Caffeinated Clint
Australia’s Naomi Watts has snagged one of the two female leads in Christopher Nolan’s “The Dark Knight Rises” -at least that’s according to a scooper at Collider, who are also reporting Eva Green’s anointment to the franchise.
The site says, “The source doesn’t know which roles they’re playing, but believes they’ve been cast as Talia al Ghul and Vicki Vale, respectively. However, we have no confirmation these characters are even in the movie. We previously reported that the film would have two new female leads: a love interest and a villain. Vicky Vale, a reporter who was played by Kim Basinger in Tim Burton’s Batman, would presumably be the love interest, while Talia al Ghul is the daughter of Ra’s al Ghul (played by Liam Neeson in Batman Begins) and in the comics has been an anti-hero/love-interest for Batman. Hit the jump for more rumors regarding The Dark Knight Rises, which is set to be released on July 20, 2012.”
Collider says whilst they haven’t got any way of confirming whether or not Watts or Green are onboard they have been able to independently confirm that Talia al Ghul is in the film. So could it be that Watts and Green have got the roles in the bag? These guys are usually on-the-money, so I’d say there’s something to it.
A Hollywood Reporter article, published after the Collider piece, reveals though that Nolan hasn’t settled on his two leads yet. According to the trade, a number of actresses are vying for these roles.
Keira Knightley and Anne Hathaway, who have long been on that list, are said to be still in contention but Kate Mara (“127 Hours”), Gemma Arterton (“Tamara Drewe”), Jessica Biel (“Valentine’s Day”), and Charlotte Riley (the Brit actress married to Tom Hardy, one of the cast members of “Dark Knight Rises”) have recently been added.
So what’s the deal here? Assumingly, Watts and Green have only recently tested and/or been offered the roles, and are indeed strong possibilities, but with such a strong base of contenders, the powers-that-be have yet to make a decision. One thing’s for sure, both sites report on a love interest and a villain, so it’s quite likely that Vicki Vale and Talia al Ghul are the birds of this particular Bat movie.
Kim Basinger, of course, played Vale in 1989’s “Batman” and although the movie was canceled before even a roll of film was used, Teresa Palmer had been cast as Talia al Ghul in the ill-fated “Justice League” movie a couple of years back.
