10 Things You Need To Know About Darren Aronofsky's Batman

By Tom Baker / April 15, 2015

You wanna watch out for that Darren Aronofsky. He might just surprise you. After a good couple of decades making grim, magical realist dramas like Requiem For A Dream and Black Swan, he was surrounded by rumours that he was due to direct either/or the second Wolverine film or that ill-fated Robocop remake. In the end he did neither: instead, he did a big-budget retelling of Noah And The Great Flood, in a way that displeased the faithful and was of no interest to his usual audience. That seemed like something of a left-turn for the auteur director, but it was on the cards for a good while before. Because, not so far back in the mists of time, Aronofsky was approached with an even stranger proposition. Warner Bros were floundering in the wake of their critically and commercially disappointing Batman sequels, eventually canning Joel Schumacher's plans for another total camp-fest. Instead, they threw out the colourful, cheesy tone that had devolved through Batman Forever and Batman & Robin, and decided they wanted the exact opposite. And that Darren Aronofsky, promising young director of that heroin horror film, was the man to do it. Right around the time he needed money for his time-travelling love story The Fountain, no less. Sadly, it was not to be, with Aronofsky instead making a comeback with the Mickey Rourke-starring The Wrestler. And who knows how he eventually got to Noah. But in the meantime, he made a bit of headway on his take on the Dark Knight €“ complete with a non-traditional Alfred, a lower budget, and an even grittier world than Nolan's. Here are ten things you need to know about Darren Aronofsky's Batman.