Anne Hathaway is Catwoman! Tom Hardy is Bane!

WHAMMY!

I’m kind of hyperventilating a little bit and possibly a lot — Warner Bros. has dropped a HUGE bomb of awesome with the first official casting news for The Dark Knight Rises.

Here’s the press release:

BURBANK, CA, January 19, 2011 – Warner Bros. Pictures announced today that Anne Hathaway has been cast as Selina Kyle in Christopher Nolan’s “The Dark Knight Rises.” She will be starring alongside Christian Bale, who returns in the title role of Bruce Wayne/Batman.

Christopher Nolan stated, “I am thrilled to have the opportunity to work with Anne Hathaway, who will be a fantastic addition to our ensemble as we complete our story.”

In addition, Tom Hardy has been set to play Bane. Nolan said, “I am delighted to be working with Tom again and excited to watch him bring to life our new interpretation of one of Batman’s most formidable enemies.”

Nolan will direct the film from a screenplay he wrote with Jonathan Nolan, from a story by Christopher Nolan and David S. Goyer. Nolan will also produce the film with his longtime producing partner, Emma Thomas, and Charles Roven.

“The Dark Knight Rises” is slated for release on July 20, 2012. The film will be distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.

I love it. I already can’t get enough of it.

Tell me she doesn’t look like a Tim Sale drawing from The Long Halloween in this picture:


I’m so excited. She’ll be amazing. Like I said in this article back in November, Hathaway has so much appeal and so much talent. I can’t wait to see her tap into her dark side.

And as for Hardy … BAM! BANE! Bane is like a dark mirror of what Bruce Wayne could have become had he gone down the wrong path. It will be fascinating to see how Nolan plays Bane against Batman, especially given that most of Gotham now thinks Batman is a murderer and a cop killer.

And what role will Selina Kyle play in Bruce Wayne’s redemption?

More news will undoubtedly follow soon! Keep your eyes on Batman on Film for all the best and brightest news and opinion you’ll ever need for this movie!

EXCLUSIVE UPDATE!

We asked Christian Bale what he had to say about this news:

Read more

Christian Bale wins new role and Golden Globe

Yes! Congratulations to Christian Bale, who just won a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor for his hurricane-force performance in The Fighter.

He already won the Critics’ Choice Award. Next stop? Oscar.

Here’s hoping. Let’s just say that the wait for The Dark Knight Rises just got a lot more unbearable.

But before Bale suits up as Bruce Wayne and Batman one last time (unless Christopher Nolan comes up with an idea for a fourth Batman outing, which Bale says he’d be a part of in a heartbeat), he’ll be making a film in China that you can read about here.

Bale will play an American priest who attempts to help innocent Chinese citizens escape the horrors of the Nanjing Massacre committed by the Japanese army in 1937.

What are you talking about, Matt Damon?

Now I’m all confused.

Maybe Matt Damon is confused, too. I don’t know. Nobody knows what they’re saying about anything anymore.

Remember this post I wrote, about Universal maybe making another Bourne movie without Matt Damon?

Now Damon has told The Hollywood Reporter that he’d like to do another Bourne movie with Paul Greengrass (who directed the second and third films, The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum).

Here’s the story:

With Universal moving forward with The Bourne Legacy — the fourth installment of the Jason Bourne franchise — without Matt Damon or director Paul Greengrass, the stage is set for a potential cinematic showdown between a sequel by the original duo and the rethought version by the studio and Tony Gilroy.

At the Critics’ Choice Awards on Friday, night following his acceptance of the Joel Siegel Award for Service to the Community, Damon spoke candidly backstage about his hopes to make another film and the reasons for the delay in production.“I really hope it’s going to happen,” he said, adding that the decision didn’t fall entirely on his shoulders.

“It’s really up to Paul Greengrass, the director. I’ve always said I won’t do it without him and I think it would be a bad idea to do it without Paul.”

In October, it was announced that Universal was going ahead with another film helmed by Michael Clayton and Duplicity director Gilroy. Damon was not consulted.

“I think Paul’s probably going to do one or two other films that he’s got kind of cooking but after that [maybe they would start working on a Bourne film],” he continued. “I think it’s kind of the thing where enough time has passed that I think it won’t matter if we wait five more years to do it.”

Despite the scrutiny on him and Greengrass, Damon was adamant they sidestep the pitfalls of making the film for the wrong reasons.

“We just want to make sure if we do it, that we do it right. There’s been a lot of pressure for us to do it obviously but that’s that moment I think where you got to step back and make sure you’re not making a mistake. So when it feels like the right time, I think Paul would be open to doing it.”

So … what does that even mean? Dueling Bourne movies? I doubt it. Will Damon’s intentions get Tony Gilroy’s Damon-less movie killed? Or has Universal already decided to move forward on that one, meaning that Damon and Greengrass have already fallen out of contention?

I don’t know. Do you?