Michael Keatonhas had a stunning career resurgence in recent years. He has starred in the last two movies to win Best Picture at the Academy Awards (BirdmanandSpotlight) and is getting some buzz for his role as Ray Kroc inThe Founder, which tells the story of how McDonald’s became a massive franchise. Still, many will always think of him asBatmanto some degree, since he starred in the twoTim BurtondirectedBatmanmovies and very nearly in the third of the series, which was helmed byJoel Schumacher. But he had the good sense to bail on the project because in his words, “It sucked!”
The Oscar nominee was a recent guest onThe Hollywood Reporter’s Awards Chatter podcast, where he discussed his decision not to be inBatman Forever, which is famously a very bad movie by most accounts. According toMichael Keaton, the script was bad from the very beginning and it was actually directorJoel Schumacherwho ensured he wouldn’t be playingThe Dark KnightinBatman 3. Here is what he had to say about the moment he knew he was about to make a very bad movie.
“It sucked! The script never was good. I couldn’t understand why he wanted to do what he wanted to do. I hung on for many meetings. I knew it was in trouble when he [Joel Schumacher] said, ‘Why does everything have to be so dark?'”
Elements of bothBatmanandBatman Returnsmay be a little outdated by modern standards, butTim Burtondefinitely understood that the dark and gritty nature of things is what makes thelegendary DC Comics characterwork. On the flipside,Joel Schumachermade a very glitzy, colorful and zany couple ofBatmanmovies withBatman ForeverandBatman & Robin, the latter of them killing the franchise for nearly a decade. So it was probably pretty smart forMichael Keatonto step aside and letVal Kilmerstep in as Bruce Wayne for that one. Even he didn’t want to stick around forBatman & Robin, which sawGeorge Clooneydonning the Batsuit and featured famously prominent “Bat nipples” for some reason.
Michael Keaton’s decision to not return for a third go asBatmanwas probably for the best, since he wound up working very steadily elsewhere throughout the 90s and early 2000s. But during the podcast he also revealed that things were pretty bleak for a bit and it wasn’t until his appearance in theAdam McKaycomedyThe Other Guysin 2010 that things took a turn. That relatively small part really pushed him in a new direction.
“Things weren’t looking great. I started getting really, really locked in and narrowing the focus and narrowing the energy and narrowing the vision and honing it and really thinking about what I wanted to do.”
That led to his Oscar-nominated role inBirdman, which in turn led to his role inSpotlight. Now, he is heading back to the world of superheroes as Vulture inSpider-Man: Homecoming, which is due out later this year. The movie is still about six months away, but it is a pretty safe bet based on the trailer alone that his role as a Marvel supervillain in the upcomingSpider-Manmovie will probably turn out better than a third go atBatmanwould have.The Founderis playing in limited release now with a wide rollout set for January 20, andSpider-Man: Homecomingis set for release on June 19, 2025.
