A lot of people are familiar with the characters I’ve played – these strong and vicious women who are, very deep down inside, really wounded women with an entirely unexpected side, so there’s nothing black and white about them,” Dushku says. “I think people identify with the characters I play because even though they do terrible things, there’s a humanity there. They’ve got lots of layers. They’re not just good or evil. Selina is a prostitute, and she’s abrasive and in your face, but she also has this maternal, protective, loyal quality to her. Her relationship with Holly is a perfect example – it shows a side you might not expect.”
Click on any of the below images for much larger versions in the gallery:
