Catwoman: Hunted Interview: Elizabeth Gillies on Playing Selina Kyle

Catwoman: Hunted is DC’s latest animated feature and features a star-studded cast that includes Elizabeth Gillies (Dynasty), Stephanie Beatriz (Brooklyn Nine-Nine), Lauren Cohan, Keith David, Jonathan Frakes, and more. Produced by Warner Bros. Animation, DC, and Warner Bros. Home Entertainment, the movie will release on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Combo Pack, on Blu-ray, and on Digital on February 8, 2022.

“In the all-new original Catwoman: Hunted, Catwoman’s attempt to steal a priceless jewel puts her squarely in the crosshairs of both a powerful consortium of villains and the ever-resourceful Interpol, not to mention Batwoman. It might just be enough to contain her. Or not,” reads the official synopsis.

ComingSoon Editor-in-Chief Tyler Treese spoke with Catwoman: Hunted star Elizabeth Gillies about playing Selina Kyle, her love of music, and the latest DC animated film.

Tyler Treese: I was curious about your relationship with Catwoman and how you were first introduced to the character.

Elizabeth Gillies: Michelle Pfeiffer’s Catwoman was my introduction to her, and I sort of saw in love with it, and I loved her take on this character and I wanted to pay tribute while making it my own when I received this offer when I started to do this movie because she was sort of my inspiration from the beginning.

What’s your process in making it your own? Obviously, Michelle all had such an iconic portrayal. So how do you kind of touch on that while also putting your own spin on it?

Well, it’s funny because I was Catwoman like a year or two earlier for Halloween, Michelle’s Catwoman. I was walking around the house and saying all her lines in her voice because I love impersonating people’s voices. I basically had to deconstruct from there and find my own way around the character and walk around kind in Catwoman’s shoes myself after I shed the initial layer of Michelle’s Selina Kyle. I knew that was my jumping-off point, but getting to play in the booth and, you know, researching Selina Kyle more online and watching all the other people who had played her in the past and drawing my own kind of version from that was fun. And it took me a minute, but I like where it ended up, and it feels true to the character, but also a little bit new, and that’s what I wanted.

Yeah. I really enjoyed the film and Selina’s always been one to kind of use her sexuality. There’s a really fun scene here with Batwoman in the film. Can you talk about that aspect of the character and putting on the sultry voice?

Yeah, absolutely. It’s funny because when I was recording it, I thought that I had a great sultry voice, but then we went about a hundred miles further with it, and it’s like ‘Now, that’s Catwoman.’ So it was fun for me to find those limits and to see how hardcore I could go vocally to make her as sultry as possible, particularly with Batwoman, because Catwoman uses her sexuality as a weapon and a tool, but she also enjoys it and she has fun with it. So, I like watching her not only play around with Batwoman for her own gain but also because she really likes it too. Obviously, it’s fun to watch Batwoman sort of turn into a little girl around her. So I was really excited to see that they wanted to go there with the two of them, we have one or two scenes in particular where they really explore their sexuality. And I think it’s exciting in general for the DC Universe to be, you know, playing around with this and be exploring this, it’s cool.

This is a great female-led film and there are a lot of empowering aspects to Catwoman. Getting to explore this character, what did you really take away from the character and what were your favorite aspects of her?

Well, in this version of the script, in particular, we really get to see the contrast between Catwoman’s bravado and her confidence and the character she puts on in front of people and then how internal and vulnerable and soft she can be when she’s by herself and how she really does have a huge wall up. She leads with sexuality and with all these jokes and by being so big, and then when she’s alone, she gets solemn. So playing with that dynamic was fun. I like that we get to see the full spectrum of who Selina Kyle is. Obviously, once you watch the movie, you see that she’s doing some of the things she’s doing for a bigger cause. So that was cool for me.

The film looks incredible. It has this anime-inspired art style. How impressed were you with just how it all came together?

I was so impressed. I had no idea what it was gonna look like until I went in the final time to do some re-record. Once I saw it was anime, I was so excited because I had no clue what it was gonna look like, but to finally see everything and then ultimately to watch the movie and hear the score and how it was shot. I mean, not shot, you know what I mean? But some of the car chases and everything, when they’re on the cliff I mean it feels like you’re watching something that was filmed, you know, on a camera. It’s incredible. I really did love the music. I love that they went in the jazz direction. I just found the movie to be very unique and creative and it was like a piece of art. I loved it.

I love the soundtrack too. Very upbeat, jazzy. Speaking of jazz, you did a great album with Seth McFarlane. Can you tell me about your love of jazz and how cool it is that this film also reflects that?

Oh yeah. I was so thrilled that they ended up going the jazz route with the score on this film. I obviously love jazz. I’ve recorded a lot of different jazz and standard songs with Seth and we continue to do them, and he’s really kind of nourished my love for jazz. His knowledge of that style of music and that genre is so extensive, so he’s taught me a lot. Doing our album last year, that we both recorded from our respective homes during the pandemic, was especially fun. It was very cool.

There’s also this fun dynamic where Catwoman is working with Interpol and is on the other side for a bit. Can you talk about that unique part of the film and how you get to play Catwoman in a very different environment?

Yeah, totally. I mean, they basically cut a deal with her. They say it in the trailer where, basically, they’ll absolve her of all of her many warrants, because she’s obviously racked up a hefty bill of them from all the different things she’s done over the years if they take Leviathon down together, so she ends up working with them. But, there was this funny dynamic between the three of them, where they alluded to the fact that she’s maybe slept with them in the past because she’s Catwoman, and of course she did. And it’s just, it seems she has a history with everyone, and that was really fun for me to explore when I was recording. There was a familiarity with all of the characters. She has this reputation that I find so fun, but yes, you see Catwoman in a bunch of different lights in this movie, it’s just really a slew of so many different characters and villains and monsters and cameos and easter eggs. It’s a treat for the fans, I think.

There are so many great villains and fight scenes in this. From your aspect, and recording, who was your favorite villain to go up against? How crazy is it recording these fight scenes and doing all the grunts and all the noises?

I know. It’s exhausting. I really love it. But then all of a sudden, I will get kind of exhausted after like 25 minutes of it. And then I’m like, holy shit, my body does not know the difference, it’s wild. That’s why I’m so amazed at the voice actors that do this day in and day out and they never get tired, and their voices never cracked. I’m like, ‘Wow, you’re pros.’ But I had a lot of fun. There are so many fight sequences in the movie. I don’t know if I can say because I think it’s a spoiler, so I won’t say who it was, but there were was one towards the end of the movie that I had the most fun with. And I think it was, it’s maybe the highest suspense point of the movie and you don’t know what’s gonna happen. And that’s where I had to be really vocal. And it was a lot of fun. There are a lot of twists and turns and surprises and surprise villains in this movie. So you just have to keep your eyes open when you watch it.

You mentioned just how straining voice acting can be. You’ve done many voice acting roles over the years, have you had any tips that you’ve learned to help that process?

I mean, there are little things that I always remember when I go in there. Like, to not pop my p’s right into the microphone, or little courtesy things. But as far as keeping my voice unstrained, I’m not good about drinking water when I sing and I record all the time, but I just usually don’t do anything for it. I’m kind of old school in a bad way where I don’t take care of my voice like I should, but weirdly when I’m voice acting, I’m very courteous with my voice and careful, and I have tea and I have water. And I think, it sounds silly, but keeping all that up or you’ll lose the low end of your voice faster, or at least I will. So I usually do my softer word lines first, and then I scream towards the end. Cause you don’t wanna scream towards the beginning, obviously. [Laughs.]

Then my last question, I’m sure it didn’t take a ton of work getting you on board for Catwoman, but what about the script really impressed you, and made you want to be part of this project?

I thought that it was smart, and I felt that. Obviously, I loved that it was female-driven and there were a bunch of really strong female characters, but I think the dynamic between Catwoman and Batwoman maybe really sealed the deal for me. I loved that DC was going there and willing to explore that relationship, and I hadn’t really seen that before, particularly not in animation in the DC Universe. So I was thrilled to do that, and it was her first. It’s Catwoman’s first animated movie that’s all about her in the DC Universe. So that was very exciting, too.