We all know Zack Snyder is a big Frank Miller fan and took a lot of inspiration for Batman v Superman from Miller's Batman: The Dark Knight Returns. But what does Miller think of Snyder's work? He was recently asked and gave some ideas on where the Batman franchise should go.
Variety did an interview with the famed creator whose latest work includes another Dark Knight installment – The Master Race – and asked him about Snyder's homage.
Have you seen the movie “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice”?
Yes.
And what did you think?
I”ll just say: ‘Thanks.” What can I say? – he laughs – no, actually I”ll withdraw that; I”ll say: ‘You”re welcome!”
Was that a burn? It's hard to tell without hearing his voice, but it reads to me as if he had nothing nice to say and therefore said nothing at all.
At one point there was a Batman movie in the works with Miller and Darren Aronofsky based on his other famous work, Batman: Year One. He told Variety of the script, “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 a 90-minute origins story.”
So if he had control of the Batman franchise, is that where he'd take it?
“My dream would be to make it much smaller. To lose the toys and to focus more on the mission, and to use the city a great deal more,” he told them. “Because he”s got a loving relationship with the city he”s protecting. And unlike Superman his 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.”
He added, “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.” How right he is.
I wouldn't think Ben Affleck's solo outing as Batman would be an origin story, but I wouldn't put it past anyone to beat that dead horse.