Anne Hathaway = Catwoman?

Warner Bros. released a statement this afternoon announcing the lineup for the newest Batman film, "The Dark Knight Rises."  Christopher Nolan, director of the two most recent installments about the comic book hero, has selected Anne Hathaway as Catwoman and Tom Hardy, from "Inception," to play the villain Bane.  Bane is an escaped prisoner who is abnormally strong after being pumped full of drugs, and is known as "the man who broke the Bat" after he broke Batman's spinal cord in the comic's storyline.  Whether or not that indicates the end of Nolan and Christian Bale's relationship with the series is unclear.  Hathaway beat out a slew of other actresses for the role, including Keira Knightley, Rachel Weisz, Naomi Watts, Blake Lively and Natalie Portman.

Halle Berry's Catwoman was universally hated.  Her performance was voted the worst of the year in 2005, and the film is one of Roger Ebert's most hated films.  Michelle Pfeiffer's role as Catwoman in "Batman Returns" was critical success.  The film, which was released in 1992, had the highest grossing opening weekend of any movie up until that point.  Lee Merriwether's portrayal of the character was simply iconic. 

Nolan's previous two installments of Batman received praise for their psychological, introspective take on the series; Heath Ledger's Oscar-winning performance as the Joker in "The Dark Knight" was gritty, and a far cry from the comical villains in other superhero movies.  While Hathaway is probably the best choice from the list of actresses that were considered, she has a major challenge ahead of her to make the role her own, and transform herself from the good-natured, and generally sunny roles she traditionally plays.