Batman: Just after the announcement of Katie Holmes being eyed for the role of the love interest in the film, some new scoops arise from actor Michael Caine, who is to play the butler in the film, about director Christopher Nolan eyeing Viggo Mortensen for the role of the villian. Here's what Caine told Sci-Fi Wire...

Michael Caine, who will play Alfred the butler in the upcoming new Batman film, told SCI FI Wire that director Christopher Nolan is eyeing Lord of the Rings star Viggo Mortensen to play the villain in the film, which is slated to begin production in April 2004. In an interview, Caine wouldn't specify which villain role Mortensen (Rings' Aragorn) is up for.

Caine said Nolan's Batman script creates a deeper role for Alfred than previous films. "We start when Batman is a baby, so I'm more like a father," Caine said in an interview. "I'm a father who knows how to lay a table with the knives and forks in the right places."

Caine said he spoke with Nolan for three hours about his vision for the film, which included some similarities with and some variations on the previously established Batman canon. "[Nolan] said, 'We're going to have a human hero in Batman. He's powerful because he does pushups. Where does he get all his weapons? Because he's a multibillionaire, and he's in the arms business, so he gets the secret weapons instantly. Why does he wear the bloody suit? To scare the s--t out of people, because he doesn't really want to fight.'"