Updated: Chris Nolan seeks TWO female leads for THE DARK KNIGHT RISES

Updated: Remember a few weeks back when Moviehole said they knew of several late 20€s, early 30€s ladies who were meeting with Chris Nolan for €˜the prospective female lead€™ in The Dark Knight Rises but were reluctant to give names in case of spoiling their chances of winning the gig? Well now that Fleming has dished some gossip they have duly spilled the names now - Marion Cotillard (who since her Inception casting in 08 was seen as favourite to go Meow), Piper Perabo (whose brief time in The Prestige obviously had an impact on Nolan) and Tanit Phoenix (who apparently impressed WB in The Lost Boys 3). Cotillard (35)... Perabo (34)... Phoenix (26) - South African supermodel... Original article follows... Deadline are reporting that Chris Nolan is seeking TWO female leads for The Dark Knight Rises, one that's a villain and one that is a new love interest for Bruce Wayne. So presumably one will be Catwoman and the other will be a replacement for Rachel Dawes - maybe Vicki Vale or Julie Madison or someone new. Nolan is said to meeting up with a who's who of actresses, pretty much (baring one) the talent that gets offered all the major female roles every year. They are; Rachel Weisz, Naomi Watts, Blake Lively, Natalie Portman, Anne Hathaway and Keira Knightley. The interesting aspect is the disparaging ages of the names listed here. Rachel Weisz at 40 is four years older than Christian Bale and then Naomi Watts who is six years older at 42. They would both seem to old for a cat-costume, though I do remember once suggesting that Weisz would make a believeable daughter to Liam Neeson's Ra's Al Ghul. i.e. Talia... Natalie Portman (29), Keira Knightley (25), Anne Hathaway (27) are the usual suspects as far as Catwoman/Selina Kyle is concerned. I like all three but only in right roles (I don't think any of them are versatile) but I could quickly get on board for Hathaway. And then Blake Lively (23) is odd as she's already in next year's DC offering Green Lantern as the major love interest. Truly, who knows what Nolan is up to? All these names (apart from the trio of Portman, Knightley & Hathaway together) seem odd together. Fleming also says;

Nolan is keeping the roles under wraps, just the way that he did when he drafted his Inception star Tom Hardy to come aboard to likely play a villain. Deadline broke that story October 13. I'm still not sure what the role is and I believe Hardy took the job without knowing or reading a script that's still being tweaked.