This weekend, Darren Aronofsky‘s fever dream “mother!” landed in theaters and fell on its face, commercially speaking, but there’s no doubt that the film has already achieved cult status. However, there’s an alternate timeline where instead of making of blazing, challenging arthouse fare for the multiplex, Aronofsky is a blockbuster filmmaker.
Somewhere between Joel Schumacher‘s franchise-killing “Batman & Robin,” and Christopher Nolan‘s reboot with “Batman Begins,” Warner Bros. considered a few different ways to relaunch the Caped Crusader. Darren Aronofsky stepped onto the lot and pitched a gritty, nuts and bolts adaptation of Frank Miller‘s influential “Batman: Year One” that would see a grizzled Bruce Wayne rolling around in a souped-up Cadillac, in what the director called his “MacGyver Batman.”
READ MORE: Darren Aronofsky Says ‘The Joker’ Spinoff Sounds Like His Old ‘Batman’ Pitch
While the filmmaker has long tossed out Clint Eastwood as the ideal lead for his version, in a new interview with Yahoo Movies, Aronofsky shares that he had a much younger actor on his wishlist.
“I always wanted Joaquin Phoenix for Batman,” the director revealed. It’s an idea that’s no so outrageous considering that the actor was toying with “Doctor Strange” for a hot second, but sadly, WB and Aronofsky just didn’t see eye to eye on his vision. Though, in the current climate, the reception would probably be warmer from studio suits.
“I think audiences now, they’ve seen enough comic films that they’re game for that,” Aronofsky mused. “So I think we were a little bit out of time for our idea.”
For now, we have Ben Affleck, who wears the cape in “Justice League” which opens on November 17th.
