Tim Burton has created a legacy worth celebrating and the director will be remembered for his unique storytelling dominating his genre being one of the top-notch fantasy movie directors. Burton has several astonishing credits to his name which include Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, and Alice in Wonderland. But Michael Keaton revealed that casting him was a ballsy move on Burton’s part after the duo collaborated for Beetlejuice just a year prior to Batman.
Casting Michael Keaton As Batman
Michael Keaton in and as Batman. Image Credit: Warner Brothers
When Tim Burton took on his ambitious project Batman on his shoulders releasing the movie in 1989 starring Michael Keaton as Gotham’s Caped Crusader opposite Jack Nicholson’s Joker. Reflecting on casting, Keaton recalled:
“So the fact that Tim said that guy I want that guy like white people even cared one way or another that much is still baffling but still that was a ballsy move on his part we also had a nice working relationship you know from Beetlejuice So I think he felt he and I will get along through this and we can you know we work well together,” the actor told GQ.
For Keaton, Burton’s faith in the iconic DC character exceeded beyond what The Founder could conceive. Of course, Superman was the craze at the time but Batman? Kudos to Burton for going against the motion. But the character stayed and went on to become an icon of every generation. The movie still enjoys a huge fandom with immersive accolades to its credit.
It was the beginning of the Batman era, eventually, the character enjoyed the same amount of fandom as Superman enjoyed. The movie was also a huge commercial success, Keaton’s Batman made a whopping over $400 million at the global box office against a production budget of a little over $48 million. Beyond that, Batman was also a critical darling, thanks to Nicholson’s astonishing portrayal of Joker.
Putting On The Batman Suit
Michael Keaton in Tim Burton’s Batman
Superhero movies are inherently action-dominated. It was something new both to Burton and Keaton, the actor-director had to figure out how to make the action sequences immersive and smooth without compromising the inherent fluidity of the narrative. The primary challenge was certainly the suit. “We literally were figuring out
how to make it work like the day before my first shot in the suit what his idea was and a person would get in it,” Keaton told GQ.
“And this would actually work was it you know that’s a big leap,” Keaton continued. “And so a lot of it was adjusting the whole thing physically, you know? And also, how was I going to move? You had to feel it, you had to feel the vibe and feel where your position was literally on a set and what the impact was just in this and what the whole thing was and all the loneliness inside that really deep, lonely thing, you know? The guy was already inside you know? Now he’s really inside this thing like I said, work the suit baby, just work the suit. That thing will get you three-quarters of the way there.”
Burton found a way around for Keaton to go with the flow of the action. But the actor revealed that he was more behind the intensity of the drama of the movie, and that’s not Batman but Bruce Wayne’s story. He was fascinated by it. “I never thought about Batman there was always Bruce Wayne,” Keaton said. Well, Batman was certainly the hammer on the nail creating a legacy worth celebrating.
Batman is available to stream on Prime Video and Hulu/Max bundle.
