Frank Miller, who wrote the “Dark Knight” series of comics that helped shape Christopher Nolan’s three Batman movies, was asked about his thoughts on the current state of the character — and how he might alter it — in a new Variety interview. “My dream would be to make it much smaller,” he said, “to lose the toys and to focus more on the mission, and to use the city a great deal more.”
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The city in question is Gotham, which Miller said Batman has “a loving relationship with.” This strikes a contrast to Superman, as the Caped Crusader’s “connection to crime is intimate; it has been ever since his parents were murdered. And he defeats criminals with his hands. So it would be a different take. But it will never be in my hands, because it would not be a good place to make toys from. There wouldn’t be a line of toys.”
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Miller was also asked about the never-made Batman movie that he and director Darren Aronofsky were at one point discussing. “That screenplay was based on my book ‘Batman: Year One,’ and yeah it was much more down to earth,” he explained. “In it a fair amount of time is spent before he became Batman, and when he went out and fought crime he really screwed it up a bunch of times before he got it right. So it was 90-minute origins story.”
For his thoughts on Superman’s Jewish origins, Donald Trump’s potential as a comic-book character and “Batman v Superman,” avail yourself of the complete interview here.
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