Ruby Rose On Playing The First Lead LGBTQ Superhero On Television in ‘Batwoman’
Lesbian and gender-fluid actor Ruby Rose is no stranger to playing gay characters. But she doesn’t feel typecast. The Australian actor, known for her roles in XXX: Return of Xander Cage, John Wick, and Orange Is The New Black is proud to be the first lead LGBTQ superhero on television.
Speaking on Yahoo’s Build series, Ruby Rose outlined why she took on the role Kate Kane and her alter ego Batwoman. And what it’s like to live and breathe the female Caped Crusader 16 hours per day, six days per week.
“Well, I do spend a fair bit of my day playing a superhero, but I spend a lot of my day playing Kate Kane who has been through a lot. Through a lot of things. And that’s the most exhausting, like emotionally, physically, spiritually. [The] exhausting part to play is taking on board all of that knowing her story, living her story, trying to find the truth and the essence in her story.”
She adds that it’s sometimes difficult leaving Kate at the set and going home with Ruby when she spends so much more time in character than as herself. It’s a real emotional investment.
Why She Decided to Play Batwoman
Ruby Rose admits he was attracted to playing a lesbian superhero. But she says there is a deeper reason than just being a gay actor wanting to play a gay character. Before deciding to take on the role, she talked about the direction the series would take with showrunner and writer Caroline Dries, and executive producer and creator of the whole Arrowverse, Greg Berlanti.
Both Dries and Berlanti are openly gay. And they didn’t want to make Batwoman’s sexuality a gay story for gay people. They wanted to normalize her sexuality. Not make it the social issue of the week to explore like Rose was exposed to when growing up.
“And so now we get to make the show that we wish existed,” she said. “Except I get to be in it and it’s cool. I’m on a bus and I’m on buildings. It’s very strange.”
The first episode deals with a pertinent issue facing many gay men and women in the military. In a flashback, Kate Kane and her lover Sophie are caught by a commanding office kissing. Sophie signs paperwork denouncing “homosexual conduct.” Kane refuses and decides to leave.
Years later, Kane returns to Gotham City to discover Sophie is now married to a man. Soon Sophie is kidnapped and Kane must don the Batwoman persona to rescue her from the Wonderland Gang.
Dries told Entertainment Tonight, that Batwoman will have a number of girlfriends as the show progresses, though it will also deal with her relationship with Sophie.
Batwoman is No Sidekick to Batman
Ruby Rose explained Batwoman’s interesting evolution over the years in the comics from straight love interest to gay, independent superhero. “I think in the 50s or 60s [Batwoman was created] as a straight character to play Batman’s love interest, because people were worried about Batman and Robin being gay.” But there was no interest in her character initially. Comic readers just wanted Batman and Robin.
It would be decades before Kate Kane would find her footing when she was revamped as a lesbian character in 2006. Mark Waid, Grant Morrison, and Geoff Johns made her gay and Jewish. But it was writer Greg Rucka who her foundational comic, ‘Batwoman: Elegy’, which ran from August 2009 to February 2010. Rucka really set the tone for the character in general and influenced the CW series.
“[We’re pulling a lot from] Greg Rucka. I think it’s probably as far as the illustrations, the comics, the storyline, the dialogue…And Caroline, the showrunner and the writer and the writer’s room, you know, they stretch out the [Batwoman] comics. Because there’s not millions of them.”
Kane’s military background seen in the first episode came from Rucka’s comic. And if his comic run is anything to go by, the CW might be going into some darker territory than they are used to in the ‘Arrowverse’–such as the Occult.
The Toll and Rewards of Physical Acting and Stunts
Ruby Rose is known for her stunt work on XXX: Return of Xander Cage and John Wick. And off-camera she also performs martial arts and boxing which no doubt is good training for her fight scenes.
On Batwoman, she said wanted “to do every stunt. I want to everything and then I want to do my side projects.” But it soon took its toll.
Reports came out earlier this year that Rose needed emergency neck surgery after a stunt went wrong. “I herniated two discs into my spinal cord and broke through the protective barrier. And then basically almost severed my spinal cord. so it was like pushed right up against the wall of my spine…And if I did any rapid movements. If I would have slept funny even, or had a bad massage, or whiplash in a car. Anything like that. I could have been paralyzed.”
Rose had her discs, which were splintered and embedded in her spine, removed and replaced. “I’m bionic now,” she laughed.
She posted a video of the surgery online to show fans why she couldn’t make it to Comic-Con. This was to shut down rumors that she wasn’t prepared to do the promotional work for her show. or even meet fans.
“But I didn’t want to mention it at the time. to take away from the fun of Comic-Con. I wanted everyone to just be excited about the show. I didn’t want there to be a looming like ‘What’s happening?'”
She added that she also posted the video to dispel this Hollywood idea of perfection. She sees this as running parallel to the notion that you should be straight if you want a lead role in Hollywood.
“…We’re slowly chipping away at that. and showing real people. And showing that everyone looks and is different and unique. And that is what makes us interesting to watch…And for me, I felt like I was suddenly perpetuating the exact notion that I’ve always felt very strongly against. And I’m already not going to fit into that thing. You know I already tick a lot of boxes. ‘Oh she’s got so many tattoos.’ ‘Oh she’s got short hair.’ ‘Oh she’s a lesbian.’ ‘Oh she’s Australian.’ Whatever. So I was like, ‘Why not? Now I’m a PEZ dispenser.'”
She does admit she lied about her injuries at first, but then came clean. It’s this honestly and Rose’s uniqueness as an actor in Hollywood that has helped make the Batwoman show an interesting addition to the DC canon and the Arrowverse. As of writing, Batwoman is number 5 in popularity in the TV show rankings on IMDB. And Ruby Rose is number 6 in actor rankings.
It looks like Batwoman is going to shatter the glass ceiling for gay actors. And it’s about time.
