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Uma Thurman on the criticism of "Batman & Robin" (Huff Post)

posted 10 years ago by TMC-4
22 replies | jump to latest

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/17/uma-thurman-nymphomaniac_n_4966880.html

I was a kid when "Batman & Robin" came out, and I worshipped you as Poison Ivy.
So you must like Mae West? Because what I did was take Mae West and played with it.

Did you know at the time how notorious its reputation would become?
What is it notorious for?

For being campy.
Well, it came out in a different time when people were still being bitchy about campy. Humor being campy and campy being a code word for gay has changed. I think one of the most beautiful things I will get to say I’ve witnessed in my lifetime is to have lived through part of the major movement of trying to quell persecution of human beings who have a different sexual orientation. If you think of the Berlin Wall coming down, people always talk about all these big things. I think what Pope Francis did 10 days ago, which people have just talked about in hushed voices: “Oh yeah, you hear the pope said that?” -- I’m not Catholic, but I have to tell you, to me, Pope Francis should be sainted for this, what he did for mankind. For the millions and millions and millions of people on the earth who have died because of who they were. God, you just got me. So anyway, the word “campy” has nothing to do with “Batman & Robin”; it just somehow made me think of this. Obviously the Batman movies went in a very serious direction, a very humorless direction. Really straight and hardcore.

Absolutely. They’re beautiful movies, but they’re not the same ones that Tim Burton and Joel Schumacher were making.
Oh no, they’re totally different: hardcore violence. And I like them. But I think at the time the idea of taking a male superhero and having fun with it and someone using the c-word [campy] on it caused people to be very nasty. And that kind of nastiness was acceptable on those terms. And I think that’s the reason some people were particularly annoyed. They didn’t like seeing that tone applied to their heterosexual male icon.

That’s an interesting perspective on it.
Well, it takes time, and the idea that that wasn’t appropriate was because there was a deep-seated discrimination at hand, and hatred and fear. So what Joel did was actually very threatening at the time, and I think it is truly one of the things that we should all feel -- and me as a person -- is beyond greater than the Berlin Wall coming down. Far more thousands or millions more have died under that discrimination and those biases and those scriptures being interpreted in such a cruel manner compared to those who died coming out of East Germany. Anyway, this is very serious.

It is. If someone were to play Poison Ivy in a Batman reboot now, who should it be?
I have a problem where, whenever I want to say a name, it blacks out. She’s the most famous girl ever.

Jennifer Lawrence?
No. Well, she’s wonderful, I just watched her last night. I love her acting. No, I have to call you. When I’m interviewed, I go blank on names. Oh! Scarlett Johansson!

That’s a great one.
Sorry, I can’t believe this. Every time people ask me to say a name when I’m being interviewed, I just black out. Scarlett Johansson would be fabulous. It’s a must.

[–] justanicknamed 10 years ago

What a retard. Campy has nothing to do with gay; it has to do with being incredibly sh!tty.

[–] TMC-4 10 years ago

I'm guessing the whole "you must be a homophobe" perception immediately has to do w/ the single fact that Joel Schumacher, an openly gay man, directed Batman & Robin. Schumacher was the immediate and main fall guy for the criticism.

http://moviemezzanine.com/batman-begins-essay/

[–] glynis23-282-577521 10 years ago

Not being homophobic but people centered the wackiness of B&R on Schumacher's sexuality and was looked at as the stereotypical flamboyant gay man. In a lot of his Batman related interviews back in the day he functioned by trying to be showy and taking certain things too literally, it made him pit of a tough person to take seriously sometimes especially when a director is suppose convince people they know what they're talking about and the man for the job.

[–] TMC-4 10 years ago

I could care less about how Joel Schumacher came across in interviews (would it be any better if he was an introvert) as long as he final product itself was good. I think that Schumacher didn't do himself any favors by putting what was immediately perceived as homoerotic innuendo or fetishizing the male body.

[–] glynis23-282-577521 10 years ago

With all the fast tracking of production, studio pressure and toy company involvement Schumacher didn't make it any better with him yelling "remember everyone it's a cartoon" through a megaphone or adding nipples, codpieces and butt shots.

His personality became issue when the film was immediately bad and didn't really help to save it, it was pretty much a distraction to fanboys etc.

[–] lukeneave 8 years ago

You mean I couldn't care less!

[–] justanicknamed 10 years ago

I don't follow Hollywood enough to know who, besides the big stars who make a big deal about coming out, are gay. Nor do I care who is gay.

I figure the cod pieces and nipples were stupid stuff meant to give the women something to look at when they got dragged to the movie the way Kate Winslet was naked in Titanic to give the guys a reason to see the movie.

Again, "campy" doesn't mean gay. It just means "incredibly sh!tty."

[–] TMC-4 10 years ago

I don't necessarily think that a lighter or dare I say "campy" Batman movie isn't warranted. What made the 1960s TV series for the most part work is that there was a certain wit and charm about it. Batman & Robin on the other hand, thinks that the best idea for "humor" is to fill the dialogue w/ a bunch of sexual innuendos and cheesy puns. The 1960s show deliberately played it tongue in cheek with Adam West's Batman as the oblivious straight-man to those around him. The Joel Schumacher movies are just not as clever or subversive.

[–] Times_Up 9 years ago

^Yes! Too much bad humor and trying too hard with the overthetop performances and neon sets. The old Batman show was great in that (later episodes did go too far sometimes) it could be seen as a straight Silver Age style super hero show and yet it had a subtle awareness about it's own badness that made it intentional camp. It was both a good homage to the old Batman comics and serials and also a sendup at once.

If I didn’t talk the way I talk I wouldn’t know who the hell I am, Sean Connery on his accent

[–] TMC-4 9 years ago

Uma seemed to be completely tone deaf over why many people don't like Batman & Robin. I'm not trying to say that she shouldn't praise the movie at all or display any fond memories over making it. I think a campy type of Batman story can work as long as its clever and doesn't insult the audience's intelligence/detract too much from the story.

Unfortunately, most younger Batman geeks who grew up reading The Dark Knight Returns seemed to to feel that the Adam West type of Batman was the ultimate stain on reputation of the caped crusader. Also, a darker type of Batman worked in 1989 under Tim Burton and Michael Keaton, so why would most of use tolerate a supposed regression in storytelling just eight years later?

[–] robertlewis81 10 years ago

I've never heard it but apparently the director apologizes over and over on the dvd commentary for people having spent their money to see it claimimg, "What was i thinking?!"

[–] johnnyb94109 10 years ago

Thanks so much for posting Uma's comments. Just to know she thinks of Scarlett as her worthy successor in the Ivy role makes me appreciate what SJ has done so brilliantly with Black Widow! Very cool!!!

[–] 10 years ago

[deleted]

[–] gideon_7 10 years ago

Yet another reason to ignore them completely.

Mrs. MacNeil, the problem with your daughter is not her bed; it’s her brain.

[–] HowYaLikeDemApplesWill 9 years ago

"So anyway, the word “campy” has nothing to do with “Batman & Robin”"

Uma Uma Uma....there has been a gay vibe to Batman since the beginning of time, and it hasn't hurt the popularity of any of the movies.

THIS movie, however, was indeed a campy POS of the highest order.

Whose idea was it for the word "Lisp" to have an "S" in it?

[–] TMC-4 8 years ago

I wonder if Uma Thurman is aware of the whole Seduction of the Innocent controversy, which was pretty much the first to insinuate that there were homosexual undertones in the Batman stories?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seduction_of_the_Innocent

[–] HowYaLikeDemApplesWill 8 years ago

Seduction of the Innocent...the pulp Reefer Madness of its time.

Whose idea was it for the word "Lisp" to have an "S" in it?

[–] HarveyManfredSinJohn 9 years ago

Fascinating article.

Clearly Batman & Robin is not a great film, whatever one's sexuality, but I do like that Uma isn't simply slagging it off like everyone else involved. And I do think that some of the hatred directed towards the film and Schumacher in particular, had a homophobic tinge to it.

I also love her criticism of the Nolan films even if she backtracked slightly with the next answer.

"Obviously the Batman movies went in a very serious direction, a very humorless direction. Really straight and hardcore."



[–] glynis23-282-577521 9 years ago

And I do think that some of the hatred directed towards the film and Schumacher in particular, had a homophobic tinge to it.

Sadly everyone does seem to judge Schumacher and place the poor quality of B&R by his homosexuality than anything else.

[–] justanicknamed 9 years ago

And I do think that some of the hatred directed towards the film and Schumacher in particular, had a homophobic tinge to it.

Which would make sense if those people criticizing the movie knew or cared that he's gay.

I didn't know nor do I care. I figured the close up on the guys were to appease the women who were dragged to see it, the way they showed Kate Winslet's t!ts in Titanic - the only way to appease the men who were dragged to see it.

Camp =/= gay Camp = cheesy and cheap looking

[–] Times_Up 9 years ago

She actually thought a perceived gayness in his Batman movies is why people disliked them? That's more ridiculous than the films themselves. I mean, Joel was asking for the backlash a bit by showing Batman and Robin's asses and crotches blatantly, I mean jezz. This coming from a guy saying comics are for kids. The "Seduction of the Innocent" author/psychologist would have a field day with these two and probably Superman Returns as well with the tiny little "s" symbols on Supes' drawers.

To the poster who said camp has nothing to do with gay: not entirely true. In the UK camp is a part of gay identity, or at least was. Rocky Horror Picture Show and Jon Waters films for example.

Actually, here is a really good article recommended by former Batman writer and editor Dennis O'Neil on camp, since Batman has a such a camp history every fan might as well read it. You'll get a better understanding about it's history, gay identity in some cultures and how some things are misunderstood as camp. You'll also get why it is hard to define. It's pretty short and very informative:

http://faculty.georgetown.edu/irvinem/theory/Sontag-NotesOnCamp-1964.html

If I didn’t talk the way I talk I wouldn’t know who the hell I am, Sean Connery on his accent

[–] WilliBerg 8 years ago

The reporter should've said that its notorious reputation was that it was a bad movie, not that it was campy.

Uma is either in denial or was shielded from its negative performance and reviews.