Deadline says that Christopher Nolan is meeting with actresses for two lead roles in The Dark Knight Rises - one a love interest for Bruce, and the other a villain. Hit the break to see the list of six ladies who are apparently contenders.

Rachel Weisz

Naomi Watts

Blake Lively

Natalie Portman

Anne Hathaway

Keira Knightley

Of course, we don’t know who the actual characters being cast are (the roles are being kept under wraps), but in terms of past acting displays, I’d lean towards Natalie Portman, Naomi Watts and Rachel Weisz over the other three. And for the villain of choice, Catwoman seems to fit into Nolan’s universe more than others (well, Poison Ivy at least), although Talia al Ghul could also work, what with the events in Batman Begins. I’d love to have seen Nolan’s version of Harley Quinn, but unfortunately that seems incredibly unlikely with the Joker not being present.

So who are the female leads going to be? Poison Ivy? Catwoman? Talia al Ghul?

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Never Let Me Go has been getting rave reviews on the festival circuit; interested to see what all the fuss was about, I jumped at the chance to see an early screening of the movie before its nationwide release on October 8th. While the film showcased some excellent performances from up-and-coming actors, and was a wonderfully well-shot piece of work, I don’t think it’s something I’ll watch again.

The film is based on Kazuo Ishiguro’s highly acclaimed novel of the same name, which I haven’t read. (I’ll judge this movie based solely on what I saw on screen, but if you’ve seen the movie and read the book, feel free to sound off in the comments and let us know about the differences.) Romanek has only directed one feature before this one – the 2002 Robin Williams movie One Hour Photo – but I almost guarantee you’ve seen his work: he directed Michael and Janet Jackson’s “Scream” music video, The Red Hot Chili Peppers’ “Can’t Stop” video, and Jay-Z’s “99 Problems” video, among many others.

The movie basically chronicles a love triangle between three children from an idyllic English boarding school to a college-age work placement community to eventual adulthood. Kathy (Mulligan) is clearly a great match for Tommy (Garfield), but her jealous best friend Ruth (Knightley) steps in and steals him away – leaving Kathy as the third wheel in their trio and forcing her to endure the pain of watching the love of her life spend it with someone else.

(Spoilers in the next paragraph only.)

Never Let Me Go is definitely Oscar bait, a deliberate and slow-moving film that deals with issues of humanity, life, and love that will undoubtedly secure awards nominations in the coming months. The screenplay, by Alex Garland (28 Days Later, Sunshine), is essentially an “indie” version of Michael Bay’s 2005 film The Island. Both films feature characters created with the sole purpose of being harvested for their internal organs, and thematically explores some of the same territory. A huge difference between the films, however – style, acting, and basically all elements except plot aside – is how the characters in each film react to the truth when it is finally revealed. In The Island, the characters quickly decide to make a break for it, tearing through the facade of their existence on a quest to find their sponsors and send the system into upheaval. In Romanek’s film, the characters blindly accept their fate and don’t try to escape from the system at all; instead, they seem content with merely delaying the inevitable.

If there are aspects deserving of praise in this movie, they are the acting of the three leads and their younger counterparts. Carey Mulligan delivers a quietly compelling performance as Kathy H., the protagonist and vehicle which the audience rides through the film. Future Spider-Man Andrew Garfield does some fine work here as well, crafting one of the most tragic characters and – even though he has a “freak-out moment” that seemed particularly desperate for Oscar attention – pushed through that one eye-rolling sequence to a satisfying conclusion. Even Keira Knightley – an actress I’m not particularly fond of – was effective, coming off as especially menacing in “The Cottages” flashback scenes. But I was honestly more impressed with the work of the younger actors who played those characters, most notably the feature film debut of Isobel Meikle-Small, who bears an incredible resemblance to Mulligan and perfectly captured the innocence (and heartbreak) of young love.

I think I would have enjoyed the film more if the story had been more compelling, even on a basic gut level. There just isn’t much going on in the narrative – and when another reveal comes late in the third act, the audience has already figured out what’s going on and we’re waiting for the characters to play catch-up. Sure, the concept of the love triangle between the three leads is interesting to a degree, but at the same time, we’ve seen that story played out countless times and nothing markedly original is presented in those specific scenes.

Romanek’s direction should be praised for cultivating solid portrayals from his entire cast. The world of Never Let Me Go is a futuristic alternate dystopia, but without many drastic alterations or heavy sci-fi elements (hence the Academy’s nearly guaranteed approval). I wish Romanek would have gone into a bit more detail exploring the differences between our world and the one depicted on screen, but again – the more this looks like an English boarding-school drama, the better chances it has to win awards. (Yes, that’s incredibly cynical, but sadly true.) Some praise him for the atmosphere here, but I’ll attribute most of that to Rachel Portman’s string-heavy musical score (which, like the camera work in this film, was gorgeous).

There are some comedic moments (which I won’t spoil), and some suspenseful ones as well, but overall, the tone of the film is akin to a leisurely walk through a park: non-threatening, occasionally brisk, but mostly just nice to look at. Never Let Me Go is a movie I’m glad I’ve seen but not one I plan on returning to in the future; the bleak and dreary England portrayed here combined with the depressing story aspects don’t make it easy material to love, but rather to appreciate. Until next time…

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Sebastian Stan, who has a name I would like as my own one day, has joined The First Avenger: Captain America. According to Deadline he will play a character called Bucky, who in the comics is a teenage orphan who is too young to join the army but became one camp’s mascot. When he discovered Captain America’s identity he joined him as a partner in his Nazi-fighting escapades.

Sebastian Stan originally tried out for Captain America, but Chris Evans landed the part so Marvel gave him the role of Bucky instead, and this isn’t just a one-off. Apparently he has signed for five or six movies, so he may end up appearing in The Avengers and subsequent Captain America sequels.

The actor has been on a roll as of late. He is probably best known for his work in Gossip Girl, however he will be appearing in The Apparition and Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan with Natalie Portman. He was also recently seen in Hot Tub Time Machine.

We can expect to hear lots of Captain America casting news over the upcoming weeks as we edge closer to the June start date. Marvel still need to find their Peggy and have been testing Keira Knightley, Alice Eve and Emily Blunt for that part. Blunt was originally cast as Black Widow in Iron Man 2 but had to drop out due to a contractual agreement with 20th Century Fox (Gulliver’s Travels), so she may have an advantage among the Marvel casting crew.

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Since getting all famous in Pirates of Caribbean, Keira Knightly has decided to use her name to get small British projects off the ground (which is why we’ve seen her in all them damn period pieces). Her next film is no exception, as she has signed up to lead Never Let Me Go, a sci-fi film which will be directed by Mark Romanek (former director of The Wolfman).

From Variety:

Mark Romanek (“One Hour Photo”) will direct the cloning-themed pic, which will also star Andrew Garfield and Carey Mulligan.

Story revolves around a trio who grew up in a boarding school with no contact or knowledge of the outside world until they discover they are clones grown for the sole purpose of organ donation.

DNA, which has a longstanding partnership with Fox Searchlight, has teamed with the specialty label on a number of films including “The Last King of Scotland” and Danny Boyle’s “Sunshine” and “28 Days Later.”

Filming will begin in April in the UK.

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Today we heard the wonderful news that Johnny Depp would be back as Captain Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean 4, however will the rest of the Pirate gang be joining him? Keira Knightley said she wasn’t interested in another movie around the time Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End was released, and her opinion has not change a year on, telling MTV:

They were completely amazing, but I think I can’t wear corsets for a while,” she said. “I had an amazing journey with those three films. But I think it’s [time to do] different things.”

I think Knightly is far too busy doing period movies (many of which include corsets). However, most actors who complete a trilogy would rather move on and do different things, so she is within her rights to decline. I also get the impression Orlando Bloom won’t be returning as the whole Will/Elizabeth storyline was rounded off in the last film.

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ComingSoon.net got a new poster for The Duchess which stars Keria Knightly and everyone else who’s name is on the poster.

Long before the concept existed, the Duchess of Devonshire, Georgiana Spencer (Knightley), was the original “It Girl.” Like her direct ancestor Princess Diana, she was ravishing, glamorous and adored by an entire country. Determined to be a player in the wider affairs of the world, she proved that she could out-gamble, out-drink and outwit most of the aristocratic men who surrounded her. She helped usher in sweeping changes to England as a leader of the forward-thinking Whig Party. But even as her power and popularity grew, she was haunted by the fact that the only man in England she seemingly could not seduce was her very own husband, the Duke (Fiennes). And when she tried to find her own way to be true to her heart and loyal to her duty, the resulting controversies and convoluted liaisons would leave all of London talking.

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We just saw a clip of Keira singing from the film so I might as well post the trailer! The film stars Elizabeth Swan herself, Sienna Miller, Cillian Murphy and Matthew Rhys.

I think it must be compulsory for Keira to say ‘Come back to me’ in trailers. She said it in Atonement as James McAvoy went to war, and now she’s saying it to Cillian Murphy as he goes off to war. I think she should stop saying it! And most importantly she should stop doing movies involving wars! I know she wanted to do some serious movies after the Pirates trilogy but that doesn’t she had to do four historical dramas back-to-back!

However, The Edge of Love does look quite good.

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A clip of Keira Knightley getting all vocal in her latest movie, The Edge of Love, has found its way online. Apparently it is Keira singing, not some stand in, and it is actually quite good. It’s better than Scarlett Johansson’s attempt anyway.

However, half way through her performance a voice announces that England is at war with Germany. Whether that has anything to do with Keira Knightly and her singing ‘Blue Tahitian Moon’ I don’t know. Could it be that Hitler had had enough of her voice? We’ll have to see the film to find out I guess!

Update: Its good to see her fans enjoyed it anyway. 23 year old YouTuber ‘sherieofthecaribbean’ says:

OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG x a million
I WAS LIKE SCREAMING WITH EXCITEMENT WHEN I HEARD HER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ILUUUUUUUUVVVVVVVVVVVV HER SINGING VOICE SHES AMAAAAAZZIIINGGG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
im a MASSSSIIIVVEEE fan of keira and ive been lookin fwd 2 hearin her sing 4 nearli a yr!!!!!!!!!! :D :D :D :D
she CERTAINLY wont dissapoint any fans with this!! :D
if ure eva readin dis – GO KEIRA URE A LEGENDARY ACTRESS AND AN AWSUMM SINGER – & im ur biggest fan :P

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