Catwoman (film)

Catwoman is a 2004 American superhero film based on the DC Comics character of the same name, who is traditionally an anti-heroine and love interest of the vigilante hero Batman. The plot features a new character, Patience Phillips, taking the Catwoman name, and viewing the traditional Catwoman as a historical figure. It was directed by Pitof, produced by Denise Di Novi and Edward McDonnell, and written by John Rogers, John Brancato and Michael Ferris, with music by Klaus Badelt. It starred Halle Berry, Sharon Stone, Benjamin Bratt, Lambert Wilson, Frances Conroy and Alex Borstein. Catwoman was released in cinemas on July 19, 2004, by Warner Bros. Pictures to almost universally negative reviews. The film grossed $82 million on a $100 million production budget.

Plot

Artist and graphics designer Patience Phillips (Halle Berry) is a meek people-pleaser whose main support is her best friend Sally (Alex Borstein). She works for a cosmetics company called Hedare Beauty, which is ready to ship a new skin cream, called Beau-line, that is able to reverse the effects of aging. However, when Patience visits the factory where it is being manufactured, she overhears a discussion between the scientist, Dr. Ivan Slavicky (Peter Wingfield), and Laurel Hedare (Sharon Stone), the wife of company-owner George Hedare (Lambert Wilson), about the dangerous side effects from continued use of the product. Laurel's guards discover Patience and are ordered to dispose of her. Patience tries to escape using a conduit pipe, but the minions have it sealed and flush her out of it, drowning her. Washed up on shore after drowning, Patience is mysteriously brought back to life by an Egyptian Mau cat, which had appeared at her apartment earlier; from that moment on, she develops cat-like abilities.

Catwoman

Catwoman (Selina Kyle) is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, commonly in association with the superhero Batman. The character was created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger, and she made her debut in Batman #1 (Spring 1940), in which she is known as "the Cat". Catwoman has traditionally been portrayed as a supervillain and adversary of Batman, but since the 1990s, she has been featured in an eponymous series that depicts her as an antiheroine rather than a traditional villain. Catwoman is known for having a complex love-hate relationship with Batman and has been Batman's most enduring love interest.

The original and most widely known Catwoman is Selina Kyle. The character was partially inspired by Kane's cousin, Ruth Steel, as well as actress Jean Harlow. In her first appearance, she was a whip-carrying burglar with a taste for high-stake thefts. For many years the character thrived, but from September 1954 to November 1966 Catwoman took an extended hiatus due to the newly developing Comics Code Authority in 1954. These issues involved the rules regarding the development and portrayal of female characters that were in violation of the Comics Code, a code which is no longer in use. In the comics, two other women have adopted the Catwoman identity, apart from Selina: Holly Robinson and Eiko Hasigawa.

Halle Berry

Halle Maria Berry (born Maria Halle Berry; August 14, 1966) is an American actress, film producer, and former fashion model. She won an Academy Award for Best Actress in 2002 for her performance in the romantic drama Monster's Ball (2001), which made her the only woman of color to win a Best Actress Academy Award to date, as of 2016.

Berry was one of the highest paid actresses in Hollywood during the 2000s and has been involved in the production of several of the films in which she performed. She is also a Revlon spokesmodel. Before becoming an actress, she started modeling and entered several beauty contests, finishing as the 1st runner-up in the Miss USA Pageant and coming in 6th place in the Miss World Pageant in 1986. Her breakthrough film role was in the romantic comedy Boomerang (1992), alongside Eddie Murphy, which led to roles in films such as the comedy The Flintstones (1994), the political comedy-drama Bulworth (1998) and the television film Introducing Dorothy Dandridge (1999), for which she won the Emmy Award and Golden Globe Award for Best Actress, among many other awards.

Sharon Stone

Sharon Yvonne Stone (born March 10, 1958) is an American actress, film producer, and former fashion model.

Stone first came to attention for her role opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger in the 1990 sci-fi thriller Total Recall before achieving international recognition with her starring role in the erotic thriller Basic Instinct (1992) by Paul Verhoeven. She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress and won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture Drama for her performance as Ginger McKenna in the crime drama film Casino (1995), directed by Martin Scorsese. She received further acclaim and Golden Globe Award nominations for her roles in the 1998 drama The Mighty and the 1999 comedy The Muse. In 2004, Stone won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series for her performance in The Practice. She has also appeared in such movies as the crime drama Alpha Dog (2006), the drama Bobby (2006) and, most recently, a biographical drama film about a porn actress, Lovelace (2013).