Maggie finds her Dark Knight

Maggie Gyllenhaal is the new Katie Holmes. Wait, that didn’t sound right. The new mom and wife of similarly vowel-hogging actor Peter Sarsgaard is in final talks to take over for Mrs. Tom Cruise in The Dark Knight, the new Batman sequel. Maggie will play D.A. Rachel Dawes, the love interest to Christian Bale’s Bruce Wayne/Batman. Katie Holmes dropped out because of Scientology, I mean, scheduling conflicts.

With Maggie’s addition the film’s indie street cred for goes through the roof. Not only are Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine and Gary Oldman returning, but Heath Ledger will play the Joker and Aaron Eckhart will do double-duty as D.A. Harvey Dent and the villainous Two-Face. Maggie has had an interesting career so far including her breakout star turn in 2002’s “Secretary,” a quirky S&M romantic dramedy (wow, how many other films can be described that way?). Still after a string of strong indie parts and a few mainstream supporting roles, she has yet to make it to blockbuster land. This might be just the bat to take her there.