Darren Aronofsky's "Batman Year One"

[The Joker]

Not sure just how many of you are familiar with Supervoid Cinema on Youtube, but the latest video they have posted goes over the cancelled Darren Aronofsky "Batman Year One" movie.

[Silver Nemesis]

I'm not a fan of Aronofsky, so I can't say I'm too sorry we didn't get his version. There were some interesting ideas in there, but as far as loose Year One adaptations go I'm satisfied with Batman Begins.

For me, the most intriguing thing about Aronofsky's vision was the idea of Phoenix playing Batman. He's physically on the smaller side, like Michael Keaton was, but I'm confident he'd have had the intensity and acting chops to pull it off.

[thecolorsblend]

The part of me that can't get enough of JOKER laments the fact that Aronofsky didn't get to make his movie. But if that video is to believed, he wasn't super-passionate about the movie anyway. Maybe it's for the best that things didn't work out. Still, this is the approach I recommended two years ago: low budget period pieces that don't try to become franchises or too commercial.

Phoenix as Batman tho? Mmm, not too sure about that.

[Silver Nemesis]

Phoenix was physically wrong for the part and would never have been my first choice. Not by a long shot. However for the unconventional approach Aronofsky was pursuing, I think he could have worked. Similar to how Keaton worked with Burton's unconventional take on the character. This would have been a younger Phoenix, long before he became the emaciated eccentric we saw in Joker.

But I'm not sorry this fell through. If Phoenix had played Batman back then, it seems unlikely he'd have played the Joker in 2019. We wouldn't have got Batman Begins either. So things worked out for the best.