WATCHMEN.
For those unaware, Watchmen is a very popular graphic novel (fancy talk for a comic book), written by the great Alan Moore. Watchmen is a mature book portraying a world where super-heroes are a part of everyday life. The book is a murder mystery that illustrates Moore's thoughts on everything from politcs to the state of comic books in America. I am personally thrilled that Darren has undertaken this project, as I have found Watchmen to be, not only the most important graphic novel ever made, but one of the most important pieces of literature I have ever read. If you've never read Watchmen, you NEED to purchase For those interested, I've searched the Aronofsky.Net archives and have found Darren's previous Watchmen mentions: here BATMAN: YEAR ONE.
*Bruce Wayne is stripped of his status as "heir apparent" to the Wayne fortunes. Instead he is found in the streets after his parents murder, and is taken in by "Big Al" who runs a auto repair shop with his son.
*While working at the repair shop, he watches the coming and goings of pimps, johns and corrupt cops at a sleazy cathouse across the street., while a chain -smoking James Gordon struggles with corruption he finds throughout the Gotham City police force.
*At first, he disguises himself wearing a cape and hockey mask. However, the costume evolves with both form and function, and Wayne acquires a variety of makeshift gadgets and weapons. Bruce, reconfigures a black Lincoln Continental into a make shift 'Bat-Mobile'- complete with blacked out windows, night vision driving goggles, armoured bumpers and a super charged school bus engine.
*In his new guise as "The Batman," Bruce Wayne wages war on criminals from street level and up the food chain to a Commissioner Loeb and Mayor Noone--as the executors of the Wayne estate search for the missing heir.
*In the end Bruce accepts his dual destiny as heir to the Wayne fortune and the city's saviour, and Gordon comes to accept that, while he may not agree with The Batman's methods, he cannot argue with the results.
*The comic and the script have many scenes in common--including Bruce Wayne's nihilistic narration, a heroic Gordon saving a baby from a hostage crisis, Selina as proto-Catwoman, the beating Gordon receives from his fellow cops as a warning to give up his war on corruption, his suspicion that Harvey Dent is The Batman, and the climatic battle in the tenement building.
AICN has landed the story that Mr. Aronofsky has the role of director of the film, once to be helmed by David Hayter.
As most of you know, Darren was once attatched to direct an adaptation of Frank Miller's comic Batman: Year One, but Warner Bros. decided to pass on Aronofsky's concept of the Dark Knight and instead hired Memento filmmaker Christopher Nolan to direct the upcoming Batman Begins movie. However, website Batman On Film discovered that a recent book titled Tales From Development Hell (click to purchase) has found out what the Aronofsky/Miller Year One script contained:
BUY BATMAN: YEAR ONE (The Comic)
BUY TALES FROM DEVELOPMENT HELL (The Book)