10 Insane Skills Actors Learned For Movie Roles

7. Michelle Pfeiffer Learned How To Use A Whip (Batman Returns)

Batman Returns Catwoman whip
Warner Bros. Pictures

From a handy survival skill... to a skill that isn't handy in the slightest. Unless you're into some seriously weird stuff.

While Michelle Pfeiffer thankfully didn't go too method when transforming herself into Catwoman for Tim Burton's 1992 Batman sequel (licking her own butt, playing with balls of string, etc), she did fully commit herself to one particular aspect of her character's skillset: namely, Selina Kyle's proficiency with a whip.

According to the movie's weapons master and stunt choreographer Anthony De Longis, Pfeiffer became extremely confident when using a whip, so much so that she actually ended up doing all her own whip work, and even managed to pull off a few improvised moves that made it into the film.

For proof of how good Pfeiffer got with a whip, look at the scene in the film where she throws it around Christopher Walken's neck and pulls him in. According to De Longis, the actress did this for real, with no insert shots or cutaways required.

Now let's see Tom Cruise do that.

Contributor
Contributor

Danny has been with WhatCulture for over ten years, and is currently Doctor Who Editor and WhoCulture Channel Manager, overseeing all of WhatCulture's Whoniverse coverage. In 2022, he took charge of WhoCulture and has grown it into the biggest Doctor Who channel on YouTube, and one of the biggest Doctor Who communities on the web full-stop. He has been writing and video editing since his early teens, and first got a taste for content creation after making his own Doctor Who trailers, off the back of a burning obsession with the Matt Smith era of the show. Like many his age, he first got into Doctor Who with the 2005 revival, but has since gone back and fallen in love with the classic years too. If you need someone to recite every Doctor Who episode in order, or to give you a random factoid about the making of Gridlock, Danny is the person to ask!