Dark Knight Rises Cast Revealed

[J.M. Vargas]

... Anne Hathaway IS the new Catwoman in Nolan's "Dark Knight Rises": http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/blogs/heat-vision/anne-hathaway-cast-catwoman-dark-73418.

[J.M. Vargas]

Oh, almost forgot: "Inception's" Tom Hardy cast as Bane - http://www.deadline.com/2011/01/anne-hathaway-wins-selina-kyle-role-in-the-dark-knight-rises/

So, it's Catwoman and Bane versus the Dark Knight next time around.

[the5thghostbuster]

Unexpected villians, but sounds great. If anyone can make people forget the treatment of Bane from Batman and Robin, its Hardy. Anne Hathaway will need to work overtime to top Pfeiffer, but I believe she is up for the challenge.

Bring it on Nolan!

[erich]

So Nolan is three-for-three in underwhelming actress counterparts to Batman?

[Dan Mancini]

The announcement didn’t actually name Hathaway’s character as Catwoman...

...but we'll go ahead and report that she's playing Catwoman anyway because it makes a better headline.

[erich]

The announcement didn’t actually name Hathaway’s character as Catwoman...

...but we'll go ahead and report that she's playing Catwoman anyway because it makes a better headline.

I wonder if Nolan would cast Hathaway as Selina Kyle and not go the Catwoman route. Maybe he'll add to the gritty realism and make her a lonely woman who has a lot of cats in her apartment...and that's it.

[HGervais]

It's been a long time since I read it but I recall that in Frank Miller's Year One story...at least I tihnk it was Year One.... Selina Kyle was related to the crime boss Falcone, played by Tom Wilkerson in the first Nolan Batman movie, so perhaps that is the route they are taking.

[Steve T Power]

There's also zero evidence that states whether or not she's even playing Catwoman. Where the hell did this Catwoman thing come from?

And i'm sure this won't be the case, but please god toss Bane's comic book origins.

[erich]

There's also zero evidence that states whether or not she's even playing Catwoman. Where the hell did this Catwoman thing come from?

The press release says Hathaway has been cast as Selina Kyle.

[Steve T Power]

There's also zero evidence that states whether or not she's even playing Catwoman. Where the hell did this Catwoman thing come from?

The press release says Hathaway has been cast as Selina Kyle.

So it does. I'm stupid.

[cdouglas]

There's always the very distinct possibility that Kyle may not be depicted as a villain (though surely her kleptomaniacal tendencies will be left intact). She's been as much an ally as an antagonist to Batman in the comics over the years.

[tucco]

BOO! for Bane in any form....I'm sorry I just never liked the character.....

And what happened to keeping these films grounded in "reality"? Bane goes against that mentality more than Harvey Dent walking around with CGI face, in a medical condition that prohibits him from doing anything but vegging at most....

I think The Wraith would have been a great, believable villain......looks like Batman....ties in with the fact that Batman is on Gotham's s**t list and could heap more blame on Batman....would make for a more compelling story....

Better Selina Kyle than Catwoman proper....half villain, half non-villain, will not kill......equals a crap sub plot.

Am hoping for the BEST of course as to how it turns out....and I don't believe The Joker should be canned as a character.....he's always the only sure fire villain in the movies for Batman.....someone can play him besides Heath...and should.

[Dan Mancini]

The best course of action right now is to whinge as loudly as the Internets will allow (which, as we all know, is really loudly). Because Heath Ledger was an unlikely choice to play The Joker, and we all know how poorly that worked out.

So it does. I'm stupid.

Actually, you're not if you only read the Hollywood Reporter story. It doesn't mention Selina Kyle. It only says that Hathaway is playing the female lead, Catwoman...and also that Nolan never actually said she's playing Catwoman. Because he's Nolan.

You're not illiterate, the folks at Hollywood Reporter are.

[Dunnyman]

Anne Hathaway in a skin-tight Catwoman costume? Christmas wishes DO come true!

[HGervais]

Bane makes a certain degree of sense. Yes the comic book design and the design from the Batman & Robin movie is horrible and has no real place in Nolan's Bat-world but what Bane represents is something I can see working. Coming off the last film Batman is hated and on the run. Enter Bane. The guy in the books who literally broke Batman. Both his back and in many ways his spirit. Now take that slant on Bane, cast Tom Hardy and guess what folks? I think you've got yourself an interesting badguy that very much works within the context of what has come before.

[Jim_Thomas]

[tucco]

The best course of action right now is to whinge as loudly as the Internets will allow (which, as we all know, is really loudly). Because Heath Ledger was an unlikely choice to play The Joker, and we all know how poorly that worked out.

Dan, are you implying that I am whinging (whining?) just because I truly do not like Bane; and also lament the fact that The Joker shouldn't be axed?
I honestly wish they cast different villains ...and had a legit suggestion with The Wraith, whose M.O. resembles Batman and could make for some interesting complications for Batman if a killer resembling him is on the loose......some unfounded accusations, etc.
I wasn't just shouting into space....but it's all good.

[Dan Mancini]

The best course of action right now is to whinge as loudly as the Internets will allow (which, as we all know, is really loudly). Because Heath Ledger was an unlikely choice to play The Joker, and we all know how poorly that worked out.

Dan, are you implying that I am whinging (whining?) just because I truly do not like Bane; and also lament the fact that The Joker shouldn't be axed?
I honestly wish they cast different villains ...and had a legit suggestion with The Wraith, whose M.O. resembles Batman and could make for some interesting complications for Batman if a killer resembling him is on the loose......some unfounded accusations, etc.
I wasn't just shouting into space....but it's all good.

Actually, I was just being a smartass. Isn't that why the Internets were invented?

I'm actually not a huge fan of Bane either -- though, admittedly, he was introduced after I'd stopped reading comics, so I'm most familiar with him from Batman: The Animated Series. But I side with Harold on this one. We're extremely unlikely to see a straight translation of the character into the Nolanverse. Instead, it'll be a Bane that could exist in the faux-realistic world of the previous films (and that's what Nolan has created by the way: not realism, but a kind of operatic imitation of realism meant to lend the drama more weight). And based on his performance in Bronson alone, Tom Hardy could be a truly kickass Bane -- the first bad guy in the series who matches Batman's physical prowess.

Meanwhile, I suspect Catwoman will be the one who resembles Batman. She'll likely have a vendetta against organized crime in Gotham, but cross lines that Batman doesn't. It's another way for Nolan to explore how good and evil aren't binary and the ends don't justify the means. Personally, I think Catwoman is a great choice. A lot people thought Nolan was nuts to touch the Joker after Nicholson's iconic take on the character, but if you're going to do a stand-alone Batman trilogy, I think you have to deal with the Joker and Catwoman. You can ignore the Penguin and the Riddler and other prime members of the rogues' gallery, but Joker and Catwoman are unavoidable. And I think a stand-alone trilogy is exactly what Nolan has in mind. I suspect he'll end this next film in such a way that the next director to make a Batman flick with have the burden and luxury of starting from scratch.

(And isn't it Wrath?).

[tucco]

Yes, Wrath...damn I knew there was something wrong......yeah he was a good character...underused.
I don't think it's impossible that a Bane story could be swell, I just feel like *meh* about him.
Would it be such a crime to recast the Joker? I know, some people would say yes and others would say no...it's just that he was simply apprehended at the end of The Dark Knight....I feel it would be cool for him to break out of Arkham Asylum and do whatever the hell the Joker does...
It's Nolan's last Batfilm so I can understand not using the character. on the other hand...

What DOES really suck is we won't see this thing for a long time....

[Dan Mancini]

If I were Nolan I'd have recast the Joker with Joseph Gordon-Levitt, but I'm not Nolan.

[HGervais]

If I were Nolan I'd have recast the Joker with Joseph Gordon-Levitt, but I'm not Nolan.

And you don't need it to be THE Joker to do it. In the Batman Beyond animated series there is a gang/cult dedicated to the Joker that would work pretty well.

[J.M. Vargas]

JOSEPH GORDON-LEVITT IN TALKS TO JOIN "THE DARK KNIGHT RISES" PLAYING... NOBODY KNOWS.

[Gabriel Girard]

Gordon-Levitt cast as Alberto Falcone. Maybe this means Nolan will really go the with the Catwoman/Falcone connection and that the movie will be more based on the gangster aspect than on the supervillain angle - I'd be up for that!

[HGervais]

If memory serves Falcone's son became the Gotham serial killer known as The Holiday Killer. Bane, Catwoman, The Holiday Killer and perhaps Talia.....that's looking like a crowded field of bad guys/girls.

[cdouglas]

Gordon-Levitt cast as Alberto Falcone.

Or maybe not...

http://insidemovies.ew.com/2011/03/21/j ... ght-rises/

[Dan Mancini]

Gordon-Levitt cast as Alberto Falcone.

Or maybe not...

http://insidemovies.ew.com/2011/03/21/j ... ght-rises/

Even if JGL does play Alberto/Holiday, Dark Knight Rises could easily be a tightly plotted epic, assuming Selina Kyle is Carmine Falcone's illegitimate daughter (a la The Long Halloween and Dark Victory). Instead of an army of poorly characterized baddies for Batman to fight, you have a clusterf&$k of villainy that Bats can manipulate into...uh...eating itself. In essence, he could be a good-guy version of the Joker, playing all sides against each other until all the major criminals in Gotham are hosed.

That said, I still think JGL could do a hell of a job as the Joker.

[J.M. Vargas]

New Warner President Jeff Robinov on the need to 'reinvent Batman' after Nolan's "Dark Knight Rises," getting a "Justice League" movie franchise off the ground by 2013 and Flash/Wonder Woman scripts/movies in the works: http://herocomplex.latimes.com/2011/03/29/justice-league-the-movie-warner-chief-sets-sights-on-team-up-film-and-reinventing-batman/

[Gabriel Girard]

Levitt's role will be John Blake and Marion Cotillard is added to the cast.

[J.M. Vargas]

Tension between Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures over "DKR's" money split (Warner wants a bigger cut of expected profits): http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/entertainmentnewsbuzz/2011/05/dark-knight-rises-leads-to-tension-between-warner-bros-and-legendary-pictures.html.

[Steve T Power]

Tension between Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures over "DKR's" money split (Warner wants a bigger cut of expected profits): http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/entertainmentnewsbuzz/2011/05/dark-knight-rises-leads-to-tension-between-warner-bros-and-legendary-pictures.html.

Oh jesus. Here we go.

[Kevin]

New Warner President Jeff Robinov on the need to 'reinvent Batman' after Nolan's "Dark Knight Rises," getting a "Justice League" movie franchise off the ground by 2013 and Flash/Wonder Woman scripts/movies in the works: http://herocomplex.latimes.com/2011/03/29/justice-league-the-movie-warner-chief-sets-sights-on-team-up-film-and-reinventing-batman/

Hopefully the Wonder Woman movie will not drop the level of quality that was Supergirl

[azul017]

Geez WB, give Legendary a 40-45% stake in TDKR and call it a day. You'll rake in a ton of money either way.

[Dan Mancini]

Let the viral shenanigans begin. Here's our first glimpse of Tom Hardy as Bane:

http://www.thedarkknightrises.com/image.html

Badass.

[azul017]

I'm "meh" on the look. From that angle, he looks like Derek Mears' Jason Voorhees from the Friday the 13th remake.

I was praying for an Anne Hathaway pic in a tight Catwoman outfit myself. But I'll take what I can get...