Anne Hathaway Speaks Out on Being Cast as Black Cat for Spider-Man 4

For comic book fans, Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 4 remains perhaps the biggest case of cinematic what might have been. The film entered development in 2007 after Raimi's previous three Spider-Man films with the director set to return as well as much of the franchise's main cast but was ultimately scrapped in 2010. Since then, various details about what the fourth film would have entailed have emerged with Raimi himself noting in 2013 that Anne Hathaway would have appeared in the film as Felicia Hardy/Black Cat. Now, Hathaway is speaking out about being cast in the role, revealing in an appearance on the Happy Sad Confused podcast (via Variety) that they hadn't gotten very far into things when it was cancelled.

"I did not get into costume and did not read a script past the audition sides," Hathaway said. "I got the part and, yeah, it just… I think that's probably more the producers' story to tell than mine should they ever decided to tell it."

She continued, "The Spider-Man universe has gone on to be so enormous and so thrilling. It's just reinventing itself and all of those things so I wouldn't want to make more of it than is necessary."

Hathaway Did Go On To Appear As A Different "Cat" in The Dark Knight Rises

While Hathaway didn't get a chance to bring Black Cat to screen, she did end up portraying Catwoman in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises. However, Hathaway revealed that she thinks that had Spider-Man 4 actually happened, she wouldn't have gotten the Catwoman role.

"That's how I hold it. The way I hold it is if that movie had gotten made, I don't know if I would have been considered because I don't know if (Nolan) would've said, 'No, no, she's occupied in another universe,'" Hathaway said. "As an actor, you don't know this on day one, but you learn to just go, 'You know what? The right role finds the right person, and sometimes it's you and sometimes it's not, so when it doesn't happen just trust deeper and keep going, Just keep going."

What Are Anne Hathaway's Upcoming Movies?

Hathway's most recent film, Eileen, is now in theaters. That film, set in 1960s New England, follows Eileen Dunlop is working at a prison when a captivating, glamorous counselor arrives and helps her access new facets of her personality but may be drawing her into something more dangerous.

The cast of Eileen also includes Shea Whigham as Jim Dunlop, Marin Ireland as Rita Polk, Owen Teague as Randy, Jefferson White as Buck Warren, Tonye Patano as Mrs. Stevens, and Siobhan Fallon Hogan as Mrs. Murray.

Hathaway is also set to star in the romantic comedy She Came to Me as well as the upcoming David Lowery film, Mother Mary.