https://screenrant.com/batman-michael-keaton-casting-controversy-reason/
Michael Keaton's casting as the titular hero in Batman 1989 caused a significant amount of controversy as audiences believed he wasn't a good fit.
If it wasn't for the internet. I wouldn't have known about any of this. No doubt he was a good Batman though, better than most. I prefer his Batman movies than the rest. In my opinion Ben Affleck is the best live action Bruce Wayne, and he has so much potential to be the best Batman of all time, he just needs to have his own well scripted movie. Micheal Keaton is so good as the MCU's Vulture, but I wish he got to play Bruce Banner instead.
shareThe shadow of Adam West Batman lingered VERY heavily, not just over any screen adaptation of the character but over any adaptation of any comic character. The whole point of this Batman project was to move away from that nonsense and make something representative of the darker, more complete character that had developed in the comics. The casting of Keaton, who was a big star at the time but whose stardom was entirely down to goofy comedy roles, suggested the production may have gone off on a very wrong track. Thankfully, this proved not to be the case, although the Adam West goofiness reappeared with a vengeance in Burton's 2nd bat-flick then totally took over with the others in that run.
shareI agree with all of your statement except the last bit , the 'Adam West goofiness' didnt return with Batman Returns (it was Tim Burton 'goofiness' with a vengeance) but 'Forever' and then fully with '& Robin' (basically like a $100m version of the TV series starring Arnold Schwarzegger, movie versions of 60s TV shows were all the rage around that era: Fugitive, M:I, Lost in Space, Avengers etc)
shareIt was Adam West goofiness, filtered through Burton (stuff like the programmable batarang, the bomb, etc. was straight Adam West stuff). In real time, I missed BATMAN RETURNS, and went right into BATMAN FOREVER having not seen how the original had deteriorated in the 1st sequel. Talk about suddenly being doused in ice-water! I was flabbergasted.
shareHow can you say there was Adam West Goofiness in Batman Returns? It had too many dark elements for that to be true. Like how Selina Kyle destroys her stuff and how she acts as Catwoman. Or Penguin biting a guy's nose off. Or Batman smiling after he throws a bomb back at a criminal blowing him up. Penguin himself has a dark backstory and acts way too creepy to qualify for Adam West Batman.
shareI'm sorry, but the rocket-launching, cyborg penguins were fully as ridiculous and goofy as anything in the 1960's TV show, despite the dark tone of the movie. I remember watching Batman Returns in the theater with some of my friends when it came out, and we all left the cinema feeling that the movie started pretty well, but was utterly ruined by a frankly awful last act.
shareOkay. I admit those were silly. As was the Penguins dragging his dead body back into the sewers. Now thinking of it, don't Penguins require cold weather to survive? What did they do when it was summer to stay cool?
shareYou're right. On the Blu-ray commentary track, Tim Burton said that he didn't understand the reaction to Returns because some people were saying it was darker than the first, and some were saying it was sillier than the first. But both things can be true at the same time.
While Returns has some dark moments, it also has the penguin army with rockets on their back, the penguins magically using their flippers to drag Penguin's dead body into the water, Batman somehow punching an hole through the bottom of the batmobile, the duck on wheels, the ice princess on the roof fending off a swarm of bats while for some strange reason Batman just stands near her watching instead of saving her....
It's a very strange film tonally.
It was the silliness that not only undercut and rendered absurd the efforts at darker material but also killed the movie. The darkness belongs in a Batman movie. In BR, the silliness is just overwhelming and takes one out of the movie at every turn, makes one wonder why one is even bothering to watch this mess. Those complaining about the darkness just wanted some Adam West stupidity in front of which they could park the kiddies and decided--probably wrongly--it was too intense for children.
shareI don't think that the issue with Batman Returns was that it was "too dark" per se since the 1989 movie was dark (or much darker than what we had seen Batman live-action wise before that with the Adam West show). Returns was a really vulgar movie. And Returns unlike the 1989 movie, has a very bitter, cynical, sometimes nihilistic and mean-spirited tone. It sometimes borders into black comedy territory but not in a dementedly fun kind of way with Jack Nicholson's take on the Joker. Returns feels like the 1989 movie if somebody dropped some acid into it, let's put it that way.
sharePeople thought Keaton was a terrible choice. He had just done the woeful comedy, "Mr. Mom". He didn't have the square jaw of comic book Batman.
But he absolutely nailed it, and changed everyone's mind. Great actor.
Ironically Keaton had a very 'square jawed look' when in the costume
shareI don't think that people give Michael Keaton enough credit for his range as an actor. I mean look at Beetlejuice for example. Can you in all honesty think that after playing that type of role he could go and play a more subdued and quiet role as Batman? I mean, the obvious thing would've been to cast Michael Keaton as a member of Batman's rogues gallery or any other decidedly more "flamboyant" type of role instead of the "straight-laced" main hero.
https://youtu.be/O-FvId2fmbI
https://youtu.be/wLw3SVzu4rk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nz15PudXkXM
Keaton remains the best Batman. He was short and balding. He shouldn't have worked as Batman but somehow when he was in that costume - the voice, the eyes, he just did.
shareOn the surface it would seem strange when Burton had the choice of more 'Bruce Wayne' looking guys to choose from he chose Keaton. A more obvious choice would've been Alec Baldwin (also in Beetlejuice) 6ft, thick dark hair, looked like Bruce Wayne from the 70s comics (where BW looked like Superman) and more an younger 'unknown' than Keaton (like Christopher Reeve was for Superman), but as we know Burton didnt want obvious for Bruce/Batman (like Nicolson was for Joker) and wanted that quirky insanity similar to Nicolson Joker thing where batman was a flipside/just as crazy that he knew Keaton could deliver 100. (otherwise it could've been Baldwin/Batman vs Keaton/Joker)
shareHe had just done Beetlejuice, and people were saying _that_ guy? Really? He was such a different character, it seemed like a joke.
It wasn't until promo shots of Keaton in the bat suit / car came out that you realised he looked the part.
I remember first seeing that promo shot of him standing by the car. The whole thing just looked... awesome.
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