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A 1988 newspaper clipping criticizing the casting of Michael Keaton as Batman

posted a month ago by TMC-4 (20483)
15 replies | jump to latest

From executive producer Michael Uslan's Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/TheMichaelUslan/posts/pfbid02geFbNj28n45cUxijJ1tLC1fr5ay9XjgRqoTTLfqSy64Yub6ZMvSrdVmNsQYzM7Avl?__cft__[0]=AZWWmN7Bxol2VRG5Fk01ACUiD1Ra9SyQnHB4V08HiwfJBuTyXlpQRXhL5aeWy0Z7GusKsMkq-zmygjQzjEpGPVnyaPy6whJYX2b2MIu7HLAkeOsyygrbZoNfH3q3X8Q6Ige_YewmDgquGOFdrtnFj8GPgFCWzDhXfJg6AH2lTch5XB5cThXeBAVUeEz02Q9zTxn5jwMQpueRfiAUf8Q4ah4wZ45Hfdj0_2ZHXowLbIvFEQ&__tn__=%2CO%2CP-R

The writer was already skeptical that by casting Michael Keaton, Tim Burton was going to make a Batman movie akin to the campy 1960s TV series with Adam West. Of course, that really wouldn't happen until a few years down the road, when Joel Schumacher started helming the franchise.

[–] jk90us (8195) 11 days ago

Agree.

Keaton was an awful choice.

[–] RoloTony (1337) 3 days ago

He certainly wasn't "awful". Many didn't realize (myself included) this was going to another whimsical Burton take. Keaton brought his own weird quirkiness to a movie already loaded with warehouse of weird quirkiness. It's a tongue-in-cheek movie. At the time I don't think we quite got that.

[–] jk90us (8195) 3 days ago

>Many didn't realize (myself included) this was going to another whimsical Burton take.

That was an awful choice too.

[–] RoloTony (1337) 3 days ago

All in all, it just wasn’t a very good movie. We look at it with rose colored glasses because we hadn't really had a superhero movie in a long time (seems crazy to think about that since there are 14 superhero movies a month now).

Danny Elfman’s score was amazing and that carried a lot of the weight.

Then you had the song Kiss From a Rose which didn’t even remotely fit the theme or tone of Batman. It’s just a random song. And then Prince‘s Batdance we largely try to forget about.

[–] jk90us (8195) 11 days ago

Yet Forever is still a better film than either Burton film.

I still want to see the more serious version that Schumacher had planned before WB execs pushed him to make it campy to sell toys.

[–] MickyMac (3252) 8 days ago

Remember five years ago now when Pattinson was cast as Batman, there was similar hate going around, everyone was saying it was gonna be the worst, now what is everyone doing? praising Pattinson's version.

[–] AnthonySocksss (1527) 3 days ago

I hate Patterson. the only good live-action batman other than Adam West was George Clooney, but Clooney just got dealt the worst movie.

[–] MickyMac (3252) 3 days ago

Clooney was just playing himself in a batsuit the entire time like he does in everything, all he does is look down and look back up.

[–] AnthonySocksss (1527) 3 days ago

So you’ve never seen Michael Clayton, or the American, or any of clooney’s work. Mkay

[–] MickyMac (3252) 3 days ago

He was playing himself as both batman and Bruce Wayne you fucking moron.

[–] Ace_Spade (9657) 3 days ago

I'll agree with you that Clooney wasn't good as Batman/Bruce Wayne (with the exception of his impeccable line delivery on, "She's trying to kill you, DICK," and the scene where he talks to Alfred about the real purpose of Batman), but he is a very good actor. He might not have a tonne of range, but he does a great job in a lot of films (O Brother Where Art Thou?, Michael Clayton, etc.)

[–] AnthonySocksss (1527) 3 days ago

Way to have the point sail over your fat fuckin head, dipshit! I literally said he was handed the worst Batman movie where he never got the chance to actually act as Batman properly.

[–] Ace_Spade (9657) 3 days ago

I trusted him, but I'd seen The Lighthouse before I heard he was Batman, so any idea of "oh, he was in Twilight," had been driven from my head by his gangbusters performance, as aided by a frothing Willem Dafoe and a very anatomically articulated mermaid.

[–] DoctorThirteen (15260) 7 days ago

I raised an eyebrow when Keaton was cast. I'd never even seen him in anything, but I knew he was known as predominantly a comedy guy, and wasn't that big physically. Happily I was wrong and he did a great job.

[–] parkerbot (10655) 3 days ago

I too thought he was a bad choice at the time - man, was I wrong.

I also thought the Green Goblin looked stupid in the Sam Raimi Spider-Man movie based on a still I had seen.