If all Paul Dini did was co-create Harley Quinn with Bruce Timm — Quinn was inspired by a dream Dini had — that would be enough. But he’s also penned numerous episodes of “Batman: The Animated Series,” “Batman Beyond,” the “Arkham” video games, and several Batman comics. In other words, his Dark Knight credentials aren’t in question, which is why Warner Bros. tapped him for a live-action “Batman Beyond” movie.
The animated show, which ran for three seasons from 1999 to 2001, and spawned a film which had to be recut to gain its “G” rating, was a follow-up to “Batman: The Animated Series” and focused on a teenage version of the titular crime fighter named Terry McGinnis. Mentored by an older Bruce Wayne, McGinnis took on the Batman mantle in a futuristic Gotham. And in an episode of Kevin Smith’s podcast “Fatman on Batman,” now titled “Fatman Beyond” (via Collider), Dini revealed that he and Alan Burnett had been asked by the studio to write a script for a “Batman Beyond” movie, which, according to the writer, would have been helmed by “Max” and “Remember The Titans” director Boaz Yakin.
As Dini recalled it, the “Batman Beyond” film would have been set in a future Gotham that, evidently, wouldn’t have had quite the “futuristic edge” of the cartoon series. As Dini put it, “There was a little bit of The Dark Knight, there was a little bit of contemporary comics and there was Terry McGinnis and the suit and everything.” But what was most interesting about this live-action version was that screen legend Clint Eastwood was allegedly going to be approached to play Bruce Wayne, who just like in the animated “Beyond” series, would be a much older, jaded version of the billionaire.
