Darren Aronofsky Explains Why His BATMAN Movie Starring Joaquin Phoenix Didn't End Up Happening

After successfully directing Requiem For A Dream, filmmaker Darren Aronofsky was eyed by Warner Bros. to take the helm of a Batman reboot. Inspired by Frank Miller's Batman: Year One, what little has been revealed about the film has divided opinions as it re-imagined a lot from the comic books.

For example, Alfred Pennyworth was set to be re-invented as "Little" Al, the owner of an Auto-Repair shop, while Bruce Wayne would have become homeless after the murder of his parents. It still sounded like it had some potential, though, and Aronofsky has now shed some light on why it didn't happen.

"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."

The director even enlisted the help of Miller to work on the film. "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," he explains, referring to his plans to take the Dark Knight down the R-Rated route. "That's where my head went."

Joaquin Phoenix did eventually find his way into the DC Universe when he played the Clown Prince of Crime in Joker, but it definitely would have been interesting to see him as this very different version of Batman. Clearly, it wasn't meant to be, and Christopher Nolan took charge of the franchise instead for a successful trilogy which was a hit with fans and critics alike.