Batman Starring Michael Keaton Is Now 35 Years Old. The Blockbuster Was Going To Look Very Different Before Tim Burton Joined In
Batman, which is celebrating its 35th anniversary and is a cherished film, could have looked very different if the initial ideas had been followed – learn about the history of this production and how it went from an action comedy to what it is now.
Batman, directed by Tim Burton, is now 35 years old. On June 23 the film celebrated another anniversary of its release on the big screens in the United States. In Tim Burton’s masterpiece role of the Batman was played by Michael Keaton. However, although it is hard to imagine now, this production according to the first ideas was supposed to look very different.
Batman was supposed to be an action comedy
Work on this Batman was underway long before Burton joined the project, who gave the film the shape we know. Before that, other filmmakers worked on it, who considered different approaches to the adventures of the superhero. The decision to start work on this picture was made after the success of 1978's Superman. Tom Mankiewicz was hired to write the script, and the film was to feature Robin, Penguin, Joker, Rupert Thorne and Silver St. Cloud in addition to the title character.
Over the following years, Mankiewicz's script went through many changes based on Strange Apparitions, although it was Mankiewicz's idea that remained the outline of how the project was seen all the time. And initially Batman was to be an action comedy. A number of filmmakers were involved in the project, including Ivan Reitman and Joe Dante. Reitman reportedly wanted Bill Murray to play Batman and Eddie Murphy to play Robin. Unfortunately, nothing came of it in the end, and the project was shelved for 2 years.
After they passed, the movie was dusted off by producer Jon Peters, who first offered to direct the production to David Cronenberg, and when he declined, he called Tim Burton, who agreed to take the job if he and his then-partner Julie Hickson could rewrite the script.
Burton's ideas didn't quite convince Warner Bros., but when his Beetlejuice was a success, despite their doubts they gave the green light to his Batman, on which work could begin. Tim Burton met with many actors wanting the role of Batman, but the filmmaker had only one person in mind – Michael Keaton, with whom he had just recently worked on Beetlejuice.
Castings for Batman have generated a lot of emotions
Many people were unhappy with the idea of hiring Keaton – Warner Bros., who, associating the actor with comedy roles, thought Burton was returning to the idea of making the film into a comedy, and therefore the director had to prove to them otherwise; and comic book fans, who sent 50,000 letters to the studio protesting against the casting.
This was Keaton's answer to all the unbelievers after he accepted the award for Batman at the People's Choice Awards in 1990:
Keaton took his role very seriously and prepared carefully for it, looking at bats, living alone in London for a year, and familiarizing himself with Frank Miller's classic Batman comics. Keaton, who contributed a lot to the role, not only came up with the famous "I'm Batman" line, but also gave the character a trait that later became standard. Wondering with Burton how Bruce Wayne could hide his identity, he came up with the idea of speaking in a lower voice as Batman.
Casting the Joker proved to be difficult. At first Jack Nicholson and Willem Dafoe were considered – the former gave the impression of being uninterested and delayed the decision, and Dafoe refused. So they turned to Robin Williams, who accepted the role, but still, as we know, he wasn’t given the part. When the producer learned that Burton had spoken to Williams, he once again contacted Nicholson, whom he wanted in the movie, and informed him that he was about to lose the role. Only then did Nicholson accept it, and Williams refused to work with Warner Bros. again until he received an apology from them.
If the casting of Dafoe or Williams had come to fruition, we would certainly have received a very different Joker than Nicholson's. Also with the casting of other roles it was not easy – the first choices of the filmmakers didn’t pan out, so they had to keep looking until they managed to find people who were interested in the project and had the time to take part.
So, as you can see, the preparation of Batman wasn’t a simple job and took many years, given that the screen rights were bought in late 1979 and the release was not until 1989. The film went through many changes, both in the vision, the script and the people involved in this project, the final shape of which could have been quite different from what was finally shown on the screens.
