Talia al Ghul (Lexa Doig) has been seen throughout this season of Arrow, helping mentor Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell) in the season’s flashbacks. But there’s one version of the iconic character that’s still stuck in many fans’ minds – Marion Cotillard‘s portrayal in The Dark Knight Rises.
It’s safe to say that the most recent film version of the antihero character was met with a mixed response. So did that effect Doig’s performance as the character?
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As it turns out, the actress went into the role completely void of past onscreen performances.
“To be honest with you, and I hope this doesn’t get me in any trouble,” Doig revealed in an interview with ComicBook.com. “but I actually didn’t see [The Dark Knight Rises]. I didn’t actually see Marion Cotillard’s portrayal.”
But Doig explained that she wasn’t completely unaware of the response to Cotillard’s version of Talia, thanks to the wonders of the Internet. “I think I’ve seen a lot of it in meme form.”
Nevertheless, Doig believed that the more villainous turns of Talia, such as in The Dark Knight Rises, are only a slice of who her interpretation of the character is.
“But no, I don’t think it gave Talia a bad rap. I think Talia’s a kind of complex character who sort of lives in a grey zone of morality. She’s not good or bad necessarily.”
With Talia set to enter Arrow’s present-day in next week’s episode, ‘Checkmate’, fans can expect to see more of that complexity going forward.
You can check out more of our exclusive interview with Doig below:
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Arrow airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on The CW.
