If you’re Joaquin Phoenix, you’re either considered to play the role of the hero. Or you keep delivering great performances until you win an Oscar for playing the villain. The actor recently accomplished the latter part of the previous sentence with his brilliant take on the Joker. And fulfilled the hero aspect almost two decades ago.
Phoenix was the top choice for Batman in a now scrapped project that would have seen director Darren Aronofsky adapt Frank Miller’s beloved Batman comic, Batman: Year One. The studio objected to the casting as they had something far different in mind, wanting to cast Freddie Prinze Jr as the Caped Crusader. While the director has mentioned that Phoenix waws his choice for Batman before, check out Aronofsky elaborating a bit during an interview with Empire down below.
“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.”
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Apparently Aronofsky had a particularly dark take on Miller’s already thought to be dark Batman: Year One. It was said to be so dark that even Miller caught off guard by where Aronofsky was headed with the character.
“It was an amazing thing because I was a big fan of his graphic novel work, so just getting to meet him was exciting back then. The Batman that was out before me was Batman & Robin, the famous one with the nipples on the Batsuit, so I was really trying to undermine that, and reinvent it. That’s where my head went.”
I think most of us understand where Aronofsky’s mind was, even though it sounds possible he would have overcorrected ever so slightly. Though considering the franchise’s need to shake off the campy odor of the last film, Batman & Robin, he may have been just what character needed
Phoenix playing Bats and Joker, in the same film. I think he could pull it off, do you? Let us know in the comments down below!
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