As the visual effects supervisor on "Dead Tired," Pitof picked up the Technical Grand Prize at the 1994 Cannes Film Festival. According to "Catwoman" co-star Lambert Wilson, it's Pitof's visual style that makes this comic book-based film stand apart from others of its genre.
INTERVIEW WITH PITOF:
What does Halle Berry bring to this role?
She’s a Catwoman for real. It’s that easy.
Can you elaborate on that?
She has the grace, she has the power, she has the charisma, she has all the elements in her to be a Catwoman for real. I mean, to play this role you have to be special. I don’t think any actress, no matter how talented she is, can play a role like that because you have to some animalistic things that make you very special. And Halle Berry has that – all those things.
How does your film stand apart from other film versions of Catwoman?
It’s very different, and that’s the whole point. To make something completely different and to start something with her. I mean, it’s a new start to “Catwoman.” Halle Berry is Catwoman and I think it’s been designed for her to make it very different. The hero is Catwoman, of course, but the hero is really Halle Berry and her whole personality.
What’s the basketball scene with Halle Berry as Patience taking on Benjamin Bratt as Det. Lone supposed to symbolize?
The whole thing was playful. It’s kind of a sexy, playful scene. The whole thing is that they’re playing basketball, which is a game which can be kind of sexy, you know, because it’s all playing tricks and having fun. It’s really the beginning of their love story. It’s really an animalistic kind of way of getting along with people.
Why did you decide to use so many real cats rather than mostly CGI felines?
They are both. My first thought was to use CG cats first. But then I met a trainer who was a wonderful guy and he showed me what he could do with cats, and then he convinced me. And so I used real cats for what real cats could do, and then for some shots, which were impossible to do with real cats, then we used CG cats.
ADDITIONAL INTERVIEWS FROM THE WORLD PREMIERE OF "CATWOMAN"
Halle Berry and Sharon Stone / Benjamin Bratt and Lambert Wilson / Alex Borstein and Kim Smith
