In the early 2000s, Katie Holmes was a star largely due to her role in Dawson’s Creek, and not long after the show ended, she landed the role of Rachel Dawes in Nolan’s epic origin film Batman Begins. Her performance in that film I thought was quite good, and like many other fans, I was surprised that she never returned to play Wayne’s love interest again in The Dark Knight. Rumors at the time swirled that Christopher Nolan didn’t want her to return, but that wasn’t the case.
As part of promoting her latest film, All We Had, the actress spoke about why she didn’t return for the all-conquering sequel. She told Business Insider in December 2016:
“You know, I really enjoyed working on the first one and I wish I could have worked with Chris Nolan again. It was a decision that I made at that time and it was right for me at that moment, so I don’t have any regrets. I think that Maggie did a wonderful job. But I really hope that I get to work with Chris some day.”
Christopher Nolan spoke out back in 2008 about the situation:
“Katie wasn’t available for the role, which I wasn’t very happy about, but these things happen, and I was very, very fortunate that Maggie [Gyllenhaal] was able to take it over.3
Gyllenhaal also gave her input:
I wanted to be sure, first of all, that I had her blessing. And I was assured that I did. I’m a big fan of hers, I think she was really great in the first movie.”
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