HAZBAN HOTEL STAR STEPHANIE BEATRIZ TALKS BATWOMAN, LGBTQ+ REPRESENTATION

Stephanie Beatriz, currently starring as Vaggie in Prime Video’s adult animated musical series Hazban Hotel , chatted with Retro Cool Nerd some time ago about her turn as Batwoman in Catwoman: Hunted. Beatriz , known for her roles in Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and Encanto, has forged quite a name for herself in the voice acting world with roles such as Mirabel Madrigal in Disney's Encanto, Gina Cazador on BoJack Horseman, and Mira Popadopolous on Q Force.

Let's talk about Kate Kane/ Batwoman in Catwoman: Hunted. To my ear, your performance is mostly a very serious tone similar to Rosa Diaz from Brooklyn 99. How would you say Batwoman and Rosa compare to each other?

Stephanie Beatriz: I think that Batwoman wants to remain more isolated, but she does have a sort of same, nonplused reactions to most people and most challenges having to have any kind of relationships. In this version, Catwoman: Hunted, audiences are sort of meeting her, meeting this version of her for the first time. They're meeting a character that hasn't had time, with them, to necessarily grow in a way that you got to see Rosa grow over eight seasons. I'd love to see what happens with the growth of Batwomen in this world. There are things that Batwoman doesn't necessarily have a total- she's got a lot of control around herself and her image and who she is, yet there are parts of herself that feel like she doesn't. She's not totally in control; she feels vulnerable there. She might have some sort of soft spots that she wasn't aware of. That's really exciting.

The only time that Batwoman's serious demeanor breaks is when Catwoman is let's say, distracting her. What can you tease the fans about the bubble bath scene?

SB: You're going to want to rewind it and watch it over and over. It's great. It's really sexy and tantalizing. It's fun to see two characters that you might not put in that situation be in that situation. I'm excited for people to see it and respond to it. I think it's really a fun scene. It's really fun. You've seen a version of that scene in lots of movies before, and watching these two characters play out, that scene is new and fresh and different. That's what's thrilling about it, too.

Batwoman is the highest-profile gay superhero, at least in the DC Universe. A few years ago, you came out as bi. How does it feel, or was it important to you to bring voice to an icon of the LGBTQ+ community?

SB: I think it's really amazing that the team behind Catwoman: Hunted wanted to have an actor that was part of the LGBTQIA community voice that character. So I'm really grateful that they asked me to be a part of the project. Good stories deserve to be told funny stories or because it just so happens that there are lots of people in the world, it just so happens that lots of kinds of people can fill up those good stories. And so I'm happy to be alive at a time when those characters are, in the central storylines of television and film, the media that we're consuming. At the same time, it's not over yet. There are parts of the world where those stories aren't celebrated; in fact, they're not even allowed to be. So we still have work to do as a global community to make sure that everyone sees themselves as the center of the story.

Catwoman: Hunted. Produced by Warner Bros. Animation, DC, and Warner Bros. Home Entertainment, the feature-length, anime-style movie is now available on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Combo Pack, Blu-ray, and Digital.