Surprising few, Joseph Gordon-Levitt will indeed portray Alberto Falcone in The Dark Knight Rises. Rumors to that effect have persisted since the Inception actor was announced last month to be in talks to re-team with Christopher Nolan for the third of the director's Batman films, but a report in Variety would seem to make it official. Alberto is the son of Gotham City crime boss Carmine Falcone, who appeared in Batman Begins. In the world of DC Comics, Alberto is known to readers as one of the suspects of the Holiday Murders depicted in Batman: The Long Halloween.The presence of Alberto Falcone in The Dark Knight Rises begs as many questions as it answers about the third Batman film of the Nolan cycle, not the least of which is how much of an adaptation of The Long Halloween can we expect it to be? The seminal graphic novel by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale has been frequently cited as a primary source of inspiration for Nolan's Batman movies, which share Loeb & Sale's vérité approach to Gotham City and its colorful characters. Will Carmine Falcone, played by Tom Wilkinson in Batman Begins, make a return to the franchise? Will Holiday Murders suspect Harvey Dent, played by Aaron Eckhart, reappear despite the fact that he died in The Dark Knight?


Variety also reports that actress Juno Temple is in talks for a supporting role as "a street-smart Gotham girl." With Selina Kyle already spoken for, could we be looking at some form of Harley Quinn?


Another outstanding casting question concerns Inception's Marion Cotillard, who was in February reported to be in talks with Nolan to reunite with the director and Gordon-Levitt in The Dark Knight Rises, perhaps as Talia al Ghul, daughter of Batman Begins villain Ra's (played by Liam Neeson).

The Dark Knight Rises will open July 20, 2012.

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