Zack Snyder shared his dream of one day creating an authentic film adaptation of the iconic Batman story The Dark Knight Returns.
ComicBook Debate talked with Snyder and discussed the creative influences surrounding his DC filmography. Snyder's films were the launching pad for the DC Extended Universe, and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice displayed some rather direct narrative and visual parallels to The Dark Knight Returns.
"I tried to homage it rather than steal from it, in a sense, I just wanted to show the influence on me... I wanted to take what I consider iconic moments and place them in the movie," said Snyder in the interview.
He continued to mention the impact of The Dark Knight Returns was more his own personal point of view on Batman rather than an attempt to directly adapt the story.
"Relative to the deconstructive nature of the film, Frank's [Miller] comic book is also very much a deconstruction of the character as well, so yes, it had an influence," he explained.
Released in 1986, Frank Miller and Klaus Janson's The Dark Knight Returns tells an alternate-history tale of an aging Bruce Wayne who reclaims the mantle of Batman when Gotham becomes overrun by a gang of mutants. The four-issue miniseries is held in very high regard among fans and has spawned sequels, prequels and even a two-part animated adaptation.
"I was really trying to preserve that comic book as its own thing so that I could still one day maybe make that into a movie," Snyder concluded.
Directed by Zack Snyder and written by Chris Terrio and David S. Goyer, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice stars Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Jesse Eisenberg, Diane Lane, Laurence Fishburne, Jeremy Irons, Holly Hunter and Gal Gadot.
Source: YouTube