Catwoman (cancelled) Movie starring Michelle Pfeiffer

[The Joker]

                                                       

[eledoremassis02]

Would of prefered Tims take as a smaller story.

[The Laughing Fish]

Among a lot of things for DC on film, the failure to capitalise on Michelle Pfeiffer's celebrated performance as Catwoman will remain one of the greatest missed opportunities in cinema. Such a pity.

[The Laughing Fish]

The information that was covered in this video is now getting reported in the media, with Daniel Waters giving a little bit more insight into the canceled Catwoman spin-off ideas:

"He [Tim Burton] wanted to do an $18 million black-and-white movie, like the original 'Cat People,' of Selina just low-key living in a small town," Waters said. "And I wanted to make a 'Batman' movie where the metaphor was about 'Batman.' So I had her move to a Los Angeles version of Gotham City, and it's run by three asshole superheroes. It was 'The Boys' before 'The Boys.' But he got exhausted reading my script."

In the same article, Waters confirmed he originally wrote BR to include multiple digs at the first Burton film, which he really hated, but was persuaded by Keaton to cut them out.

It appears Waters always wanted to inject his superhero movies with a darker satirical edge. Per IndieWire: "Waters said the original draft of the 'Batman Returns' screenplay contained multiple digs at the first Burton 'Batman' film, a merchandising juggernaut in 1989 and a film Waters thinks 'sucks.' 'Batman Returns' was originally set to open on the Batman logo, which would pan out to reveal an in-universe merchandise store, with Batman making several references to exploitative merchandising during the film. However, film star Michael Keaton convinced Waters to cut the digs from the movie."

"[Michael] Keaton said, 'This is very clever. Cut it,'" Waters remembered.

https://variety.com/2023/film/news/tim-burton-catwoman-movie-black-and-white-18-million-budget-1235857602/

You know, as much as I credit Waters for his writing contributions to BR and Demolition Man, I always found the man to be a dickhead. He already admitted to hating B89 in another interview a long time ago, and if I remember correctly, he even said he wanted to kill off Alexander Knox and have his body pinned on a searchlight like the Batsignal. If Keaton hadn't put his foot down, I don't think BR would've been as loved if the final product kept taking the piss out of B89.

Although Waters once said he included the Vicki Vale references in BR to maintain some continuity, I look at those now and suspect that was a petty little way of his to express some sort of distaste for the prequel.

As for the an-universe merchandise store he mentioned, the actual set was built:







http://www.1989batman.com/2014/09/special-feature-batman-returns_26.html

I guess nobody realised the script was satirising the Batmania hype until Keaton pushed back.

[The Joker]

Between the two, I'm more intrigued by Burton's idea of a low-key sequel in black and white, taking inspiration from "Cat People".

Course, admittedly, I am a fan of the original 1942 Jacques Tourneur/Val Lewton film, and it's unconventional sequel. As well as the 1982 Paul Schrader remake with Nastassja Kinski (honestly what's to dislike there?).

The article itself really should have mentioned that the idea of going meta with the merchandising dig originated with the Sam Hamm script for "Batman 2", and not with Daniel Waters. Whom was brought on after Burton rejected Sam Hamm's script for the sequel. Which is not entirely clear here. The Hamm script went even further, and had pieces of the Batwing that was shot down by the Joker in B89 being sold as collector's items as well.

Waters apparently liked the idea enough to include it in his script, but it assuredly wasn't unique to his script.

[The Laughing Fish]

Between the two, I'm more intrigued by Burton's idea of a low-key sequel in black and white, taking inspiration from "Cat People".

Burton must have had an ambition to direct one film in black-and-white early on in his career. It seems it was either going to be Catwoman or Ed Wood. Perhaps he benefitted from fate because Ed Wood being the semi-biographical film that it was is regarded as one of his best films to date. Whereas I can see so many people complaining about his Catwoman idea not being what they wanted.

The article itself really should have mentioned that the idea of going meta with the merchandising dig originated with the Sam Hamm script for "Batman 2", and not with Daniel Waters. Whom was brought on after Burton rejected Sam Hamm's script for the sequel. Which is not entirely clear here. The Hamm script went even further, and had pieces of the Batwing that was shot down by the Joker in B89 being sold as collector's items as well.

Waters apparently liked the idea enough to include it in his script, but it assuredly wasn't unique to his script.

You're right. I forgot about the merch ideas that were originally in the Hamm script. I had a quick look at Waters's draft script from August 1991 and all it mentioned was the Firebreather had set the store on fire. In Hamm's draft, the shopkeeper removed all the Batman merch and replaced it with Simpsons and Ninja Turtles when Batman was accused of murdering prominent people in Gotham City.

[Silver Nemesis]

Course, admittedly, I am a fan of the original 1942 Jacques Tourneur/Val Lewton film, and it's unconventional sequel. As well as the 1982 Paul Schrader remake with Nastassja Kinski (honestly what's to dislike there?).

Cat People is possibly the most underrated horror film franchise out there. I'm not a huge fan of the 1982 remake, although there are things I like about it, but the 1942 original and its underrated sequel are both superb. I rank them among RKOs finest horror movies. Though it's debatable whether The Curse of the Cat People is really a horror film, since it's more of a touching psychological drama about childhood.

The article itself really should have mentioned that the idea of going meta with the merchandising dig originated with the Sam Hamm script for "Batman 2", and not with Daniel Waters. Whom was brought on after Burton rejected Sam Hamm's script for the sequel. Which is not entirely clear here. The Hamm script went even further, and had pieces of the Batwing that was shot down by the Joker in B89 being sold as collector's items as well.

Waters apparently liked the idea enough to include it in his script, but it assuredly wasn't unique to his script.

True. There are numerous other elements from Hamm's script that ended up in Waters' version, even though Waters himself denies referencing any of them. These include:

•    the Christmas setting
•    an opening action scene involving Batman taking down a gang of criminals using the Batmobile
•    the first rooftop confrontation between Batman and Catwoman, where Catwoman dangles him from the roof using her whip
•    the cape glider
•    Robin
•    the plot about Penguin and Catwoman teaming up to frame Batman
•    the scene where the villains dump a corpse in Gotham Plaza during the tree lighting ceremony and unleash bats on the crowd

Maybe these common elements were all mandated by the studio and Hamm and Waters were instructed to accommodate them. At any rate, they're present in both writers' scripts.

[The Joker]

Burton must have had an ambition to direct one film in black-and-white early on in his career. It seems it was either going to be Catwoman or Ed Wood. Perhaps he benefitted from fate because Ed Wood being the semi-biographical film that it was is regarded as one of his best films to date. Whereas I can see so many people complaining about his Catwoman idea not being what they wanted.

That's true. "Ed Wood" was, especially by 1994 standards, a very unconventional biographical/semi-biographical film, and Burton's initial idea for a low key black-and-white "Catwoman" movie with Pfieffer, would have been intrinsically unorthodox as well.

You're right. I forgot about the merch ideas that were originally in the Hamm script. I had a quick look at Waters's draft script from August 1991 and all it mentioned was the Firebreather had set the store on fire. In Hamm's draft, the shopkeeper removed all the Batman merch and replaced it with Simpsons and Ninja Turtles when Batman was accused of murdering prominent people in Gotham City.

Hamm's idea would have been decidedly contemporary for the times. As Batman, Simpsons, and Ninja Turtle merch was literally everywhere from what I can remember. 

Cat People is possibly the most underrated horror film franchise out there. I'm not a huge fan of the 1982 remake, although there are things I like about it, but the 1942 original and its underrated sequel are both superb. I rank them among RKOs finest horror movies. Though it's debatable whether The Curse of the Cat People is really a horror film, since it's more of a touching psychological drama about childhood.

Yeah, "Curse of the Cat People" is very offbeat as a sequel, but I agree that both films are very underrated, and are decidedly among some RKO gems that are often overlooked.

The 1982 remake certainly ups the stakes, and is much more in your face than the more suggestive and evocative 1942 original, but I think Nastassja Kinski was great casting for what director Paul Schrader had in mind with taking the film in a decidedly more eroticism light, in addition to David Bowie's "Putting out the Fire with Gasoline" song being used to great affect.

I also really like the poster.



Had Burton been given the green light for his Catwoman film, I could easily envision a poster with Michelle Pfeiffer being similar. Symbolically representing in the poster her supernatural link to cats (and yeah, her final scenes in "Wolf" makes it even easier to imagine her with animalistic eyes).

True. There are numerous other elements from Hamm's script that ended up in Waters' version, even though Waters himself denies referencing any of them. These include:

•    the Christmas setting
•    an opening action scene involving Batman taking down a gang of criminals using the Batmobile
•    the first rooftop confrontation between Batman and Catwoman, where Catwoman dangles him from the roof using her whip
•    the cape glider
•    Robin
•    the plot about Penguin and Catwoman teaming up to frame Batman
•    the scene where the villains dump a corpse in Gotham Plaza during the tree lighting ceremony and unleash bats on the crowd

Maybe these common elements were all mandated by the studio and Hamm and Waters were instructed to accommodate them. At any rate, they're present in both writers' scripts.

Thanks for pointing out all the similarities. They're more similar than I initially thought TBH.