Now that "The Prestige" is heading into theaters at the end of the week, I think we can all expect to hear an announcement out of Christopher Nolan's camp regarding the casting of Harvey Dent/Two-Face in the upcoming "Batman Begins" sequel, "The Dark Knight." My good friend Jett over at Batman-on-Film has been doing some nice reporting on the matter the last few weeks (well...for the bettter part of 8 years actually), and he's of the same mind. In fact, in all likelihood, Dent has been cast and the announcement is all that is imminent. Here's how things have been shaking down recently.

Early word from the start was that Nolan was high on Liev Schreiber for the part, which in this viewer's opinion, would be a hell of a good call. The Heath Ledger decision as The Joker is still floating around waiting to land smoothly in my head, but Schreiber was built for Dent, especially given the dead ringer Schreiber is for Tim Story's incarnation in "The Long Halloween" and "Dark Victory," two books that capture the essence of the character like no other. But when you keep hearing "the role is his if he wants it," you pretty much begin to expect he doesn't want it.

After that, a sickening rumor began to surface that put Jake Gyllenhaal in the spotlight. No. Please...no. I like the guy, but he's too much of a boy to play this role. I can't imagine an actor I could buy as a 16 year old playing Harvey Dent, and especially not Two Face.

Now, the real heat is around Ryan Phillippe, who's name popped up some months back and continues to be a spot of speculation. Frankly, with "Flags of Our Fathers" and "The Prestige" both landing on the same day, I think this sort of announcement would be a coup for all involved, and I would not be shocked if that's what we hear in the next week or so. What do I think? I think it's not the wisest casting decision, but I also think it could work. I trust Nolan to do the right thing with this series, but there are so many more choices that would work better.

Some names have been around for years in conjunction with this role. Like Jude Law, for instance. John Cusack's name also popped up a while back. The former doesn't work for me, though the latter does very much. And Josh Lucas has also expressed interest (coming off another Warners title, "Poseidon"). He could very well snag it, but I wouldn't be too hot on that either.

Anyway, it's all speculation until the official announcement hits. I'd bank on Phillippe getting the spot, with Lucas a close second. But then again, more than likely, we'll get someone that hasn't been in the mix at all up until this point. Such was the case with Heath Ledger, after months of speculation on names like Sean Penn, Jude Law and Lacy Hulme.

As long as it's not Tommy Lee Jones or Billy Dee Williams...