Apart from being world-renowned for his other captivating roles, there was one particular role of Michael Keaton that was widely loved by audiences worldwide: His Batman portrayal. But even though fans just couldn’t get enough of him in the bat suit, Keaton decided to leave the franchise out of the blue, leaving fans devastated.
Though a major part behind his exit from the later Batman sequels was because of DC studios derailing Tim Burton’s Batman franchise, there was something else as well that undeniably forced Michael Keaton to walk away and not star in the next installments of the Caped Crusader that were nothing short of a disaster.
Michael Keaton Worked For Two Successful Batman Films With Tim Burton
While Michael Keaton earned much love and appreciation from fans worldwide following his remarkable Batman portrayal in two of Tim Burton’s movies before his franchise was derailed, Batman and Batman Returns, the idea of him playing the Caped Crusader wasn’t always welcome.
Talking to The Guardian back in 2017, the Spiderman: Homecoming actor shared his take when he came across an article that even suggested that he might end up damaging Warner Bros.’ stock if his first Batman film was released.
“I truly didn’t understand why people cared one way or another, and I can’t believe people still care. I just thought, ‘I know what I’m doing, and I could be wrong, but in terms of what Tim and I discussed for the movie, I knew we were right on.’”
He then shared how perfectly he and filmmaker Tim Burton connected while making the film that turned out to be a superhit masterpiece.
“[Tim Birton is] 100% mind-blowing. Tim and I both have the same sensibility,” Keaton explained. “He has this darkness and melancholy about him that’s kind of funny. People weren’t ready for that at the time.”
Just like that, the Batman created by Burton and perfectly portrayed by Keaton ended up winning the hearts of fans worldwide. But little did fans know that their happiness wouldn’t last for too long as Michael Keaton decided to leave the Batman franchise after two films only.
The Reason Why Michael Keaton Walked Away From His Beloved Batman
Following the release of Batman Returns, Tim Burton’s Batman franchise was decided to be discontinued by the studios. But Burton wasn’t the only one who left DC: Michael Keaton ended up walking out with him as well.
During an interview with The Guardian years ago in 2009, the Beetlejuice star shared how apart from the filmmaker’s leave, he also had his doubts about the next Batman sequel, Batman Forever, which was to be directed by Joel Schumacher.
“I liked it,” Keaton shrugged, “but I didn’t love it. I thought we needed to regroup, to go back to the core.”
Furthermore, Keaton also wanted a more grounded and more connected-to-the-roots Batman film as opposed to Schumacher’s campiness (as per The Guardian 2017 interview), which ultimately took a toll on the coming portrayers of the Dark Knight: Val Kilmer and George Clooney.
“[The film] just wasn’t any good, man. I tried to be patient, but after a certain point, I was like, I can’t take this anymore, this is going to be horrible. But, look, there was some really horrible taste in the 90s, and I probably contributed to that, unfortunately. It was a time of nouveau riche excess – everyone was known for their jets and their stuff. And I thought, I’m in this job for the long run, I don’t want this. And the truth is, I’m not boasting, but I was correct. There are a whole load of people who ran things that are long gone.”
While the Joel Schumacher era couldn’t end up winning the audience’s hearts, the next Batman trilogy directed by Christopher Nolan and acted by Christian Bale was based on the same idea that Michael Keaton wanted for his films, and look where it got them: Nolan x Bale’s Batman trilogy is now regarded as one of the best Batman films to exist to date.
Source: The Guardian (2009) | The Guardian (2017)
