It’s no secret that Zack Snyder’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice landed in theaters to mixed reactions from audiences and critics alike, many of who blasted it for being too dark. Well, according to Academy-Award winning screenwriter Akiva Goldsman, we were set to receive an even darker version of Batman v Superman in the early 2000s starring Jude Law and Colin Farrell.
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Se7en scribe Andrew Kevin Walker wrote the initial draft before vacating the project after which Goldsman took over.
“I wrote on […] this version of Batman v Superman [around 2001or 2002]— when Colin Farrell was cast as Batman and Jude Law was cast as Superman and Wolfgang Petersen was directing,” Goldsman told Collider in a recent interview. “We were in prep and it was the darkest thing you’ve ever seen. It started with Alfred’s funeral and Bruce has fallen in love and renounced being Batman, the Joker kills his wife, and then you discover it was all a lie. Just that the love itself was constructed by the Joker to break [Bruce].”
Obviously, that film never got made, though Farrell did eventually break into the Batman-verse when he landed the role as Penguin in Matt Reeves’ upcoming The Batman.
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“It was a time where you would be able to get these sort of stories together in script form but they couldn’t quite land in the world,” Goldsman continued. “Somehow, the expectations of the object — whether they be audience or corporate or directorial — it wasn’t landing quite in the way I think we imagined when we put them on the page.”
I love hearing these alternate takes on films. Personally, I’m game for different incarnations of these characters and respect what different directors and writers bring to the table. Though, it should be noted that Goldsman also wrote Batman Forever and Batman and Robin … so, maybe he wasn’t the right guy to tackle Batman v Superman.
