In the eight year gap between Joel Schumacher’s “Batman & Robin” and Christopher Nolan’s “Batman Begins,” celebrated filmmaker Darren Aronofsky was attached to a film adaptation of Frank Miller’s “Batman: Year One”.
At the time, Aronofsky had only helmed “Pi” and “Requiem for a Dream,” and so it appeared the auteur was picked because he could go dark with the material and he knew how to handle some psychologically disturbed characters..
He may have done too good a job as this week, Aronofsky has revealed to Empire that when he studio realized what direction “The Fountain” and “Black Swan” director’s work was going, they changed their mind:.
“The studio wanted Freddie Prinze Jr and I wanted Joaquin Phoenix. I remember thinking, ‘Uh oh, we”re making two different films here.’ That”s a true story. It was a different time. The ‘Batman’ I wrote was definitely a way different type of take than they ended up making.”
Aronofsky also wanted to team with Frank Miller to help shape his new film which he says would have felt more akin to “The French Connection” and “Taxi Driver”:
“It was an amazing thing because I was a big fan of his graphic novel work, so just getting to meet him was exciting back then. The Batman that was out before me was ‘Batman & Robin,” the famous one with the nipples on the Batsuit, so I was really trying to undermine that, and reinvent it. That”s where my head went.”
Aronofsky of course didn’t get the go ahead, with Nolan ultimately being the one to spearhead a whole new trilogy starring Christian Bale which is considered among the best comic book films ever made.
Interestingly enough the current “The Batman” film, with Matt Reeves directing and Robert Pattinson starring, is said to be a dark neo-noir and detective story more than an action heavy affair. That film is currently on hold in the midst of production.
