Hollywood Popular Artists

Jul 19th 2012, 21:10

Christopher Nolan's "Dark Knight Trilogy" always had the benefit of a brilliant ensemble cast, pulling from some of the best actors working today.

In preparation for "The Dark Knight Rises," we're taking a look back at some of the cast's best films.

Christian Bale - "The New World"
Unfairly considered the film that people forgive Terrence Malick for, "The New World" mixes the director's visually poetic style with a story older than our nation. Colin Farrell starts the film off as Captain John Smith and the lead of the film, but the movie then shifts its focus to Q'orianka Kilcher as Pocahontas and her relationship with John Rolfe, played by Bale, who fits easily into just about any time period. "The New World" comes with all the trappings of a Malick movie: stunning imagery, a dreamlike voice-over, and feelings that will stay with you long after the movie ends.

Anne Hathaway - "Rachel Getting Married"
Hathaway earned her first—but unlikely her last—Academy Award nomination for her role as a recovering drug addict in Jonathan Demme's examination of an unusual wedding. After ten years in and out of drug rehab programs, Hathaway's Kym may finally have found a cure. Her one-day pass for her sister's wedding results in an emotional look at the life of a family and the different kinds of relationships that come with it.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt - "Brick"
Rian Johnson's "Brick" takes the characters and tropes of a pre-war film noir (think Bogart) and transplants them, almost entirely intact, into a California public high school. The result is an experiment in genre that takes some adjusting to but delivers a familiar story in a completely fresh way. "Brick" made a strong argument for Gordon-Levitt's potential as a leading man and helped form the friendship between actor and director that led to their most recent collaboration, "Looper."

Tom Hardy - "Bronson"
Hardy's physical transformation for Bane in "The Dark Knight Rises" brings him back to the massive size he reached for Nicolas Winding Refn's hallucinatory story of the UK's most notorious inmate, Charles Bronson. The visuals and storytelling styles of "Bronson" make Refn's most recent film, "Drive," seem conventional by comparison, and Hardy's career took off after this film became a hit within festival circles and art house theaters.

Gary Oldman - "JFK"
Oliver Stone's conspiratorial, factually-dubious retelling of the Kennedy assassination is a masterwork of filmmaking. Regardless of the history behind the story, Stone examines the paranoia and unrest of the era in a way that transcends "accuracy," yet feels honest throughout. Oldman does his part, turning in one of his career's best performances as Lee Harvey Oswalt that is equal parts terrifying and intriguing.

What's your favorite movie featuring a "Dark Knight Rises" cast member? Let us know in the comments below and on Twitter!

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