Darren Aronofsky leaning towards DARK KNIGHT instead of BATMAN YEAR ONE' Plus a bit of an editorial.
Published at: Feb. 4, 2000, 4:38 a.m. CST by staff
Hey there folks, Harry here with a very
interesting letter from an old friend of mine out west
in L.A. who once had in for ol Mr Mature. Now I
know he talks a bit funny, but I’ve known this
particular source for about 13 long lucky years and
he’s on the level.
I’ll meet you on the otherside of his scoop to
decode and discuss...
Tommy Udo here, and ordinarily I wouldn’t give
you the skin off a grape, but this is one skin I hafta
sell you.
Me and my pals were chowing on fresh lobster at
Musso & Frank’s. I had tossed back my 5th gin and
tonic, when it became time to shake my line.
I shuffled back to the stinkin’ lou letting loose my
stream when these two high society types, big shots
you get me? They just came strutting in stretching
their jaws like a pair of lily-livereds squealing under
the stick of the crushers.
I had marked one of these joes before, his name
was Darren Aronofsky, the fella you claim Warners is
wanting to stick with that overdressed knicker
wearing caped crusader.
Darren walked over to the lou next to me,
tinkling on the ol ivories, while his pal went to squat.
Continuing to talk louder even than before. Darren
seemed to be in no mood to shoot a film about some
rookie flat-foot wannabe. It seems that he doesn’t
much care for a Rocky-esque training scene to make
Bruce a sudden invincible crime fighter. He feels that
a Year One film has limited appeal and range.
The man seems sold on Batman though. Search
me. Seems he wants to do that DARK KNIGHT
story though, and personally having read a few
funnies myself, I would have to agree. About this
time I got tired of the gab, contained myself and
wiped my residue upon squatter’s shirt upon
emergence. Didn’t much care for squatters.
Now I know you think I am selling you some
expired goods, but it’s the sunnyside up skinny.
Tommy Udo has spoken.
Whew... Ok... Any questions? :)
When put through the ol Noir Speak Translator
Device (trademark pending) the scoop comes out
looking like, and accurately I tell ya.... It seems that
Darren Aronofsky, while being quite the BATMAN
and FRANK MILLER fan, is displeased with the
notion of filming a BATMAN YEAR ONE film that
contains training sequences and story dynamics that
we’ve seen in every Rocky Balboa spectacle since the
seventies. Instead, Darren seems quite sold on the
idea of shooting Frank Miller’s DARK KNIGHT
saga instead. Now... Besides ol Tommy Udo above
I’ve heard this from a trio of tenors on their way to
Carnagie’s Pool Hall for some late night saxing.
So... If Lorenzo the Mighty has bitten on this
pitch from Aronofsky, what does this mean for the
BATMAN franchise? Well... It means a perfect lead
in for the BATMAN BEYOND film that Lorenzo is
seemingly also high on. To me... It has always
seemed like a rather odd choice to film the ‘prelude’
to Batman’s career, then flashing to the tail end to
shoot BATMAN BEYOND and skipping everything
else.
Now, if Lorenzo is the genius that he doesn’t let
on as being, then what he would be planning is to let
Aronofsky shoot the tremendous DARK KNIGHT
film, and follow up with the BATMAN BEYOND
films... Meanwhile, allowing the BRUCE WAYNE
(WB Show) to rebuild from the ashes of the franchise
the origin of our caped crusader and setting the
groundwork for a long and lengthy JAMES BOND
WITH STEROIDS franchise in the feature
department with Batman after that show has made it’s
run.
Now what is the likelihood of all of this coming
to pass, and us Batman fans being satisfied with
ingenious plotting of a multi-billion dollar franchise?
I’d say it’s about a thousand to one, what with what
seems to be a stranglehold on the Batman franchise
by Lorenzo the stoic one. The word I’m hearing from
friendless inside the D.C. camp is that everyone...
from D.C. to the W.B. to most within Warners
Features feels that the above scenario is the way to
go... However, both the comics arm and the television
arm seem unwilling to chime in and take on the
juggernaut that is Lorenzo the powerful. Personally it
is my belief is that it is finally time for the parents of
the corporation (ie Barry Meyer and Alan Horn)
should come in... And just responsibly tell Lorenzo
that this is the best idea. I’ve even heard that Barry
Meyer agrees... but is ‘unwilling to step in and take
this away from Warners Feature’. THIS ISN’T
TAKING ANYTHING AWAY FROM WARNER
FEATURES... What it is doing is maximizing all the
resources of WARNER CORPORATION to create
the most viable and profitable Batman franchise. And
if Lorenzo can’t see that, and doesn’t want anyone
else to play with his toys in his sandbox... Then
perhaps it is time to remove Lorenzo from the
sandbox and make him stand in the corner with his
nose firmly placed in the crack while wearing a
DUNCE hat while the adults that RUN Warner
Brothers see that the toys are properly dispersed to
the correct children to maximize their use! It’s time
for Warner Brothers to step up and use their comic
properties correctly... and that means using Warner
Features, Feature Animation, Television and
Television animation and coordinate them all to
maximize the impact of the franchises.
Right now it’s like a bunch of neighborhood
kids trying to sell tickets to a stickball game when the
real potential is in the Major Leagues. You need the
right players, right managers and right stadiums to
fully exploit their properties. And one seemingly
selfish executive should not be allowed to stand in the
middle of the road of progress.
Of course that’s just the opinion of a lifelong
comics fan that has spent a lifetime of reading the
comics, selling the comics, reading the scripts, seeing
the movies, being a guest at these conventions,
talking to fans and hearing what they want. So... of
course that means I don’t know shit. Lorenzo of
course is the genius that is the executive behind
BATMAN AND ROBIN... the person responsible for
the shitstorm of a impotent franchise that Warners is
currently left with. It’s time someone with balls made
this franchise the franchise it could and should be. Is
that really Lorenzo? No, is it really?