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Can I just say that while I know Christopher Nolan and feminism have had their differences over the years*, I find it a little admirable how, despite the many internet speculations over The New Adventures of Batman, him and the Dark Knight team's only musing is on a solo Catwoman movie. With that in mind, and knowing that DC can't make a new Batman movie until they have their JLA ducks in order if they ever want their own Avengers... why not? Call it The Dark Knight: Catwoman Begins or Gotham City: Catwoman or Christopher Nolan Presents The Catwoman (or "Catwoman: Not starring Halle Berry and with no Sharon Stone and having nothing to do with mystical Egyptian cat gods" if you want to be really clear). Keep Nolan on as producer and find a director who can handle the more sassy-stylish-seductive-fun aspects of Catwoman (John "Leverage" Rogers springs to mind, though by all means, suggest a female director).
Set it between The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises, in which canon explicitly has Batman out fishing. And though I know the temptation is there, no prequelitis. I don't want any "and here's how Catwoman and Bane first met!" or "John Daggett was Catwoman's father all along. We never said HE WASN'T, did we?" Just have Selina and Holly and maybe, if the plot demands it, characters like Commissioner Gordon or Lucius Fox who have lives far outside Batman.
Then you just make it a combo origin story/heist film, both things that Nolan's really good at. Selina is a dominatrix** who is inspired by Batman to YOLO, becomes a badass thief, then gets recruited into a crew of thieves by the Riddler, that one Batman villain that everyone wants to see Nolanized. But please, no "he's like the Zodiac killer with riddles!" bull. The Joker already gave "supervillain serial killer" all the work it needs. Have him be the mastermind of the robbery. We see him, Selina, and some other Leverage types (if you wish, you could throw in some minor Bat-villains like Magpie, Harley Quinn, or Scarecrow into the crew, but that kind of fanservice is by no means necessary) (Firefly the demolitions expert!) planning the robbery. We cross-cut between the legwork and Selina putting together her Catwoman costume/skills.
They pull off the heist, the Riddler double-crosses them, and the rest of the movie is Selina out for revenge. Have her track the Riddler to Rome. Have Black Mask be the big boss (there you go, Leo, now everyone in Inception is also in Batman). There's years of Catwoman stories to cherry-pick from. The one caveat is no city-destroying plot, since that would of necessity bring Batman out of retirement (and be a little OTT for a superhero heist film anyway. Something like stealing US military secrets to give to a foreign power would be perfectly high stakes, and give Nolan something political to chew on).
Oh, and the Riddler. Just hire Michael Emerson. Have him at first play the Riddler as the wimpy little geek a lot of the fandom takes him for, then when he betrays Selina he gets an uber-cool, every-detail-accounted-for exit like something out of a Mission: Impossible movie. From then on, he's a criminal mastermind with a snappy green suit and an epic-level superiority complex. Tell me Nolan couldn't find something to do with "he sees his marks as an audience and he taunts them with riddles he knows they're too dumb to figure out." You could even work some feminism in there, with him thinking of Selina as nothing but a dumb pickpocket (albeit not because she's a woman, but because she's not him) and her proving him wrong.
The thing writes itself. We know from TDKR that Selina has a "dark past" that's so bad, she'll do anything to get clear of it. Let's find out what's so fucked up about her. And there's also the "where does she get those wonderful toys?" aspect, especially since Selina has never had Bruce Wayne's resources.
*(although I don't get Inception-hate. That's not a case of fridging a woman for cheap shock value, it's a movie where the entire plot hinges on Leonardo DiCaprio's wife being dead from frame one. It's like complaining about Gerald Butler being dead in P.S. I Love You)
**I know the sex worker origin is controversial, but I think the other side of the argument is valid: "Why can't a woman have been a sex worker and become a superhero?" Although yes, I do see the squicky aspects of every heroine having dubiously consensual sex in her backstory, and with Frank Miller especially, though I don't know if people are reacting to Selina's portrayal in Year One specifically or Miller's larger work. If, say, Scott Snyder wrote those scenes (I don't recall them as being that sexualized or exploitative, especially when compared to Judd Winick's stuff), would there be so much controversy?
Anyway, I feel like the Nolanverse is grim and adult enough to support the heavy nature of such an origin story, while Catwoman's inevitable appearance in the reboot can be more kid-friendly. If any filmmaker can resist the "she has sex for cash DUR HURR HURR" aspects of that origin and instead make it into something thematic and deep and meaningful, it'd be Nolan and his merry band.
Set it between The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises, in which canon explicitly has Batman out fishing. And though I know the temptation is there, no prequelitis. I don't want any "and here's how Catwoman and Bane first met!" or "John Daggett was Catwoman's father all along. We never said HE WASN'T, did we?" Just have Selina and Holly and maybe, if the plot demands it, characters like Commissioner Gordon or Lucius Fox who have lives far outside Batman.
Then you just make it a combo origin story/heist film, both things that Nolan's really good at. Selina is a dominatrix** who is inspired by Batman to YOLO, becomes a badass thief, then gets recruited into a crew of thieves by the Riddler, that one Batman villain that everyone wants to see Nolanized. But please, no "he's like the Zodiac killer with riddles!" bull. The Joker already gave "supervillain serial killer" all the work it needs. Have him be the mastermind of the robbery. We see him, Selina, and some other Leverage types (if you wish, you could throw in some minor Bat-villains like Magpie, Harley Quinn, or Scarecrow into the crew, but that kind of fanservice is by no means necessary) (Firefly the demolitions expert!) planning the robbery. We cross-cut between the legwork and Selina putting together her Catwoman costume/skills.
They pull off the heist, the Riddler double-crosses them, and the rest of the movie is Selina out for revenge. Have her track the Riddler to Rome. Have Black Mask be the big boss (there you go, Leo, now everyone in Inception is also in Batman). There's years of Catwoman stories to cherry-pick from. The one caveat is no city-destroying plot, since that would of necessity bring Batman out of retirement (and be a little OTT for a superhero heist film anyway. Something like stealing US military secrets to give to a foreign power would be perfectly high stakes, and give Nolan something political to chew on).
Oh, and the Riddler. Just hire Michael Emerson. Have him at first play the Riddler as the wimpy little geek a lot of the fandom takes him for, then when he betrays Selina he gets an uber-cool, every-detail-accounted-for exit like something out of a Mission: Impossible movie. From then on, he's a criminal mastermind with a snappy green suit and an epic-level superiority complex. Tell me Nolan couldn't find something to do with "he sees his marks as an audience and he taunts them with riddles he knows they're too dumb to figure out." You could even work some feminism in there, with him thinking of Selina as nothing but a dumb pickpocket (albeit not because she's a woman, but because she's not him) and her proving him wrong.
The thing writes itself. We know from TDKR that Selina has a "dark past" that's so bad, she'll do anything to get clear of it. Let's find out what's so fucked up about her. And there's also the "where does she get those wonderful toys?" aspect, especially since Selina has never had Bruce Wayne's resources.
*(although I don't get Inception-hate. That's not a case of fridging a woman for cheap shock value, it's a movie where the entire plot hinges on Leonardo DiCaprio's wife being dead from frame one. It's like complaining about Gerald Butler being dead in P.S. I Love You)
**I know the sex worker origin is controversial, but I think the other side of the argument is valid: "Why can't a woman have been a sex worker and become a superhero?" Although yes, I do see the squicky aspects of every heroine having dubiously consensual sex in her backstory, and with Frank Miller especially, though I don't know if people are reacting to Selina's portrayal in Year One specifically or Miller's larger work. If, say, Scott Snyder wrote those scenes (I don't recall them as being that sexualized or exploitative, especially when compared to Judd Winick's stuff), would there be so much controversy?
Anyway, I feel like the Nolanverse is grim and adult enough to support the heavy nature of such an origin story, while Catwoman's inevitable appearance in the reboot can be more kid-friendly. If any filmmaker can resist the "she has sex for cash DUR HURR HURR" aspects of that origin and instead make it into something thematic and deep and meaningful, it'd be Nolan and his merry band.
