ROTTEN TOMATOES: Maggie Gyllenhaal to Star in "The Dark Knight"?

Maggie Gyllenhaal to Star in "The Dark Knight"?

by Jeff Giles | March 12, 2007

All the talk from a few weeks ago regarding Katie Holmes' rumored non-involvement in the forthcoming "Batman Begins" sequel -- and what it meant for Rachel Dawes, her character in the first film -- seems to have been more or less on the money. Variety is reporting that Maggie Gyllenhaal, most recently seen in "Sherrybaby" and "Stranger Than Fiction," is in final talks to take over as Christian Bale's childhood friend/love interest in "The Dark Knight," currently set for a summer 2008 release.

Gyllenhaal in "Sherrybaby."

The last set of "Batman" films became a revolving door for the actors wearing the cowl -- Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer, and George Clooney had all worn black latex before the series' ignominous end in 1997's "Batman & Robin" -- so it would be sort of fitting if a different ingenue stepped into Rachel Dawes' pumps for each new "Batman" movie. Who's next -- Rachel McAdams? Jessica Biel? Bea Arthur? The possibilities are endless!

Source: Variety

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(1-20 of 46 posts) | Reply

brave.sir.rob writes:
on Mar 12 2007 02:02 PM

[b]Bea Arthur...[/b]
outstanding.

(Reply to this)

cabezone writes:
on Mar 12 2007 02:04 PM

In reply to this comment (#857934)
Replace a bad actess with some kind of mutt, great.

(Reply to this)

mizzoucritic writes:
on Mar 12 2007 02:23 PM

I'd still prefer McAdams for this role over any other choice.

(Reply to this)

arpeggio191 writes:
on Mar 12 2007 02:23 PM

Well of course those movies were like a revolving door. They had joel friggin shumacher (who cares if i spelled that right) directing. holy crap he sucks.

Maggie rules. holy crap i can't wait for this movie. i need a countdown! www.batman-on-film.com has one if anyone cares...

(Reply to this)

unbreakable_samurai writes:
on Mar 12 2007 02:25 PM

Gyllenhaal would be a nice addition to this movie, as she is a very good actress.

(Reply to this)

dylan21484nj writes:
on Mar 12 2007 03:05 PM

Batman doesn't really need a love interest, although i understand the need for one to draw in some kind of a female audience. but i don't see why they can't just write Rachel Dawes out of the script instead of recasting her, or at least have her appear dead in the first ten minutes of the film with a pole with a little flag that reads "BANG!" in her back. have her face down, so they can just have any long-haired brunette play her corpse. Having her killed by the Joker at the opening of the movie would make the way for Harvey Dent - Bruce Wayne's pal from Princeton - to take over as Gotham's district attorney.

by getting rid of Rachel Dawes, they can dump a character whose worn out her usefulness for another love interest that serves more purpose to the story. i had heard rumors early on that they thought of including Ra's Al Ghul's daughter Talia and that Rachel Weisz was being considered for the role, but it looks like those rumors have faded, just like the Penguin rumors.

besides, i'm not a fan of Gyllenhaal. she has one of those faces where she looks somewhat attractive some of the time, but the rest of the time she's pretty fugly.

(Reply to this)

GreenBastard writes:
on Mar 12 2007 03:19 PM

#677574 cabezone on Mar 12 2007, 02:04 PM writes:
In reply to this comment (#677572)
Replace a bad actess with some kind of mutt, great.

What a Doosh bag!

(Reply to this)

Mikeal420 writes:
on Mar 12 2007 03:33 PM

In reply to this comment (#857939)
[b]Gyllanhaal is Perfect[/b]
"""besides, i'm not a fan of Gyllenhaal. she has one of those faces where she looks somewhat attractive some of the time, but the rest of the time she's pretty fugly""""

first off, if ur going to sound like u know what ur talking about when it comes to actresses, u should not end it by focusing on how good they look rather than how they act. Gylllenhaal has a classic look that may not be an MTV sort of hot, but has a beauty that surpasses most actresses today

second, Gyllenhaal is a fantastic actress, after seeing her in "Sherry Baby" and "Stranger than Fiction" I wish she would get more attention than that brother of hers

(Reply to this)

omelette writes:
on Mar 12 2007 03:41 PM

Please, yes. Gyllenhaal is one of my new favorite actresses, I think she would fit perfectly.

(Reply to this)

warsaw writes:
on Mar 12 2007 04:00 PM

christ im pretty damn sure hollywood has good actresses whose faces arent annoying to look at, shes gonna be to dark knight what dunst was to spiderman
FFS beautiful and talented actresses DO exist!!!!!!!!!!!!

(Reply to this)

arpeggio191 writes:
on Mar 12 2007 04:14 PM

In reply to this comment (#857939)
i thought of something similar to this just they started talking about TDK. Kind of the bourne supremacy deal where the female lead gets killed in the first 10 minutes by the joker making the rest of the movie about revenge/setting things right.

With that said, I think MG would be a great addition. the female lead in some form or another is completely necessary (for the movie, not the comic). Holmes sucked ass and anyone would be better.

And you're fugly.

(Reply to this)

deneco4 writes:
on Mar 12 2007 05:31 PM

[b]Dont replace her[/b]
I'd rather see Holmes stay on than another batman film which switches actors. To me it just ruins everything. Continuity is the most important thing for hollywood these days and to do this to what i thought to be the most loyal film EVER...is just sacrelige.

Keep Holmes, even if she sucks shes still established which means more than anything for a batman film.

Damnit damnit damnit...they are going to f@$k this up for me...I need this film!

(Reply to this)

Murrow100 writes:
on Mar 12 2007 05:31 PM

I miss Private nipple . . . . this was just his type of story . . . please return . . . please . . . please

(Reply to this)

synergyred writes:
on Mar 12 2007 06:49 PM

Shes a great actress, but why is she playing Rachel? Why not make her a completely new character?

(Reply to this)

stoober writes:
on Mar 12 2007 07:09 PM

In reply to this comment (#857947)
I totally agree. Rework the script. At the end of the Begins, Rachel said she didn't want to be with him anyway. take what they've been given and run with it. I hate it when actors/actresses are replaced and they try to pretend that nothing happend. It drives me CRAZY

(Reply to this)

supermanofsteel writes:
on Mar 12 2007 07:21 PM

You know I'd never actually paid attention to who Maggie Gyllenhaal is until this news came up. And I'm actually a bit surprised how much she looks like Katie. I mean, they're not complete duplicates of each other, but they very well could be sisters.

http://www.celebrity-exchange.com/celebs/photos56/maggie-gyllenhaal.jpg

(Reply to this)

TheIceGhost writes:
on Mar 12 2007 07:22 PM

In reply to this comment (#857939)
That's a great idea...love that angle.

Also, I'm fairly certain IGN reported a couple days ago that she did in fact get the part. Maybe I misread something but that was the notion I got from the article.

Gyllenhaal was good in Stranger Than Fiction. There needs to be more movies where women are cast who don't look like they could be a VJ on MTV.

(Reply to this)

the-russian writes:
on Mar 12 2007 09:14 PM

In reply to this comment (#857941)
Well put.

Someone mentioned how good she would be for Harley Quinn a few months back. Imagine her as that character, kind of like the Harley Quinn from the original animated series. That would be f*cking fantastic.

(Reply to this)

Azlam Orlandu writes:
on Mar 12 2007 09:22 PM

I just hate the fact that they're changing up casting already. Say what you want about Holmes, I'd rather see her in the part than ruin the continuity of the current Batman franchise. I do agree that Maggie is a better actress, but that's not what's important to me now. What is important is sustaining the already established atmosphere that Begins started and I for one personally hate recasts with a passion. Then again I think that everyone way overreacted to Holmes performance in the first film. It seemed like everyone was on a witch hunt for Cruise at the time and Holmes was drawn in because of her relationship with him. That's pretty fucking lame you guys.

(Reply to this)

bondinferno writes:
on Mar 12 2007 10:45 PM

[b]Interesting but,[/b]
OKay So Maggie Gyllenhaal I will give her credit is an amazing actress, and I like her as a part of the cast. But first off I dont see why she needs to reprise the Dawes role, i think Dawes made a clear exit at the end of Begins, and it doesnt exactly seem necessary to have her in the next. I think Bats should get a new love interest, and although I like Gyllenhaal I dont exactly see her as that to Bruce Wayne, and personally I would prefer one of the other rumoured choices Rachel McAdams.

(Reply to this)

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