Darren Aronofsky´s BATMAN: YEAR ONE

Reading interviews and analysis on the movie joker I learned that a couple of decades ago, before Batman Begins, Warner approached Darren Aronofsky to make and adaptation of Frank Miller´s BATMAN: YEAR ONE storyline. I´ve watched this documentary on youtube of what is known of the project and I´ve grown more and more fascinated by the concept. It was gonna be this low budgeted film noir reminiscent of movies like Taxi Driver, a new darker take on the character of Batman never seen on film. Apparently it was too dark for Warner, not commercial enough, so they didn´t produce it in the end. Like Aronofsky said, maybe the project was pitched at the wrong moment, maybe it was too daring for the time. But seeing how Warner is approaching it´s characters in film now, like Joker and Birds of Prey, it´s easy to think this movie could have been approved nowadays, also seeing that Matt Reeve´s Batman movie appears to have a similar tone and theme. Heck, Aronofsky even wanted Joaquin Phoenix to play Bruce! Seeing pictures of him when he was younger, I can totally picture him playing Bruce Wayne in a Taxi Driver style Batman movie. So I´ve made this illustration fantasising about how this movie would have looked and felt. There are actually some concept art that was made for this film, where you can see different versions of the suit and the Batmobile. I used some of them to design them in this take, mixing it a bit with the suits from White Knight and Year 100.
.
Who knows, maybe the movie wouldn´t have been as good as I think. Still, it is a very interesting take, not too far from Frank Miller´s in Year One or The Dark Knight Returns. Also this illustration pushed me into drawing more complex backgrounds, so that´s that (I hope Darren sees it and, I don´t know, like it or something).