Frank Miller Explains How BATMAN Films Should be Smaller, Focusing on the Mission Not on the Toys
When it comes to telling Batman stories, comic book writer and artist Frank Miller knows his shit. This guy has written some insanely incredible Batman comics in his day. After all these years of seeing Batman bring to the big screen, have you ever wondered what his take on a Batman film would be? Well, Miller recently sat down with Variety for an interview, and they talked about how Batman: The Dark Knight Returns has influenced the films and asked where he would take the Batman movie franchise if he had a say in the matter. This is what he said:
"My dream would be to make it much smaller. To lose the toys and to focus more on the mission, and to use the city a great deal more. Because he’s got a loving relationship with the city he’s protecting. And unlike Superman his connection to crime is intimate; it has been ever since his parents were murdered. And he defeats criminals with his hands. So it would be a different take. But it will never be in my hands, because it would not be a good place to make toys from. There wouldn’t be a line of toys."
It would be great to see Miller bring this vision of his to life in some kind of proof-of-concept short film. I would love to see his take on the character brought to life. It's kind of a shame that we'll never really seen his vision happen because Warner Bros. loves their toys too much.
Miller previously worked with Black Swan director Darren Aronofsky on a Batman project, and it seems like that was the closest we've ever come to seeing Miller's vision. Miller explained that they had a script for it and said:
"That screenplay was based on my book Batman: Year One, and yeah it was much more down to earth. In it a fair amount of time is spent before he became Batman, and when he went out and fought crime he really screwed it up a bunch of times before he got it right. So it was 90-minute origins story."
Aronofsky is such a talented director that it's a shame that he never got to make this Batman movie. Miller previously explained that it was way too dark and that Warner Bros. passed on it because it wasn't something the kiddies would enjoy. You can see some concept art that was done for the film here. Miller was eventually asked if he saw Batman v Superman, and he replied:
"I’ll just say: ‘Thanks.’ What can I say? — he laughs — no, actually I’ll withdraw that; I’ll say: ‘You’re welcome!’
Ben Affleck and Geoff Johns are currently writing the next Batman solo film, which is looking to release sometime in 2018. What do you all think about Miller's version of a Batman movie? Would you watch it?