Josh Pence In 'The Dark Knight Rises': 'Social Network' Star Cast In New Batman Film

This 'The Social Network' star has landed a role in another blockbuster film -- and this time, audiences will actually get to see his face.

Josh Pence, who played opposite Armie Hammer as a Winklevoss twin (Hammer's head was digitally placed on Pence's body, cutting out his speaking parts), has been cast in the upcoming Batman epic, "The Dark Knight Rises." According to The Hollywood Reporter, Pence will play young Ra's Al Ghul, the villain played by Liam Neeson in Nolan's first caped crusader film, "Batman Begins."

Pence will star in flashback scenes reaching back 30 years, THR reports. He joins an already star studded cast; Joseph Gordon-Levitt will similarly play a villain, while Anne Hathaway will take on Selena Kyle/Catwoman. Additionally, according to THR, Marion Cotillard, who has long been rumored to be joining the film, will play Thalia Al Ghul, Ra's daughter. Christian Bale will reprise his role as Bruce Wayne by day and Batman by night.

"The Dark Knight Rises" is the third and final chapter of Nolan's Batman series, a critically acclaimed and massive box office success. Jeff Robinov, the head of Warner Bros. films, said recently that Nolan will stay on as producer of a new, "reimagined" Batman franchise following "The Dark Knight Rises."

Pence had a supporting role in 2009's "The Things We Carry," and just wrapped filming the board game-based film "Battleship," with, of all people, Liam Neeson.

For more, click over to The Hollywood Reporter.

Comments

[coblstone]

04:05 PM on 05/21/2011

i rarely give this compliment to hollywood but, good casting!
last time i gave it was when Ewan McGregor was cast as Obi-Wan Kenobi

[citizen1787]

02:49 PM on 04/24/2011

If Josh is playing Ra in a flashback, then Marion will be playing Talia, Ra's daughter, in the present.

Bank on it.

[HunGirl2012]

03:20 PM on 04/11/2011

Weird. No mention of Tom Hardy as Bane. I thought the was famous enough for that after Inception.

[MiaisAwesome]

03:18 PM on 04/11/2011

I didn't even know he was in 'The Social Network'! Wasn't he basically a double then if his head was digitally removed and he had no speaking lines?

[chiodo08]

10:04 AM on 04/11/2011

am I the only one getting sick of the term "epic"....I got your "epic" right here.....

[quixoto]

12:34 PM on 04/10/2011

Hey, how about this? How about with every cast update we don't hear more and more information about the plot? Can I still have some surprises ahead of me, ok?

[superlive]

06:38 AM on 04/10/2011

Ra's Al Ghul was hundreds of years old in the comics. "30 years" ago, he still would have looked the same as he did when Batman first met him (which was 42 years ago).

[quixoto]

12:35 PM on 04/10/2011

Dis ain't da comicks.

[superlive]

02:37 PM on 04/10/2011

Neither is it real life, so what?

[minlshaw]

04:44 AM on 04/10/2011

I say this as a longtime Bat-fan: I expect "The Dark Knight Rises" to be a disappointment for a lot of people on the level of "The Phantom Menace." I'm not knocking Nolan when I say this; despite the fact I found "Inception" dreadfully simple and will never understand why so many were wowed by it, I think he's done a terrific job with the previous Batman movies. The expectations and hype for this next movie are so high, though, that I don't know how it can possibly be anything but a disappointment for a lot of people.

I also have to say that the more I read about the cast and premise, the less interested I really am in this movie. Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle/Catwoman sounds great to me, but too many of these other announcements feel more like residual "Inception" hype than anything to do with Batman.

It also doesn't help that Warner has already told us they're rebooting Batman once this movie is out. Thanks, Warner; now I know the movie that hasn't even gone into production is already obsolete going forward.

[quixoto]

12:37 PM on 04/10/2011

So, you're point is that because you didn't like Inception you think that him casting a bunch of the same actors from that movie in this will lead to this film being as big of a disappointment as the Phantom Menace, is that right?

Doesn't that sound kinda ridiculous to you?

[superlive]

02:39 PM on 04/10/2011

No, that would be a realistic projection.

[minlshaw]

03:34 PM on 04/10/2011

No. My point is that the hype for this movie is so high that I think it's impossible for the movie to live up to all the expectations placed on it.

My comment about "Inception" was mere an aside. Even if Nolan had never cast Tom Hardy, Joseph Gordon Levitt and wasn't apparently set to cast Marion Cotillard, I'd still be insist that the hype for "The Dark Knight Rises" is too high for the film to satisfy.

[JimR]

11:38 AM on 04/11/2011

I'm fearing a disappointment, too, but for different reasons. It sounds like they're trying to do way too much in one movie, much like the Joel Schumacher disasters, as well as "Spider-Man 3."

[jcvd]

08:53 PM on 04/09/2011

I don't think it's fair to say he starred in The Social Network, given that his head was digitally taken out of the film and he had no speaking parts. That's kind of like saying the midget inside of R2D2 starred in Star Wars. At least you get to see an extra's face.

[Abigailia]

09:21 AM on 04/10/2011

Exactly.

[Rich Civil]

10:44 PM on 04/10/2011

The Star Wars saga is really all about the heroic efforts of the noble little droid R2-D2.:)

[jcarterla]

08:25 PM on 04/09/2011

I hope they correct the pronunciation in this film. Ra's Al Ghul is pronounced "Raysh Al Ghul." I was shocked to see this large misstep in the first film.

[Xylem44]

01:50 AM on 04/10/2011

I love catching a glimpse of these other dimensions. :)

[JBard2]

06:35 PM on 04/10/2011

I'm no expert, but I believe the traditional Arabic pronunciation is closer to how it was pronounced in the first film, with slightly rolled 'R', an "ah" sound and a hard 'S'. As for the glottal stop between the Ra and s, I think that's optional. It may have been inconsistent in the film, but I believe Liam Neeson was definitely trying. As for the animated series pronunciation, that was supposedly based on a second hand account from Denny O'Neil, but the person could have been an Arabic speaker from any region in the world; the pronunciation of Ras varies not only in location but also in different languages. I made the same assumption when I was younger after watching the Animated Series and not questioning anything like that. Unfortunately because of that show's popularity it appears to be a common misconception.

[jcarterla]

06:41 PM on 04/10/2011

I actually looked it up before posting that and found that the Language Dept. of UCLA said it was "Raysh" with a kind of rolling of the "r" sound.

[marred]

08:17 PM on 04/09/2011

Looks like this 3rd and thankfully final Batman film will be as long and over cast as the other 2 were. I wish I were as easily fooled as others seem to be. Nolan is so hyped it's beyond ridiculous.

[DennyCrane]

08:21 PM on 04/09/2011

Maybe you're just fooling yourself.

[quixoto]

12:41 PM on 04/10/2011

Riiiight... because those other two movies were such disasters, weren't they? And Christopher Nolan, he's never made a good film, has he? Why don't they get a quality comic book director for this like Paul W.S. Anderson or Mark Steven Johnson or, fingers crossed, Joel Schumacher. I mean, he only had two tries at Batman. Third time's a charm, right?

[MikeDu]

06:56 PM on 04/09/2011

Considering the current trend of action films I assume each 'star will get about 4 minutes of screentime interpersed with loooooong stretches of CGI-generated giant fistfighting robots. 

[stine10]

08:18 PM on 04/09/2011

You have not seen the previous two batman films.

[iRock]

06:27 PM on 04/09/2011

There are about 6 headlines in the current entertainment tab where any and everyone is 'landing some huge role'.

I notice that 95% of them are still white. Either that or HP doesn't seek stories where some actor of color (save sofia) lands some huge role.

sad. no wonder the movie industry is suffering. it's not changing with the nations demographics.