Maggie Gyllenhaal made an unannounced appearance at ShoWest for The Dark Knight panel, and Superhero Hype managed to land an exclusive interview with her. I think this is the first time we've really heard from her regarding bat-stuff.As expected from such a talented actress, she won't be simply mimicking her predecessor, Katie Holmes. "I think she's a wonderful actress and I really admired the work that she did in the first Batman, but I don't think it would have worked if I tried to imitate her. I think the only way to do it is to do it like myself." And because Christopher Nolan is a classy director, there won't be any winks or nods to the fact that Rachel Dawes is a new face. "They just (expect you to) suspend your disbelief. I'm Rachel Dawes now. I mean, how many Batmen have there been? Lots of them!" (Good point, girl!)
Ms. Gyllenhaal was asked if her character would have more physical scenes in the new film, and whether or not she was nervous about those. Her career hasn't had much mayhem, after all. (The spanking scenes in Secretary probably don't count.) "Somewhat," she responded. "They took really good care of me. I thought I might get bruised up but in fact, I didn't. They really knew what they were doing. I was scared to do some of the action stuff I had to do, and I did it once, and I was like, 'Oh, this is a blast!'" I hope Rachel gets to be a bit more of a badass in this movie, and not just a damsel in distress. She used her taser pretty effectively last time -- and it looks like she gets to deliver one heck of a solid punch on the Joker in the trailer. Hopefully it's one of several. I don't want her to be a gun-toting heroine, but Gyllenhaal has such an inherent strength about her. It would be a shame if that didn't appear onscreen.
Pop on over to Superhero Hype to read the entire interview, and remember that it has to keep you until July 18th.
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