Actor Michael Keaton has spent the last two years reprising his iconic roles from Tim Burton films. The actor will be seen as the beloved ‘bio-exorcist’ Beetlegeuse in the upcoming sequel Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, the teaser of which debuted earlier this week. Keaton also starred as Bruce Wayne a.k.a Batman in last year’s DCEU film The Flash.
While fans were ecstatic to see Keaton don the cowl again, his casting in the original 1989 Batman did not receive the same fanfare. When he was cast as Wayne in the adaptation, many fans reportedly were outraged at the casting as he was known as a comedic actor. Fans reportedly wrote thousands of letters to Warner Bros. to dissuade them from casting Keaton.
Michael Keaton Was Cast In Batman Over Many Other Stars
While Tim Burton’s Batman is now considered to be a classic take on the beloved DC character, the filmmaker had to move mountains to get it made in the way he wanted to. For starters, the previous adaptation of the character was the 1960s TV show, Batman, which featured Adam West. The show and subsequent film were considered too campy for the dark material of the comics.
Burton wanted a darker approach to the character when he was hired after his film Pee Wee’s Big Adventure was released to commercial success. After multiple rewrites, the film was reportedly finally greenlit after Tim Burton’s next film Beetlejuice was also a hit. The filmmaker reportedly took inspiration from a darker version of the character in the comics such as The Killing Joke and The Dark Knight Returns.
Tim Burton was reportedly pressurized to cast a traditional action star to portray the role of Bruce Wayne. Though other stars such as Bill Murray, Harrison Ford, Mel Gibson, and Kevin Costner were considered, Burton reportedly went to Pierce Brosnan for the role of Batman. Brosnan revealed in a Reddit AMA that he was approached for the role by the director,
“Yes, I did. I went and met with Tim Burton for the role of Batman. But I just couldn’t really take it seriously, any man who wears his underpants outside his pants just cannot be taken seriously. That was my foolish take on it. It was a joke, I thought. But how wrong was I?”
Brosnan would go on to play the role of Doctor Fate in 2022’s box office bomb Black Adam. Tim Burton then cast Michael Keaton after working with him on Beetlejuice and on the recommendation of producer John Peters, who reportedly said that he imagined an actor who could be both scary and funny (via The Guardian).
Michael Keaton’s Casting Caused Outrage Among Fans
Almost all actors who have been cast as the Caped Crusader have faced backlash among fans when they were cast initially. Ben Affleck faced it when he was cast as Batman in Zack Snyder’s Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, a casting which still polarizes fans. Robert Pattinson’s recent casting for Matt Reeves’ The Batman too caused uproar.
However, even classic actors such as Michael Keaton had to face the same backlash when he was first announced to be the Knight of Gotham. According to the NY Times, Warner Bros. was subject to a massive letter-writing campaign by fans of the character who were afraid that the studio would again render a campy version of Batman like the TV show.
The campaign was so massive that the studio executives had to reportedly oversee the film’s shooting at Pinewood Studios in London. A news segment, which recently went viral on X (formerly Twitter) shows comic book fans talking about their preference for Batman, as they reject Keaton due to his appearance.
While one fan expressed their desire to have a more ‘macho’ looking man as the superhero, another commented on the age of Michael Keaton and mentioned how he was balding. However, fans were quickly convinced of Keaton’s performance once the film was released and his take on the character has been considered to be one of the best of all adaptations.
