Jessica Biel on Batman's short-list

Christopher Nolan is looking at some of Hollywood’s leading actresses - as well as a few emerging talents - for major female roles in "The Dark Knight Rises," his next Batman film. Sources reveal that Keira Knightley, Anne Hathaway and Jessica Biel are due to test for roles in the Warner Bros. superhero tentpole in the next two weeks. Also testing are relative newcomers Kate Mara and Charlotte Riley. Hot British actress Gemma Arterton was also scheduled to test but Arterton just landed the female lead in Paramount’s "Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters" and might now have scheduling issues. "Dark Knight Rises" needs to fill two big female roles, a villain and a love interest. Sources say one character is Talia, the daughter of villain Ra’s Al Ghul, who was portrayed by Liam Neeson in Nolan’s first Gotham-set crime pic "Batman Begins." In the comic books, Talia is both Batman’s lover and antagonist, ultimately siring his alter ego Bruce Wayne’s son. While Knightley, Hathaway and Jessica Biel are well-known actresses, the other two are up-and-comers. Mara had brief roles in "127 Hours" and "Iron Man 2" in 2010. Her sister Rooney Mara is currently shooting David Fincher’s "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" in the title role.

Riley is a British actress who has done mostly TV work. She is engaged to Tom Hardy, who co-starred in Nolan’s summer smash "Inception" and has already booked an unspecified role in "Dark Knight Rises."

The film is looking at a May start, with shooting to take place in London and Los Angeles. Christian Bale is set to return as the Caped Crusader. However, Nolan and Warner Bros. have declined to comment.

Anne Hathaway willing to go unclothed

Hollywood beauty Anne Hathaway accepts the fact that she has to go unclothed as an actress and believes every actor should be prepared to strip if the role requires that. The ‘Princess Diaries’ star, who recently posed unclothed for a number of scenes in her film ‘Love & Other Drugs’ alongside actor Jake Gyllenhaal has no qualms to strip in front of the cameras and completely relies on her co-stars to help her overcome any pre-scene nerves. "Doing nudity is really a part of being an actor and you know at some point it might happen. But everyone wants to be respectful of each other and everyone wants each other to feel as comfortable as possible so I think those days have a focus," said Hathaway. "In this film (Love & Other Drugs) we really approached it from a very prepared place. We discussed what we wanted to do beforehand and what we were comfortable with, we traded references from other films to establish an index of communicational references that we share. So by the time we came to do the scenes we were very well prepared," said the 28 year old actress.

Though Hathaway is comfortable with nudity she found many lovemaking sequences difficult to film with her co-star Gyllenhaal in ‘Love & Other Drugs’.

"Some of the intimate scenes required even more trust and were even more difficult to get to and work through - to get yourself into that place and sustain it for a long period of time to be able to return back to those emotions again and again and again. Physical challenges are one thing but to actually leave yourself open and to mean it I find quite difficult some days," she added.

Anne Hathaway treats her theatre fans

Anne Hathaway has apparently shown how much she cares about her fans, for she treated people waiting in line to see her final performance in Shakespeare play ‘Twelfth Night’ with pizza.

According to reports, fans had to wait overnight for tickets to see Hathaway close her run in New York’s annual Shakespeare in the Park event last week, as the tickets were available on a first-come, first-served basis.

The actress surprised her queuing fans by arriving at 3am on Sunday to personally thank them for their support.

The report further reveals that Hathaway brought a giant box of pizza, and offered a slice to every person in line.

Anne Hathaway turns guitarist

Hollywood star Anne Hathaway has taken to the internet to teach herself how to play the guitar so that she can serenade her boyfriend, actor Adam Shulman.

Using video tutorials online, the actress learnt to play The Beatles’ 1968 song Blackbird as a special birthday present for her new love, who turned 28 on 2 April.

The 26-year-old beauty showed off her limited guitar skills on US TV when comedian/presenter Jimmy Fallon asked her to play something for the audience on his Late Night programme.

"I know how to play two songs, Blackbird and this other song. I learned this off the Internet, literally learned from YouTube lessons - how to play guitar. I am almost done with the first one! So I learned this song, I got the chords online but I'm not very good at it," she said.