Before he would attract Hollywood’s attention with "Sin City" and "300" —both graphic novels adapted into feature films, the former seeing a sequel released this year ("Sin City: A Dame To Kill For" opens on Friday)— Frank Miller had spent 20 years as a blue-chip comic book creator. Given the keys to the Batman franchise in the ’80s, Miller’s "Batman: The Dark Knight Returns" and "Batman: Year One" were widely believed to have reinvented the character, with those works undoubtedly serving as the template for Christopher Nolan‘s take on the comic hero. (Darren Aronofsky tried to make ‘Year One’ before "Batman Begins" but couldn’t get it moving, and in 2011 an animated version of the graphic novel was released on home video). And speaking recently with Playboy, Miller revealed his inspiration for making Bruce Wayne older, more grizzled and more vengeful.
"Well, you do get crabbier as you get older. [laughs] Also, I never believed that a guy who tortured people and dressed like Dracula was the most pleasant person to have over for dinner," Miller said. However, when it comes to Batman films, the comic writer can’t bring himself to sit through them.
"When people come out with movies about characters I’ve worked on, I always hate them. I have my own ideas about what the characters are like. I mean, I can’t watch a Batman movie. I’ve seen pieces of them, but I generally think, No, that’s not him. And I walk out of the theater before it’s over. It includes all of them," Miller said, referring to "Daredevil" and "Elektra" as well. "I’m not condemning what [Christopher Nolan] does. I don’t even understand it, except that he seems to think he owns the title ‘Dark Knight.’ [laughs] He’s about 20 years too late for that. It’s been used."
Sour grapes? Not quite, but we do suppose if you’ve been that close to a character, you might not want to see what Hollywood has done with it. But at any rate, we’ll certainly be curious to see what Miller thinks about Ben Affleck‘s take in a couple of years. In the meantime, check out this awesome gallery of behind-the-scene and regular photos you may not have seen from Nolan’s "The Dark Knight."