Most of you probably already know the story, so I'll keep this short: After Joel Schumacher kicked the Batman film franchise square in its codpiece with BATMAN & ROBIN, but before Christopher Nolan gave it new life with BATMAN BEGINS, comic book writer Frank Miller was developing a Bat flick loosely inspired by his Batman: Year One storyline with director Darren Aronofsky. Warner Bros. ended up passing on the project though, and the rest, as they say, is history.
But Miller is still often asked about the unmade film, and he shared some info on it during a recent interview with THR.
It was the first time I worked on a Batman project with somebody whose vision of Batman was darker than mine. My Batman was too nice for him. We would argue about it, and I'd say, "Batman wouldn't do that, he wouldn't torture anybody," and so on. We hashed out a screenplay, and we were wonderfully compensated, but then Warner Bros. read it and said, "We don't want to make this movie." The executive wanted to do a Batman he could take his kids to. And this wasn't that. It didn't have the toys in it. The Batmobile was just a tricked-out car. And Batman turned his back on his fortune to live a street life so he could know what people were going through. He built his own Batcave in an abandoned part of the subway. And he created Batman out of whole cloth to fight crime and a corrupt police force.
Obviously the movie is never going to happen now, however Miller did say "Maybe I will," after the site suggested that he turn it into a graphic novel.
Miller also went on to explain why he usually isn't interested in watching films and television series based on comic book characters he's written for or created.
I didn't make up Batman, I didn't make up Daredevil, I have no right to be possessive, but once I've worked on a character, it's hard to see any other way than my way. By and large, most of what they do, I'll just get grouchy if I see it. So I tend not to look at it, except for few exceptions.
How do you think casual moviegoers would have reacted to Miller and Aronofsky's BATMAN: YEAR ONE?
BATMAN V SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE, which shares some DNA strands with Miller's The Dark Knight Returns graphic novel, will be in theaters on March 25th.
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