Why Did Michael Keaton Leave Batman Forever?
The actor did it for obvious reasons and was pretty right about it.
Throughout the long history of superhero comics adaptations, there has been a character who still makes it through a great number of reboots and retellings. Yes, we’re talking about Batman aka Bruce Wayne, who monitors the Gotham streets at night.
The masked hero has been portrayed by several actors, including George Clooney, Christian Bale, Ben Affleck, Robert Pattinson, and Michael Keaton, but the latter wasn’t too eager to grab all the opportunities the Batman franchise offered him.
Keaton Loved Burton’s Vision of the Titular Hero
We all remember that the Birdman star played Batman in two films, Batman (1989) and Batman Returns (1992), that were directed by Tim Burton. The filmmaker made a gothic tale of these superhero flicks and offered a completely new take on the superhero.
Burton’s Batman was flawed, psychologically tortured, but the most important thing here is that he was a person, not a brainless machine for saving the city.
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It was the very darkness and the humanness around Batman that Keaton loved about his character.
"It was always Bruce Wayne. It was never Batman,” the actor admitted.
The Reason Behind Keaton’s Departure Was Creative Differences
Unfortunately, when it came to the third movie of the series, Batman Forever (1995), Burton was replaced by Joel Schumacher who has a drastically different opinion on Batman’s character development.
In fact, there was no character development at all, as fans believe the sequel defamed the honor of Burton’s movies by making a far cry from them. The Batman actor understood where it was all going, and that’s why he decided to distance himself from the movie.
“He [Schumacher] asked me, 'I don’t understand why everything has to be so dark and everything so sad,' and I went, 'Wait a minute, do you know how this guy got to be Batman? Have you read… I mean, it’s pretty simple,'" Keaton confessed.
As we know, the actor was then replaced by Val Kilmer, who portrayed Batman in two follow-ups, Batman Forever and 1997’s Batman & Robin. Even though he was really convincing there, the movies turned out to be horrendously shameful, and it’s proved by their Rotten Tomatoes scores, 41% and 12% respectively.
Therefore, it’s great for Keaton not to have these shameful flicks in his portfolio. Yes, he then reprised his role as Batman for last year’s The Flash that bombed hard at the box office, but at least it displayed a decent version of Batman.
You can revise the OG superhero hit with Keaton starring as Bruce Wayne, as Tim Burton’s Batman is available for streaming on Prime.
Source: Backstage