13. Aaron Eckhart ALMOST Played Commissioner Gordonwell, sort of
Before Batman Begins, back in the dark days following Batman and Robins release, any number of Batman film ideas were pitched at Warner Brothers. One of the projects that gained the most traction was an adaptation of Frank Millers seminal work Batman: Year One, which was to have been directed by a young Darren Aronofsky, and co-written by Aronofsky and Miller himself. The film wouldve been an
extremely gritty, realistic take on the Batman mythos and bizarrely, considering it was co-written by the same guy who did the comic, it wouldve taken huge
license with the Batman mythos. Think fans were bothered by the tweaks Nolan made to Bane or Jokers backstories? How would they have reacted to a Batman movie where Bruce Wayne is
an amnesiac vigilante who lives with an impoverished black car mechanic named "Big Al"? Year One was, by Aronofskys own admission, intended as a complete 180 from the campy excesses of Batman and Robin; the script, which would have been all kinds of R-rated, probably never really came close to being made. Aronofsky got far enough along in the process that he
did start at least casually looking at actors. In particular, the director was considering Aaron Eckhardt who had made a splash in Neil LaButtes In the Company of Men to play the role of Lieutenant (not yet Commissioner) Gordon, who in many respects is the storys true central character. As to the actor Aronofsky wanted to cast as Bruce Wayne? He was a young guy, someone you may have heard of Christian Bale.