"My Batman Was Too Nice For Him": Frank Miller Talks Darren Aronofsky's Abandoned Adaptation Of 'Year One'

Batman fans know the story well, but here's the condensed version. After Joel Schumacher destroyed the franchise with "Batman Forever" and "Batman & Robin," and before Christopher Nolan revived it with "Batman Begins," Warner Bros. turned to Darren Aronofsky. The filmmaker had a bold idea for his version, using Frank Miller's influential "Batman: Year One" as the source material, to create a dark-as-hell, much older iteration of the character.

“I told them I’d cast Clint Eastwood as the Dark Knight, and shoot it in Tokyo, doubling for Gotham City,” Aronofsky later said. “That got their attention.”

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"I pitched the complete opposite, which was totally bring-it-back-to-the-streets raw, trying to set it in a kind of real reality — no stages, no sets, shooting it all in inner cities across America,...