Aronofsky was hired to reboot the franchise, before Christopher Nolan was brought into the project instead. Aronofsky planned a radical franchise change, something unlike any previous Batman film and one that was based on the idea of “gritty realism” that was in fact too much realism for the studio, which decided it didn’t want to make a Batman film THAT gritty or THAT “realistic.”

— Darren Aronofsky (director): How would a Darren Aronofsky Batman film differ from the current Nolan series?

— Mark Hughes, Screenwriter, Forbes Blogger

Around the same time, Warner Bros. hired Darren Aronofsky to write and direct Year One, despite interest from Joel Schumacher. Aronofsky, who collaborated with Frank Miller on an unproduced script for Ronin, brought Miller to co-write Year One with him. They intended to reboot the Batman franchise, “it’s somewhat based on the comic book,” Aronofsky said. “Toss out everything you can imagine about Batman! Everything! We’re starting completely anew.” Regular Aronofsky collaborator, Matthew Libatique, was set as cinematographer, and Aronofsky had also approached Christian Bale for the role of Batman. Coincidentally, Bale would be cast in the role for Batman Begins.

— Wikipedia on Batman in film

2012.05.14 Monday ACHK