Rumor Report: Who Will Joseph Gordon-Levitt Play In 'TDKR'?

Alberto Falcone? Robin/Nightwing? Plus another Inception star in negotiations to join the cast...

There's been a lot of talk over the news that Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Inception, 200 Days of Summer) may be joining the cast of Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises. As someone who was previously rumored to be considered for the role of The Riddler, debate began over which role he could be possible playing in the flick. Especially with Nolan's announcement that Riddler will definitely not be in the movie.


You can take a look over at Doc Kronner's thoughts of this casting here, but we have some more rumors popping up that could be involved with the casting of JGL. The first thing that came to my attention was a recent report about the possible inclusion of Robin.


/Film has the story:

Christopher Nolan has been quoted saying Batman’s sidekick Robin couldn’t fit into his trilogy of films. Christian Bale said he would “refuse to go to work” if the character appeared in one of the movies. But a report from a Michigan NBC affiliate might now suggest otherwise. According to reports, location scouts for The Dark Knight Rises were in Grand Ledge, MI recently and were looking at a water treatment plant to possibly be used as “a hideout for Batman’s sidekick Robin.” Are the location scouts being misquoted? Could this just be a red herring? Or are they possibly referring to another Robin? .


First of all, thanks to Ain’t It Cool News for coming across the report from WILX.com in Michigan. Here’s what the original report said.


According to Eaton County and Grand Ledge officials who didn’t want to be identified due to confidentiality agreements, production crews from “The Dark Knight Rises” scouted locations in Grand Ledge’s Fitzgerald Park last week.


They looked at the Ledges as well as a water treatment plant located inside the park. Sources say the area is being considered as a hideout for Batman sidekick Robin.



The Daily Blam was able to find a few other quotes from the Michigan officials involved in the location scout. They found a quote in the Lansing State Journal that corroborated that the location would be used as “Robin’s Cave” and even reached out to the reporter who wrote the original WILX story:

I heard from three sources, the only one who would go on camera being state Sen. Rick Jones. All three mentioned the water treatment facility being considered for “Robin’s Cave” specifically. I’m not as up on my Batman lore as others but I wasn’t aware that Robin got a cave. As this was just a scouting mission, I don’t have any details on actors or even confirmation as to what role he’ll play. I just know what my 3 sources told me. Granted the production team scouting could’ve given them “Robin’s Cave” as a red herring.

Very interesting. Now I wouldn't be surprised if this was something to simply throw everyone off the track, Nolan is way too secretive about his projects to allow something like that slip. But if it is true? That just opens up a whole new well of possibilities. 

First off, JGL is way too old to play Robin. At least, a Robin similar to his comic counterpart. But what if they look at it in another way? Perhaps Robin idolized the Way Bats handled things and struck out on his own steam, setting up his own "Robin Cave" and operating independently of Batman, more like Nightwing's style. Something Bats stumbles onto in TDKR. That could actually work.

But I do feel it is a little unlikely. What is more plausible is we could see Dick Grayson, a homeless orphan hiding out in this Robin Cave that Bats finds, and eventually adopts as his ward. I doubt we'd see full on Robin, but setting that up for future movies? Possible.

But we're still left with the question of who JGL will be playing? Here's another rumor that seems the most plausible yet.

From Cinema Blend:

Comic Book Movie is hearing that Gordon-Levitt is playing Alberto Falcone, also going by The Holiday Killer. He's the son of the mob boss we saw played by Tom Wilkinson inBatman Begins, and would return to Gotham to take over the underworld that the Joker left in shambles and, presumably, cause a whole lot of trouble. 

Now that's a rumor I can get behind. Most fans of Batman will be aware of Holiday from the loved and respected Loeb/Sale book The Long Halloween. With the inclusion of Carmine Falcone in Batman Begins, Holiday isn't that much of a stretch to be properly utilized in TDKR But it does seem like they might be filling this movie with a shit ton of characters.

What it could be is the underlying mystery that Bats has to solve in TDKR, as the remaining members of the mob are whacked by Holiday, leaving Bane (Tom Hardy) to waltz in and take over, as Falcone/Holiday is mainly driven by revenge, and a need to prove himself.

Again, this is all guess work, and the rumors flying around this film have been non stop for months now, so it is hard to decide which to get behind. And with all the rumors we still get blindsided, like with the addition of Bane and Catwoman to the cast list.

Odd side note, the sequel to The Long Halloween is Dark Victory, another Loeb/Sale masterpiece retelling the origins of... you guessed it... Robin. Curiouser and curiouser.

As if we didn't have enough characters in this movie, not to mention Inception alumni, why not add another one to the mix? /Film reports:

One of the largest newspapers in France, Le Figaro, is the latest source of The Dark Knight Rises speculation. They’re reporting that Oscar-winning actress Marion Cotillard, who previously worked with director Christopher Nolan in Inception, will be starring in the final Batman film. Being as Nolan has already cast two other actors fromInception in The Dark Knight Rises, Tom Hardy and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, this story feels more solid than most other rumors.

Any thoughts on who she might be cast as? Well, if we are going with JGL as Holiday/ Falcone, maybe she would be present as Sophia Falcone, although she doesn't really match the body type, thankfully. I think I've imagined too much for this Rumor Report, so I'll leave it up to you.

Who do you think JGL will be playing in TDKR? How about Marion Cotillard? Sound off in the comments section below!