Michael Keaton was a controversial choice for Batman when the first film was released back in 1989. Keaton was typecast into comedy roles at the time, and Warner Bros. had initially considered A-listers to portray the first live-action Batman. However, Keaton’s movie shattered records, amassing $411.6 million at the box office, and even spawned a sequel titled Batman Returns.
Both movies were directed by Tim Burton and received critical acclaim. However, the sequel was unable to surpass the success of Batman, which led Warner Bros. to replace Tim Burton with Joel Schumacher. Keaton also walked away from the third movie due to this misguided move. It turned out to be the right choice for Keaton, as Schumacher’s Batman movies were deemed quite forgettable.
Michael Keaton Took A Dig At His Batman Successor George Clooney
Following Tim Burton and Michael Keaton’s exit, the Batman franchise began to decline in quality. While both Batman Forever and Batman & Robin were financially successful films, they received mixed to negative reviews, with the latter considered one of the worst superhero films ever made. Val Kilmer took over from Keaton as the next Batman in Batman Forever but couldn’t reprise his role in the next film.
George Clooney replaced Kilmer in the infamous Batman & Robin, which grossed $238 million, solely riding on the franchise’s fame. Clooney’s film felt very caricaturish, and the Ocean’s Eleven actor couldn’t quite pull off the title character. When Keaton got a chance to work with Clooney in Steven Soderbergh’s Out Of Sight, he completely forgot that Clooney had also played the Caped Crusader once.
In an interview with The Guardian, the Birdman actor was asked whether they exchanged any Batman stories on set. While The American actor constantly reminded Keaton that they were a “brotherhood”, the Spider-Man: Homecoming actor had no idea what that meant until someone explained it to him. Keaton told The Guardian:
“I didn’t, but he used to shout at me, ‘Hey, the brotherhood!’ And I’d go, ‘Hey!’ But I had no idea what he meant. Swear to God! And he did it a bunch of times: ‘Brotherhood!’ And then someone explained it to me and I was like, ‘Ohhhhh!’ I mean, I think I’d forgotten he was in [Batman].”
Interestingly, both Michael Keaton and George Clooney reprised their Batman roles for the 2023 DCEU film, The Flash. While fans were excited about the prospect of seeing both Batman actors in a single film, The Flash turned out to be a major disappointment.
Michael Keaton Explained His Reason For Exit From Batman Franchise
There were numerous criticisms of Warner Bros.’s decision to remove Tim Burton from the Batman movies. When Keaton was asked about giving up his bat suit, he shared that he felt uncomfortable playing the role after two movies. However, the Spotlight actor did not mention Tim Burton’s departure as a reason. Keaton shared with The Guardian:
“[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.”
Michael Keaton was not the only actor critical of Tim Burton’s firing. Jack Nicholson, who played the Joker in the first film, had nothing but praise for Burton in an interview with MTV. Nicholson stated that the studio ruined the franchise by firing the Beetlejuice director. The Shining actor told MTV:
“I don’t think they ever really captured Tim Burton’s spirit. They kind of drove the franchise into the ground. Tim Burton’s a genius. He had the right take on it. That’s why I did the movie. I did the movie based on a single conversation with him. We both come from the cartoon world originally. We had similar ideas.”
Tim Burton and Joel Schumacher’s versions of the Batman films are now available for streaming on Max.
Source: The Guardian, MTV
