Village Roadshow Pictures has released the following announcement on the start of production for Catwoman. From the press release, it now looks like Halle Berry’s character is called Patience Philips, a change from Patience Price.
PRINCIPAL PHOTOGRAPHY COMMENCES ON CATWOMAN
VANCOUVER, BC, CANADA, October 22, 2003 – Catwoman, starring Oscar-winning actress Halle Berry (Gothika, Monster’s Ball), Benjamin Bratt (Traffic, Red Planet), Sharon Stone (Cold Creek Manor, Casino) and Lambert Wilson (The Matrix Reloaded, The Matrix Revolutions) commenced principal photography on Sunday, September 28, 2003 in Vancouver, it was announced today by Jeff Robinov, President of Production, Warner Bros. Pictures.
A Warner Bros. Pictures presentation in association with Village Roadshow Pictures, Catwoman is produced by Denise DiNovi (What A Girl Wants) and Ed McDonnell (Insomnia, Three Kings) and directed by Pitof (Vidocq, visual effects director, Alien: Resurrection, The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc). Michael Fottrell, Benjamin Melniker, Michael E. Uslan and Bruce Berman are the film’s executive producers, Alison Greenspan is co-producer and Sara E. White serves as associate producer. The screenplay is by John Rogers and John Brancato & Michael Ferris, from a story by John Rogers, based on the comic book characters in D.C. Comics’ Batman publications, created by Bob Kane.
Catwoman is the story of shy, sensitive artist Patience Philips (HALLE BERRY), a woman who can’t seem to stop apologizing for her own existence. She works as a graphic designer for Hedare Beauty, a mammoth cosmetics company on the verge of releasing a revolutionary anti-aging product. When Patience inadvertently happens upon a dark secret her employer is hiding, she finds herself in the middle of a corporate conspiracy.
What happens next changes Patience forever. In a mystical twist of fate, she is transformed into a woman with the strength, speed, agility and ultra-keen senses of a cat. With her newfound prowess and feline intuition, Patience becomes Catwoman, a sleek and stealthy creature balancing on the thin line between good and bad. Like any wild cat, she’s dangerous, elusive and untamed.
Out to settle a few scores, Catwoman’s adventures are complicated by a burgeoning relationship with Tom Lone (BENJAMIN BRATT), a cop who has fallen for Patience but cannot shake his fascination with the mysterious Catwoman who appears to be responsible for a string of crime sprees plaguing the city.
Oscar-nominee Sharon Stone plays beautiful cosmetics icon Laurel Hedare and Lambert Wilson is George Hedare, Laurel’s pompous husband and owner of Hedare Beauty.
Catwoman marks the American film debut of director Pitof. His first feature film was the French-language Vidocq starring Gerard Depardieu, which Pitof wrote and directed. Before turning to directing, Pitof was a highly-respected visual effects director and supervisor on films such as Luc Besson’s The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc and Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s Alien: Resurrection, among many others.
Denise Di Novi’s recent credits include the upcoming New York Minute, A Walk to Remember and What A Girl Wants, as well as the now-classic films – Ed Wood, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Batman Returns and Edward Scissorhands – on which she collaborated with director Tim Burton. Her numerous other films include Heathers, Little Women, Practical Magic, Message In A Bottle and Original Sin.
Producer Ed McDonnell’s credits include the upcoming Racing Stripes, Insomnia and Three Kings. McDonnell also executive produced the comedy hit Shanghai Knights and the coming-of-age love story A Walk to Remember, and co-produced Original Sin and On Deadly Ground.
Catwoman will shoot on location in and around the Vancouver area for sixteen weeks and is scheduled for release in July, 2004. The film will be distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company, and in select territories by Village Roadshow Pictures.
Source: Village Roadshow Pictures
