New Batman Drops Katie Holmes

Christian Bale and Katie Holmes in “Batman Begins”

Sometimes, there really is such a thing as “bad publicity”. There’s also such a thing as “bad chemistry” and “bad acting”. From an item in IMDB.com:

Holmes Dropped from Batman Sequel
Christian Bale, Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman have signed to star in a second Batman movie, but love interest Katie Holmes has been dropped. Movie bosses are thrilled with the response to Batman Begins — it took $46.9 million in its first weekend at the US box office — and have snapped up the film’s stars for a sequel. Bale as Batman was the first to put pen to paper, followed by Caine as butler Alfred and Freeman as Bruce Wayne’s business associate Lucius Fox. But Holmes won’t reprise her role as district attorney Rachel Dawes — reportedly because Warner Bros is angry her engagement to Tom Cruise has stolen media attention away from the movie. A source tells PageSix.Com, “Everyone is in agreement that the movie’s strength is with Christian Bale, Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman.” Adding of Holmes, “She won’t be in the sequel... the next romantic interest will be a much stronger actress. Warner is happy that people are now focusing on who’ll be playing the Joker rather than Katie and Tom.”

“A much stronger actress”? I think few would disagree that Katie Holmes was the weak link in Batman Begins, but damn, that’s harsh.