I believe Ra'as is generally portrayed as being of Arabic descent, yes.
Anyway, news from Ain't It Cool (not always the most reliable source but I'll take this)-reportedly Jim Gordon will *not* be played by Dennis Quaid. Instead he'll be played by...
ready?
Gary Fucking Oldman
Shit yeah. I marked out when I read that. Apparently
Larry Holden has been cast as District Attorney Fisk as well, so presumably at some point in this film there might be a Harvey Dent cameo.
So, this makes the cast as we stand right now:
Christian Bale - Batman
Michael Caine - Alfred
Katie Holmes - Rachel Dodson (Bruce Wayne love interest)
Liam Neeson - Ducard (friend of Bruce Wayne's father, teacher figure to Bruce)
Morgan Freeman- Lucious Fox (Head of Wayne Enterprises, close friend of Bruce)
Ken Watanabe - Ra'as Al Ghul
Cilian Murphy - Scarecrow
Gary Oldman - Lt. Jim Gordon
Larry Holden - D.A. Fisk
It sounds strange saying it, but that is the sort of cast a Batman movie *should* have, and *deserves* to have, and Nolan is the sort of director it *needs* to have, especially when working from Goyer's script, as Goyer knows his shit when it comes to comics.
Damn, just....damn. I seriously cannot wait for this.