Long ago, Warner Bros. had eyed Joe Dante to direct a Batman movie, but the superhero flick ended up in the hands of Tim Burton, with Jack Nicholson as The Joker. Many loved Nicholson’s performance at the time.

But if Joe Dante were to direct the movie, his perspective would have been totally different from what we’ve seen. So different, that he actually gave up on the idea. Talking to Psychotronic Cinema, Joe Dante revealed his perspective on a Batman movie.

It started with his parents being killed, and it was a revenge story. But it was very outlandish, had a lot of giant props in it. The Joker was a major character in it. I wanted to hire John Lithgow for that part because I had met him on The Twilight Zone movie. And for whatever reason, I started to gravitate more towards The Joker than towards Batman. And I actually woke up one night and I said to myself, "I can't do this movie"”I'm more interested in The Joker than I am in Batman, and that's not the way it should be." So I went and told them that I couldn't do it, and they looked at me like I'd completely lost my mind.

Dante’s take would’ve been more about the Joker than about Batman. Maybe he should do a movie about the Joker!

How would you like that?

Asked if he regrets not doing that Batman movie, Dante said:

I don't regret not doing Batman, in the sense that I'm not sure what it would have ended up being like. But I certainly can't say it was a major career-booster, my decision not to make it.

Meanwhile, he’s focused on Gremlins 2.