‘Batman Forever’: Michael Keaton Explains Decision Not To Appear In Film After 27 Years – Current Events

In 1988, Michael Keaton was a controversial choice by director Tim Burton to play Batman: fans sent thousands of letters to the studio complaining that the actor, known for his comedic roles, was completely wrong in the role.

A year later, his performance was praised by fans, audiences, and critics: “Batman” became a huge box office success and a historical mark in the movie superhero genre, a niche it still holds to this day.

Michael Keaton returned for the dismal sequel Batman Returns (1992), but was eventually left out of the third film, Batman Forever (1995), although he agreed with Joel Schumacher as new director and tried the wardrobe.

According to the official lead version, the actor pulled out and was replaced by Val Kilmer when Tim Burton walked away from the project (or was removed by the studio, which wanted a less somber Bruce Wayne and Batman version), with some disagreements about the project’s overall tone. story between them.

Twenty-seven years after launch, he explained what happened.

“It was always Bruce Wayne. He was never Batman. For me, I know the name of the movie is ‘Batman’ and he’s very imaginative, very ‘cool’, culturally imaginative, and because of Tim Burton, he is artistically creative, [mas] He knew from the start that it was Bruce Wayne. This was the secret. I never talked about it. [Toda a gente dizia] Batman, batman, batman do this, and I was like ‘You guys are all wrong about this.’ Bruce Wayne. Anyone do that? … who becomes that? “, Tell Michael Keaton the Backstage podcast.

According to the actor, what happened after Tim Burton’s departure was a fundamental difference between this version of Bruce Wayne whose dark present is explained by past traumas and a more “excessive” vision of “Batman Forever” championed by the new director.

After several meetings with Joel Schumacher, who described him as “a nice enough guy who’s dead and therefore wouldn’t speak ill of him even if he were alive”, Michael Keaton said he tried to justify a way to make the third film and always hoped that the director would change her mind, but I knew he wouldn’t budge.

“But I remember one of the things I went in thinking ‘Oh my God, I can’t do this,’ he asked me ‘I don’t understand why everything must be so dark and everything so sad’ and I was like, ‘Wait a minute, do you know how this guy became? Batman? you read… [as bandas desenhadas] “It’s very simple,” the actor said.

But the story has a happy “extension”: At the end of 33 years, Michael Keaton will play Batman again in “The Flash,” starring Ezra Miller, set to open in theaters November 4, with another appearance in “Batgirl” confirmed. , which was actually filmed in London with directors Adel Elaraby and Bilal Falah, the duet “Bad Boys Forever”.