Film News: Christopher Nolan to Cast Two Female Leads For ‘The Dark Knight Rises’

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CHICAGO – Six strong female contenders are up for two leading female roles in “The Dark Knight” follow-up film “The Dark Knight Rises,” according to Deadline New York on Thursday. And guess who’s not on director Christopher Nolan’s list this time? Maggie Gyllenhaal, who was Aaron Eckhart’s love interest in “The Dark Knight”.

Instead, we have six new names: one for a love interest for Christian Bale’s Bruce Wayne and the other for a villain, according to Deadline New York. The six women are Keira Knightley, Rachel Weisz, Anne Hathaway, Natalie Portman, Naomi Watts and Blake Lively.

Will we see Keira Knightley, Rachel Weisz, Anne Hathaway, Natalie Portman,
Naomi Watts or Blake Lively in “The Dark Knight Rises”?
Image credit: Deadline New York

Will Rachel Weisz win the role of Batman’s love interest? Will Keira Knightley be Poison Ivy? Will we see Catwoman again? (Probably not.) Many questions are left unanswered and Nolan is maintaining his position as an enigma on purpose until his mind is made up. Nolan tied us in knots with a similar mystery for his “Inception” villain. He eventually filled that slot with Tom Hardy.

Since “The Dark Knight,” which hit theaters in July 2008 on a production budget of $185 million and captured an eye-popping $1 billion in global box-office receipts, fans are already eagerly awaiting Nolan’s new film “The Dark Knight Rises”.

While the title “The Dark Knight Rises” is less than sexy and is wordy, it’s doing two very important things. First, it’s borrowing the power of the already established “The Dark Knight” name. Second, it’s cluing you in on its focus: Batman.

Though it’s easy to think “The Dark Knight” is named with Batman (played by Christian Bale) as its central force, Nolan says the title is just as much about the fall of Harvey Dent (played by Aaron Eckhart) from Gotham’s “white knight” into a blood-thirsty, two-faced monster.

We do know we won’t be seeing The Riddler (also known as the green-suited Edward Nigma) as the male villain in “The Dark Knight Rises”. While that decision goes against common industry expectations, Nolan is the master of surprise and he’ll certainly choose a good man or woman with the perfect bad plan. We know the villain isn’t Mr. Freeze, too.

“Batman Begins,” “The Dark Knight” and “The Dark Knight Rises” mastermind Christopher Nolan.
Image credit: Los Angeles Times’ Hero Complex

We also know that “The Dark Knight Rises” is again directed and written (story and screenplay) by Christopher Nolan. Additional writing credits for the new film include David S. Goyer (story), Bob Kane (characters) and Jonathan Nolan (screenplay; Christopher Nolan’s brother).

Also, we know that Christian Bale returns as Batman/Bruce Wayne, Morgan Freeman returns as Lucius Fox, Gary Oldman returns as Jim Gordon and Michael Caine returns as Alfred. Cinematographer Wally Pfister returns, too, and there’s rumored involvement of Hans Zimmer for original music.

Nolan says he’s not going to follow today’s 3D craze (i.e. the new “Saw 3D” and “Jackass 3D”) with the new film and he’ll be using IMAX and high-definition cameras instead. But because Nolan did that with “The Dark Knight,” that’s not enough. Fans will expect something new and more.

“The Dark Knight Rises,” which is currently in pre-production with a scheduled release date of July 20, 2012, follows “Batman Begins” (2005) and “The Dark Knight” (2008). Stay tuned to HollywoodChicago.com for more details about “The Dark Knight Rises” as they emerge.

By ADAM FENDELMAN Editor-in-Chief/Publisher HollywoodChicago.com adam@hollywoodchicago.com