Aronofsky Wanted Joaquin Phoenix to Play His Batman

"We were a little bit out of time for our idea."

By Alex Gilyadov

Darren Aronofsky had a specific actor in mind for his canned R-rated Batman: Year One movie.

“I always wanted Joaquin Phoenix for Batman,” Aronofsky told Yahoo! Movies while promoting his new movie, mother!.

The filmmaker wanted to do a grittier take on the Caped Crusader and first pitched the idea to Warner Bros. back in 1999. According to Frank Miller, Aronofsky's "vision of Batman was darker than" his own. So much so, Aronofsky even wanted Batman to torture his enemies.

Joaquin Phoenix in 2000's Gladiator, for which he received an Oscar nomination.

However, the studio passed on the project and eventually went with Christopher's Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy instead.

"I think Hollywood at that time was still in the Golden Age of comics, and they were still just doing the classic titles in classic ways," said Aronofsky.

As for the recently announced Joker origins movie, Aronofsky is actually quite excited to watch a potentially even darker take on the infamous villain.

“I think audiences now, they’ve seen enough comic films that they’re game for that,” said Aronofsky. “So I think we were a little bit out of time for our idea."

Read about the secret history of Aronofsky's unmade Batman film. Also be sure to check out how Frank Miller would do a Batman movie and IGN's review of Aronofsky's latest film, mother!.

Alex Gilyadov is a freelance writer for IGN. Be sure to check out his YouTube channel and follow him on Twitter.

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