Courtney Love in the running to play villain in cancelled 'Batman' film

LOS ANGELES, June 16 (UPI) -- Hole rocker Courtney Love was nearly cast for the role of villain Harley Quinn in the canceled Batman Unchained movie.

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Director Joel Schumacher talked about his vision for Batman Unchained, a sequel to his 1997 flop Batman & Robin. In Batman Unchained, Love would have been on the silver screen with George Clooney as the Caped Crusader and cameos from past Batman films, including Danny DeVito as The Penguin), Michelle Pfeiffer as Catwoman and Tommy Lee Jones as Two-Face. The two main villains were to be Scarecrow, possibly played by Nic Cage, and Harley Quinn.

Harley Quinn is described as a sadistic toymaker who learns her father was The Joker, setting her on a path for vengeance against Batman for killing him. Warner Bros. canceled the film before it could be made due to a poor showing by Batman & Robin.

"I think (Love) had heard about the possibility of Harley Quinn being in the new Batman and was thinking she would be good for it," screenwriter Mark Protosevich told the Reporter. "But we didn't really talk about that. We talked about a lot of other things. It was certainly one of the better lunches I've ever had in my career in show business."