10 Things You Need To Know About Darren Aronofsky's Batman
3. It Probably Would've Been R-Rated
This should be the least surprising thing about Darren Aronofsky's Batman. Especially since he was working from Frank Miller's comic, with the man himself; the comic book legend doesn't tend to make family-friendly stuff. This is the guy who took Daredevil from a fairly happy-go-lucky Errol Flynn type to a guy who has all his girlfriends murdered and then plays Russian Roulette with the killer. I was pitching to make an R-rated adult fan-based Batman a hardcore version that we'd do for not that much money, Aronofsky has admitted. I think Warners always knew it would never be something they could make. I think rightfully so, because four-year-olds buy Batman stuff...so they really need a PG property. And PG his Year One script certainly was not. Very much taking its cues from the hyper-violent world of Frank Miller's comics, fight scenes are described as an almost orgasmic release of raw, pent up violence, Jim Gordon is suicidal, Bruce Wayne is on various medications for mental health issues, and there's more salty language than...well, an argument about which the best Batman movie is between nerds.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
