{"id":22130,"date":"2020-04-17T12:00:51","date_gmt":"2020-04-17T19:00:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theculturednerd.org\/?p=22130"},"modified":"2020-04-22T13:39:40","modified_gmt":"2020-04-22T20:39:40","slug":"why-darren-aronofskys-batman-starring-joaquin-phoenix-failed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theculturednerd.org\/?p=22130","title":{"rendered":"Why Darren Aronofsky’s Batman starring Joaquin Phoenix failed"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
Concept art leaked over 10 years ago, art drafted by Warner Bros Art Department<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Director Darren Aronofsky released Requiem for a Dream<\/em> in 2000 which had theatrical success. Following the coat tail of his movies success Aronofsky was set to reboot the Caped Crusader in the early 2000’s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aronofsky’s Batman pitch was wildly different from the Christopher Nolan film we got years later. Aronofsky’s pitch was of an R-rated film focused on a Batman who grew up on the streets, wearing a ski mask, fighting villains with brass knuckles. Ultimately Warner Bros overlooked this project despite famed Batman writer Frank Miller working on the project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The film was to be an adaptation of Frank Millers Batman: Year One<\/em> with Miller on board. Miller was even surprised due to how dark Aronofsky was going to make the film, which was intended to be polar opposite of the goofy Batman & Robin<\/em>. Aronofsky talked about his direction of the film:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The Batman that was out before me was Batman & Robin<\/em>, the famous one with the nipples on the Batsuit, so I was really trying yo undermine that and reinvent it. That’s where my head went.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

While on his mother!<\/em> press tour, Aronofsky revealed who he envisioned to play the Dark Knight. Joaquin Phoenix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Phoenix had not hit his acting peak yet as at this point he had roles in 8mm, The Yards<\/em>, and Gladiator<\/em>. Aronofsky stated:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I always wanted Joaquin Phoenix for Batman. It’s funny, I think we were just sort of out of time with our idea. I understood that [with] comics, that there’s room for all different types titles, but I think Hollywood at that time was still kind of in the Golden Age of comics, and they were still just doing the classic titles in classic ways.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Reportedly, Warner Bros had other plan for Freddie Prinze Jr. to play billionaire Bruce Wayne. Prinze was a teen heartthrob with roles in I Know What You Did Last Summer<\/em> and She’s All That. <\/i>While this must be a tough cast to imagine, Joker<\/em> star Joaquin Phoenix doesn’t seem like a perfect chiseled Batman either. It was likely best that neither played the Caped Crusader on the big screen. Aronofsky recalled this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“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.”<\/p>via SlashFilm<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Aronofsky’s gritty and dark Batman was left behind with Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins<\/em> coming out a few years later. While Nolan’s take on the hero was more dark than previous interpretations, it was still, mostly, family friendly. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\nJoaquin Phoenix was nearly the Caped Crusader, find out what happened?\n<\/div>\n
Continue reading “Why Darren Aronofsky’s Batman starring Joaquin Phoenix failed”<\/span>…<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":75,"featured_media":22133,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2,3,6],"tags":[97,2312,1266],"class_list":["post-22130","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-comics-videogames","category-comics-cartoons-anime","category-film-tv","tag-batman","tag-darren-aronofsky","tag-joaquin-phoenix","entry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhy Darren Aronofsky's Batman starring Joaquin Phoenix failed - The Cultured Nerd<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/theculturednerd.org\/?p=22130\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why Darren Aronofsky's Batman starring Joaquin Phoenix failed - The Cultured Nerd\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Joaquin Phoenix was nearly the Caped Crusader, find out what happened? 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