Damn the laws of nature once again! Marion Cotillard, my personal pick for Catwoman ever since the day Chris Nolan hired her for Inception, has announced she is pregnant. Her reps told US Magazine yesterday that she is expecting her first child with longtime lover and fellow actor Guillaume Canet. That well and truly takes the French born, Oscar winning actress out of the running for The Dark Knight Rises, the May shooting third Batman film from Team Nolan that Cotillard held talks about last year for one of two major female roles we hear are present in the screenplay. One role, I'm hoping at least, is reserved for Catwoman. Recently we ran a poll asking you guys which two female characters you most wanted to see in the new film and 712 of you voted, with Talia Al Ghul and Catwoman the clear fan favourties; Talia Al Ghul 26% Catwoman 25% Harley Quinn 18% Selina Kyle (i.e. not yet Catwoman) 7% New Character (as Love Interest) 7% Poison Ivy 6% Vicki Vale/Julie Madison/Silver St. Cloud 5% New Character (as Villain) 2% The Huntress 2% Lois Lane 2% Rene Montoya 1% Other (see below) Included in the 'Others' section were Oracle - the wheelchair bound, intelligence alias of Barbara Gordon (which is difficult given there's been no mention of Barbara Gordon in this universe yet) Black Canary - the fetishistic, ass-kicking heroine who is probably too 'out there' for Nolan.Janice Porter - Which is a fantastic call given in the famous Loeb/Sale story Dark Victory she was the District Attorney who succeeded Harvey Dent. and The Phantasm - but I can't even imagine Nolan bettering that great animated film, so I don't think he'll touch that. In terms of Cotillard and honestly I've said this for a while - I don't think she was on Nolan's mind THAT much for his new film because if she were, he would have already known enough about her from working on Inception with her everyday to have announced her casting alongside Tom Hardy months ago. So we've already scratched off Natalie Portman from Batman 3 as she is also pregnant and now Marion Cotillard from that original list of names who have met with Nolan over the role. The remaining names are; Rachel Weisz, Naomi Watts, Blake Lively, Anne Hathaway, Keira Knightley, Piper Perabo and Tanit Phoenix. Briefly then and I'm sure you don't need me to point these things out but A) Of course there has not been a script link. B) Those images of Tom Hardy with no hair mean nothing as he is shooting another movie, The Wettest County in the World, before he's ready for Batman 3.