Warner Brothers sent out a press release to a bunch of different outlets about some casting choices, particularly confirming the addition of Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Marion Cotillard and the roles they will be playing.
The official release is below:
Warner Bros. Pictures announced today that Oscar® winner Marion Cotillard (“La Vie en Rose”) and Joseph Gordon-Levitt have joined the cast of “The Dark Knight Rises,” the epic conclusion to the Dark Knight legend.
Cotillard will appear as Miranda Tate, a Wayne Enterprises board member eager to help a still-grieving Bruce Wayne resume his father’s philanthropic endeavors for Gotham. Gordon-Levitt will play John Blake, a Gotham City beat cop assigned to special duty under the command of Commissioner Gordon.
The film reunites the actors with Christopher Nolan, who recently directed them in the award-winning blockbuster “Inception.”The director stated, “When you collaborate with people as talented as Marion and Joe, it comes as no surprise that you would want to repeat the experience. I immediately thought of them for the roles of Miranda and Blake, and I am looking forward to working with both of them again.”
Heading the cast of “The Dark Knight Rises,” Christian Bale stars as Bruce Wayne/Batman. The main cast also includes Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle and Tom Hardy as Bane. Nolan will direct the film from a screenplay he wrote with Jonathan Nolan, from a story by Christopher Nolan and David S. Goyer. Christopher Nolan will also produce the film with his longtime producing partner, Emma Thomas, and Charles Roven.
“The Dark Knight Rises” is slated for release on July 20, 2012. The film will be distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.
I’ve been racking my brain and looking around and it seems as though both of these characters are original for the film. That’s actually kind of refreshing, to be honest. And Gordon-Levitt playing a Gotham City beat cop sounds incredible. Cotillard playing a board member for Wayne Enterprises seems to be a little bit of an odd casting choice unless she plays a much larger part in the film than we’re being led to believe. On the other hand, all of the early press materials (and action figures, etc.) had Liam Neeson listed as a character named Ducard, not Ra’s Al Ghul. Ken Watanabe was listed as the latter. So this still doesn’t completely eliminate the possibility that she could still be Talia Al Ghul.
There were some other casting pieces in recent weeks also.
It’s been reported heavily that Daniel Sunjata (from Rescue Me) is coming on board to play a special forces operative and Diego Klattenhoff (from Mercy) is playing a rookie cop (Gordon-Levitt’s partner?).
The piece of news here that I’m most excited about is that Burn Gorman, Owen from Torchwood, is coming on in an unspecified role. He’s a fantastic actor and will fit well as a hero or a villain but maybe both. He’s a master of playing both sides of that line and is incredibly fun to watch. If you haven’t watched Torchwood, I’d get on it. It doesn’t hurt that it’s streaming on Netflix.
And the last bit is that Nestor Carbonell (Richard Alpert from Lost) is reprising his role as the Mayor of Gotham City.
We’ll keep on hammering news of The Dark Knight Rises as we get it.