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Wednesday, January 19, 2011
CATWOMAN: Nolan Accepts the Challenge
There was really only one reason for Christopher Nolan to make a third Batman film; to top the second one. There was really only one way to even attempt to do that, and Warner Bros. acknowledges this today by announcing the casting of Anne Hathaway in the role of Catwoman for The Dark Knight Rises. As an comic book fan of some years and a Batman fan in particular, this is the news I was waiting for. That Tom Hardy's mystery role has been confirmed as Bane I can take or leave. Anyway, consider this a kind of placeholder post to preface some perhaps more substantial thoughts on this particular bit of American mythology in the near future.
I think you & I would be in some agreement, Sam, that in the long run, Anne Hathaway would be a good choice as Catwoman. Done right, this would set up an appropriate finale to Nolan's trilogy, though I question where Bane fits into the scheme of things. Schumacher blew it 14 years ago by making Bane subservient to Mr. Freeze & Poison Ivy, when it's already been proven that Bane is a mastermind himself. Let's hope Nolan doesn't make the same mistake.
ReplyDeleteTom Hardy has enough buzz for his work in Inception on top of indy credentials for films like Nicholas Winding Refn's Bronson that I doubt he'll be playing a minion. I'm not exactly a fan of Bane but he is one of the few well-known Batman villains (Catwoman being an obvious other) that seem like they could exist in the relatively mundane "Nolan-verse." As for Hathaway, the lesson of Heath Ledger is that we should probably give Nolan the benefit of the doubt on casting before the film comes out.
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