Darren Aronofsky Says The JOKER Origin Film Sounds Very Similar To His BATMAN Pitch
Did you know that many years ago, acclaimed Hollywood director Darren Aronofsky pitched a wild Batman reboot to Warner Bros. that was passed over in favor of Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins?
It seems everyone's fascinated by all the news surrounding WB's plans to create a standalone anthology banner for a new slate of DC Films that exist outside of the DCEU, even Darren Aronofsky (Black Swan, The Wrestler, Pi, Requiem for a Dream). He's apparently well aware of the rumors that WB (reportedly) wants Leonaro DiCaprio to play Gotham's Clown Prince of Crime in a standalone origin film.
In a new interview to promote his upcoming film Mother, which stars Mystique actress Jennifer Lawrence, Aronofsky was asked about his Batman pitch and if the studio rejected it because they felt it was too dark.
"You know what, I think it's finally... I think we were basically, whatever it is, fifteen years too early. Because I hear the way they’re talking about the Joker movie and that's exactly – that was my pitch."
"I was like: we're going to shoot in East Detroit and East New York. We're not building Gotham. The Batmobile – I wanted to be a Lincoln Continental with two bus engines in it... With two bus engines, all duct taped together. It was the duct tape MacGyver Batman."
In addition, Aronofsky believes that elements/ideas from his script made their way into Zack Snyder's Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice as his film also featured a Bruce Wayne who branded wrongdoers.
"Some of my ideas got out there through other films. Like the ring with "BW", Bruce Wayne's ring making the scar was our idea and I think that was in Zack [Snyder's] or something. Which is fine, you write these ideas and they get out. "
"We were all about reinventing it and trying to make it more Taxi Driver visceral. That was the whole pitch. But the toy people were like, 'Oh it can't be a Lincoln Continental, you have to make a Batmobile.'"
Perhaps WB will revisit Aronofsky's film under their new standalone (untitled) DC Films banner? Hopefully they release some news on what it's called and what they're planning in the coming weeks as there's a generally-negative vibe encircling the idea- mostly due to a lack of specific information.
Side Note: Back in 2011 (wow, time flies) during my early days at CBM, I wrote a series of articles looking at all the unmade superhero films in Hollywood's history called Looking Back. One of those articles was dedicated to all of WB's unmade Batman films prior to Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins.
It seems Aronofsky wanted none other than a young Ben Affleck to play Bruce Wayne in his Batman: Year One film. Read more details by CLICKING HERE.
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