According to The Hollywood Reporter, Warner Bros. will be holding test readings with several contenders for the role in the next three days. That trade gave a list of names, some of which matched a previous list that appeared in this week's issue of "Entertainment Weekly." In addition to Hugh Dancy (if he can get away from filming of King Arthur), the combined list includes Eion Bailey (the first "Operation Mayhem" recruit in Fight Club; he seems a great possibility), Christian Bale (an inspired choice), Henry Cavill (a past contender to play WB's Superman; he played Dagmara Dominczyk's son in The Count of Monte Cristo), Billy Crudup (heck yeah! Billy should have right of first refusal), Jake Gyllenhaal (Donnie Darko may play a superhero someday, but I don't see him pulling off the Dark Knight), Joshua Jackson (despite his "Dawson's Creek" roots, Pacey can actually pull off darker material and look "bad ass" doing it; but he's still missing a certain Batman-ish something in my mind's eye) and Cillian Murphy (the star of 28 Days Later; he's more of an *anti-Bruce-Wayne*; this is a really left field and in my opinion, "off" choice). Read the entire article here.

I'm feeling pretty good about the list of names I'm seeing. It tends to suggest a darker direction for the new films than the previous hollywood versions. Time will tell, but I think theres cause for optimism.