BACKSTAGE - PROMOTIONAL INTERVIEW

The World's Finest presents a press release from Warner Home Video promoting the home video release of Batman: Year One, arriving on October 18th, 2011, focusing on the Catwoman animated short. Continue below for further details.

Catwoman animated short premiere is centerpiece Batman: Year One bonus features

Eliza Dushku reprises Batman: Year One role as Selina Kyle/Catwoman in 15-minute short

Catwoman is included in the October 18 Blu-ray/DVD release of Batman: Year One, the next entry in the popular, ongoing series of DC Universe Animated Original Movies. Catwoman/Selina Kyle is voiced by Eliza Dushku, well known for her television roles in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Tru Calling and Dollhouse. The 15-minute short is penned by respected comics/animation writer Paul Dini.

The short 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.�