While talking with The Book Of Eli directors The Hughes Brothers, the pair revealed to MTV News that years ago they almost found themselves behind the camera for a big-screen adaptation of Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns.
"Three different Batman projects were presented to us over the years," revealed Albert Hughes. "The first time, it was 'The Dark Knight Returns.' I remember how dark the comic book was. Batman was old. He had to rely more on his tools and other shit, and he was a decrepit, 60 or 70 year-old man in this comic book."
When asked who they would have liked to cast in the role they revealed that they had their eyes on a Hollywood legend, "I remember saying to them back then, 'We want to do this, and you should get somebody like Clint Eastwood to do it,'" he added.
However, one of the reasons the project never came to fruition was because of the studio's realization that it would likely mean the end of the characters franchise, "Basically, what we were telling them it was the death of their franchise. Looking back now, we definitely would've killed that franchise."
They also shared their feelings about the current Batman movies, "Nolan's done a phenomenal job with Batman — especially the first one — and that's what we would've done if we were interested, but we were never going to do a Batman or Superman movie. I know we couldn't do that."