Joaquin Phoenix's Oscar-winning performance as DC Comic's most famous villain in Joker has been justly praised, but the actor was almost involved in another Gotham-based project years before, though in an extremely different role. In the early 2000s, the success of director Darren Aronofsky's Requiem for a Dream had made him a hot pick in Hollywood, and Warner Bros. decided to pursue him to produce a new Batman movie.
Unfortunately, the Black Swan director soon found that he disagreed with the studio over its vision for the movie. Warner Bros. wanted Freddie Prinze Jr. for the role of Batman, while Aronofsky made it clear that he wanted to cast Phoenix. These creative differences prevented Aronofsky from taking the project, particularly as he'd planned on distancing it as much as possible from Joel Schumacher's poorly-received Batman & Robin.
Aronofsky has since stated that his Batman movie would have contained nods to thrillers like Death Wish, The French Connection, and Taxi Driver. Batman comic writer Frank Miller was even attached to write the script, but also didn't remain with the project through to its conclusion.
In the end, Warner Bros' Batman project was picked up by Christopher Nolan and became the Dark Knight trilogy. Grossing around $2.4 billion at the box office over its three movies, the massively-popular trilogy is arguably the most famous adaptation of the caped crusader to date.