
There are to be two female leads in the upcoming Batman movie The Dark Knight Rises, one love interest and one villain. The shortlist of actresses in competition for those roles has been released and it looks like this:
Rachel Weisz & Naomi Watts

These two are probably the cream of the crop. They're actresses in a similar vein to ones that director Christopher Nolan has worked best with in the past like Carrie Anne Moss, Hilary Swank, Rebecca Hall and Marion Cotillard. A
quick Google search will soon tell you that Weisz has long been a fan-favourite for Catwoman, and speculation still centres around Catwoman and Talia Head (the daughter of Batman Begins's Ra's Al Ghul) for the villainess of the movie, either of which Weisz would be more than capable of playing. Weisz and Watts are also the eldest. Seniority.
Anne Hathaway & Keira Knightley

Keira Knightley just seems not-quite-right for a Batman movie. She'd have to be the love interest because there is NO WAY anybody is buying her as a villain, and the thought of her playing opposite Christian Bale as a love interest just seems...wrong. Like the chemistry would be strange. Off. Anne Hathaway certainly seems like the more natural choice out of the two.
Blake Lively & Natalie Portman

Okay, so, there's clearly no rule against starring in more than one superhero movie. In fact, such a rule would be ridiculous - you'd have Ryan Reynolds in X-Men Origins: Wolverine and not in a Green Lantern movie. Heinous. But at the same time these movies tend to require similar things from their performers. It's the same with any genre, but given that both Portman and Lively are playing love interests to men with secret identities in other films that have yet to be released, neither should be in any rush to take on a similar role any time soon, no matter the pedigree of the franchise.
What do you think of the actresses named so far? Who would you want to see them play? The to actresses chosen will join the newest edition to the Batman cast, Tom Hardy. Filming begins in April in New Orleans .
Source:
MovieFone