Actually I wish this had been made.
Darren Aronofsky’s Batman – If you think that Christopher Nolan’s take on Batman is ‘realistic,’ Darren Aronofsky’s probably would have made you shit your pants. Aronofsky worked with Frank Miller on a script that adapted the comic book story Batman: Year One into a grim, violent R-rated feature.
The Batman franchise was up in the air after the disastrous Batman & Robin. Warner Bros began looking for a new direction; for a little while they considered adapting the cartoon Batman Beyond as a live-action movie, and they even entertained bringing Joel Schumacher back for Batman 5. But they also talked extensively with Darren Aronofsky, who had well-cemented his reputation as an edgy auteur. They went back and forth with him, and even brought in the Wachowski Bros to pitch a concept to Aronofsky.
Aronofsky wasn’t interested in making anything that resembled a Batman film that had come before. He also wasn’t interested in hewing close to Miller’s original comics. This film saw Bruce Wayne wandering the streets after the murder of his parents; he’s taken in by an auto mechanic named Big Al (Aronofsky’s version of Alfred). Bruce grows up a borderline psychotic who begins taking violent vengeance on street thugs. He turns an abandoned subway station below Big Al’s auto shop into his version of the Batcave. He puts a bus engine in a black Lincoln Continental as his version of the Batmobile. Over the course of the story he assembles the elements of the costume and persona of Batman (or The Bat-Man, as he’s called).
This Batman is the reality of what a guy in a costume beating up criminals would be like – insane, overdramatic, barely likable. The audience identification character in this script is really young cop Jim Gordon, the only clean officer in the entire Gotham City PD. Meanwhile, The Joker, Harvey Dent and Selina Kyle all show up.
Aronofsky’s script never got made, but its influence is evident on Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. The idea of a reboot began with Aronofsky, and he initially met with Christian Bale for the role of Bruce Wayne. The craziest thing about Aronofsky’s take, though, isn’t that it didn’t get made, it’s that Warner Bros considered an R-rated ultraviolent lunatic Batman movie for that long.
Darren Aronofsky’s Batman – If you think that Christopher Nolan’s take on Batman is ‘realistic,’ Darren Aronofsky’s probably would have made you shit your pants. Aronofsky worked with Frank Miller on a script that adapted the comic book story Batman: Year One into a grim, violent R-rated feature.
The Batman franchise was up in the air after the disastrous Batman & Robin. Warner Bros began looking for a new direction; for a little while they considered adapting the cartoon Batman Beyond as a live-action movie, and they even entertained bringing Joel Schumacher back for Batman 5. But they also talked extensively with Darren Aronofsky, who had well-cemented his reputation as an edgy auteur. They went back and forth with him, and even brought in the Wachowski Bros to pitch a concept to Aronofsky.
Aronofsky wasn’t interested in making anything that resembled a Batman film that had come before. He also wasn’t interested in hewing close to Miller’s original comics. This film saw Bruce Wayne wandering the streets after the murder of his parents; he’s taken in by an auto mechanic named Big Al (Aronofsky’s version of Alfred). Bruce grows up a borderline psychotic who begins taking violent vengeance on street thugs. He turns an abandoned subway station below Big Al’s auto shop into his version of the Batcave. He puts a bus engine in a black Lincoln Continental as his version of the Batmobile. Over the course of the story he assembles the elements of the costume and persona of Batman (or The Bat-Man, as he’s called).
This Batman is the reality of what a guy in a costume beating up criminals would be like – insane, overdramatic, barely likable. The audience identification character in this script is really young cop Jim Gordon, the only clean officer in the entire Gotham City PD. Meanwhile, The Joker, Harvey Dent and Selina Kyle all show up.
Aronofsky’s script never got made, but its influence is evident on Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. The idea of a reboot began with Aronofsky, and he initially met with Christian Bale for the role of Bruce Wayne. The craziest thing about Aronofsky’s take, though, isn’t that it didn’t get made, it’s that Warner Bros considered an R-rated ultraviolent lunatic Batman movie for that long.
