Christopher Nolan’s (Inception) upcoming third, and final, Batman movie; The Dark Knight Rises; will begin shooting soon, and has just had another member added to its cast; none other than The Social Network star Josh Pence, who will join the movie in a rather key, yet likely minor role.
Threatening to spoil the plot for some it’s better that those who wish to know as little as possible stop reading at this point, as Pence has been cast in the part of a young Ra’s Al Ghul; the Batman Begins villain previously portrayed by Liam Neeson (Unknown); in a number of flashback sequences set 30 years before the current events of the trilogy.
This news also gives extra credence to the statements made by Gary Oldman (who will be returning to the franchise as Commissioner Gordon); who stated that The Dark Knight Rises would be returning to revisit the events of the first movie; and gives extra weight to the rumours of Inception star Marion Cotillard being cast as Ghul’s daughter, Talia Al Ghul.
Cotillard’s casting and character haven’t yet been confirmed, and while a number of casting rumours are still being disputed (including the casting of Inception’s Joseph Gordon Levitt as serial killer Alberto Falcone), it has been confirmed that Christian Bale, Michael Caine, and Morgan Freeman will return (as Bruce Wayne/Batman, Alfred, and Lucius Fox respectively), and will be joined by Inception’s Tom Hardy (as Batman’s feared enemy Bane), and Alice in Wonderland’s Anne Hathaway (as potential love interest/enemy Selina Kyle/Catwoman).
Nolan will begin filming the closing chapter to his Batman trilogy (which Warner Bros. are already planning to reboot) next month, with the bulk of the shooting taking place in Pittsburgh, ahead of a July 20th 2012 release date scheduled for both the US, and UK.
Matt Wheeldon.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter.
