Sometimes all the pieces fall neatly into place. According to the LA Times, Anne Hathaway has been selected to portray Catwoman in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises! The report also states that Tom Hardy's role has been revealed, and that he'll be tackling the muscle bound, Batman-breaking behemoth known as Bane! The casting news has been confirmed by press release from Warner Brothers.
Last week saw elements of this story rounding into shape. First there were two contradictory reports, with one stating that Eva Green and Naomi Watts had been cast as the two primary female roles in the film. The second story released on the same friggin' day, stated that this was untrue, and that the roles were still up for grabs. Anne Hathaway's name has been on the list of contenders for months. At the time, the presumption was that the two female characters would be Talia Al Ghul and possibly Vicky Vale. It's still possible that these characters will appear, but having both Talia and Catwoman in the same story sounds like overkill. Catwoman fits the perfect niche as she's been both a Batman love interest and hardened criminal at the same time.
As for Bane, the rumor last week was that he would figure into the story somehow. Hardy has been pegged to play Huge Strange for months, but nobody really came out and confirmed it. Now we know why. I called Batman-News's info on this story "sketchy", so as I'm writing this I have my foot firmly placed into my own mouth.
Other than Naomi Watts, Hathaway was the one I kept noting would be the best fit for the film no matter what her role might be. She's sexy, talented, has name recognition, and I think can go toe-to-toe with Christian Bale pretty easily. I love the addition of Bane because he's one of my favorite Bat-villains, but there's no way he's alone in this. Catwoman and he don't make for a likely pair, so I would expect that there's one more villain yet to be cast.
