Darren Aronofsky leaning towards DARK KNIGHT instead of BATMAN YEAR ONE' Plus a bit of an editorial.

Hey there folks, Harry here with a very interesting letter from an old friend of mine out west in L.A. who once had in for ol Mr Mature. Now I know he talks a bit funny, but I’ve known this particular source for about 13 long lucky years and he’s on the level.

I’ll meet you on the otherside of his scoop to decode and discuss...

Tommy Udo here, and ordinarily I wouldn’t give you the skin off a grape, but this is one skin I hafta sell you.

Me and my pals were chowing on fresh lobster at Musso & Frank’s. I had tossed back my 5th gin and tonic, when it became time to shake my line.

I shuffled back to the stinkin’ lou letting loose my stream when these two high society types, big shots you get me? They just came strutting in stretching their jaws like a pair of lily-livereds squealing under the stick of the crushers.

I had marked one of these joes before, his name was Darren Aronofsky, the fella you claim Warners is wanting to stick with that overdressed knicker wearing caped crusader.

Darren walked over to the lou next to me, tinkling on the ol ivories, while his pal went to squat. Continuing to talk louder even than before. Darren seemed to be in no mood to shoot a film about some rookie flat-foot wannabe. It seems that he doesn’t much care for a Rocky-esque training scene to make Bruce a sudden invincible crime fighter. He feels that a Year One film has limited appeal and range.

The man seems sold on Batman though. Search me. Seems he wants to do that DARK KNIGHT story though, and personally having read a few funnies myself, I would have to agree. About this time I got tired of the gab, contained myself and wiped my residue upon squatter’s shirt upon emergence. Didn’t much care for squatters.

Now I know you think I am selling you some expired goods, but it’s the sunnyside up skinny.

Tommy Udo has spoken.

Whew... Ok... Any questions? :)

When put through the ol Noir Speak Translator Device (trademark pending) the scoop comes out looking like, and accurately I tell ya.... It seems that Darren Aronofsky, while being quite the BATMAN and FRANK MILLER fan, is displeased with the notion of filming a BATMAN YEAR ONE film that contains training sequences and story dynamics that we’ve seen in every Rocky Balboa spectacle since the seventies. Instead, Darren seems quite sold on the idea of shooting Frank Miller’s DARK KNIGHT saga instead. Now... Besides ol Tommy Udo above I’ve heard this from a trio of tenors on their way to Carnagie’s Pool Hall for some late night saxing.

So... If Lorenzo the Mighty has bitten on this pitch from Aronofsky, what does this mean for the BATMAN franchise? Well... It means a perfect lead in for the BATMAN BEYOND film that Lorenzo is seemingly also high on. To me... It has always seemed like a rather odd choice to film the ‘prelude’ to Batman’s career, then flashing to the tail end to shoot BATMAN BEYOND and skipping everything else.

Now, if Lorenzo is the genius that he doesn’t let on as being, then what he would be planning is to let Aronofsky shoot the tremendous DARK KNIGHT film, and follow up with the BATMAN BEYOND films... Meanwhile, allowing the BRUCE WAYNE (WB Show) to rebuild from the ashes of the franchise the origin of our caped crusader and setting the groundwork for a long and lengthy JAMES BOND WITH STEROIDS franchise in the feature department with Batman after that show has made it’s run.

Now what is the likelihood of all of this coming to pass, and us Batman fans being satisfied with ingenious plotting of a multi-billion dollar franchise? I’d say it’s about a thousand to one, what with what seems to be a stranglehold on the Batman franchise by Lorenzo the stoic one. The word I’m hearing from friendless inside the D.C. camp is that everyone... from D.C. to the W.B. to most within Warners Features feels that the above scenario is the way to go... However, both the comics arm and the television arm seem unwilling to chime in and take on the juggernaut that is Lorenzo the powerful. Personally it is my belief is that it is finally time for the parents of the corporation (ie Barry Meyer and Alan Horn) should come in... And just responsibly tell Lorenzo that this is the best idea. I’ve even heard that Barry Meyer agrees... but is ‘unwilling to step in and take this away from Warners Feature’. THIS ISN’T TAKING ANYTHING AWAY FROM WARNER FEATURES... What it is doing is maximizing all the resources of WARNER CORPORATION to create the most viable and profitable Batman franchise. And if Lorenzo can’t see that, and doesn’t want anyone else to play with his toys in his sandbox... Then perhaps it is time to remove Lorenzo from the sandbox and make him stand in the corner with his nose firmly placed in the crack while wearing a DUNCE hat while the adults that RUN Warner Brothers see that the toys are properly dispersed to the correct children to maximize their use! It’s time for Warner Brothers to step up and use their comic properties correctly... and that means using Warner Features, Feature Animation, Television and Television animation and coordinate them all to maximize the impact of the franchises.

Right now it’s like a bunch of neighborhood kids trying to sell tickets to a stickball game when the real potential is in the Major Leagues. You need the right players, right managers and right stadiums to fully exploit their properties. And one seemingly selfish executive should not be allowed to stand in the middle of the road of progress.

Of course that’s just the opinion of a lifelong comics fan that has spent a lifetime of reading the comics, selling the comics, reading the scripts, seeing the movies, being a guest at these conventions, talking to fans and hearing what they want. So... of course that means I don’t know shit. Lorenzo of course is the genius that is the executive behind BATMAN AND ROBIN... the person responsible for the shitstorm of a impotent franchise that Warners is currently left with. It’s time someone with balls made this franchise the franchise it could and should be. Is that really Lorenzo? No, is it really?