Darren Aronofsky Says the Studio Killed His Idea to Cast Joaquin Phoenix in Batman Movie

Joaquin Phoenix won plenty of acclaim for his performance in Joker as the titular villain – but he was originally approached to play the opposite superhero role: Batman!

Director Darren Aronofsky made the revelation in a new interview with Empire.

PHOTOS: Check out the latest pics of Joaquin Phoenix

He spoke about his failed comic book movie, Batman: Year One, and revealed he wanted Joaquin to play the title character.

“The studio wanted Freddie Prinze Jr and I wanted Joaquin Phoenix. I remember thinking, ‘Uh oh, we’re making two different films here.’ That’s a true story. It was a different time. The Batman I wrote was definitely a way different type of take than they ended up making,” he said.

He said he was envisioning the movie to be like ’70s crime films like Death Wish and Taxi Driver.

“The Batman that was out before me was Batman & Robin, the famous one with the nipples on the Batsuit, so I was really trying to undermine that, and reinvent it. That’s where my head went.”

Joaquin recently opened up about the scary moment that led to him checking into rehab years ago.