R.I.P Joel Schumacher

[The Joker]

R.I.P. Mr. Joel Schumacher.

A director with a filmography that is impressive to anyone, and a talented director at that.

As a Batman fan, the summer of 1995 was pretty magical. I remember being a kid and wearing my Batman Forever baseball cap, literally everywhere I went. Heck, I saw BF 3 times in the theater and that was something I had never done before to be honest. It's a film that I'll always have a nostalgia for, that will forever be tied in with good, vivid memories thanks in part to your film. It's easy to play monday morning quarterback and say a third Burton film would have been better, but I think Schumacher delivered what audiences wanted, if only briefly, in the summer of 1995. A truly unique time indeed.

Thank you. Rest in peace.

[Vampfox]

R.I.P. Joel.

I kind of enjoy Batman & Robin it's not a great movie, but it doesn't bore me unlike the Nolan Batman movies.

Also Joel made plenty of great movies so it's sad that he'll be remembered as the guy who "ruined" Batman.

[thecolorsblend]

R.I.P. Mr. Joel Schumacher.

A director with a filmography that is impressive to anyone, and a talented director at that.

As a Batman fan, the summer of 1995 was pretty magical. I remember being a kid and wearing my Batman Forever baseball cap, literally everywhere I went. Heck, I saw BF 3 times in the theater and that was something I had never done before to be honest. It's a film that I'll always have a nostalgia for, that will forever be tied in with good, vivid memories thanks in part to your film. It's easy to play monday morning quarterback and say a third Burton film would have been better, but I think Schumacher delivered what audiences wanted, if only briefly, in the summer of 1995. A truly unique time indeed.

Thank you. Rest in peace.

The summer of 1989 definitely fits into its own unique category.

But the summer of 1995 is the closest thing I can think of to equaling '89. As much as I love Batman Returns, it seems like the public mostly just thought of it as "the second one". The summer of 1992 was good but I don't know that I'd call it "special" in the same sense as 1989. Whereas Batman Forever was a media event that really grabbed people by the balls. It felt like the mainstream took notice of Batman again in 1995 like they hadn't done in six years up to that point.

And a lot of that goes back, obviously, to Schumacher. When you think about it, he inherited a kind of lousy situation. The most obvious villains had already been taken, the word "reboot" didn't even exist in the lexicon yet, merchandising partners were reluctant about another Batman film, video games were becoming more popular, etc. Schumacher didn't inherit a train wreck but he didn't get to build the entire universe to his own likings either. He had to color inside a lot of predetermined lines handed down from on high.

Batman Forever is not necessarily universally adored. But in retrospect, maybe we should just be grateful that it exists at all? Because there are very few directors who could do what Schumacher did in resuscitating the franchise and making it relevant again without blowing the entire thing up with a reboot.

Everybody dies sooner or later. But Schumacher's passing really is an exasperating loss.

[The Dark Knight]

As a Batman fan, the summer of 1995 was pretty magical. I remember being a kid and wearing my Batman Forever baseball cap, literally everywhere I went. Heck, I saw BF 3 times in the theater and that was something I had never done before to be honest. It's a film that I'll always have a nostalgia for, that will forever be tied in with good, vivid memories thanks in part to your film. It's easy to play monday morning quarterback and say a third Burton film would have been better, but I think Schumacher delivered what audiences wanted, if only briefly, in the summer of 1995. A truly unique time indeed.

I relate so much. I was six years old when BF came out and it truly was a magical time. It's easy to view childhood through rose tinted glasses, but that film was a blockbuster in every sense of the word. When a Batman movie clicks with audiences, be it B89 or TDK, it's an incredibly exciting time culturally. Schumacher achieved that with BF.

[KeatonisBatman]

Oh wow... I had no idea he was 80.  What a shame, rest in peace Joel.

[eledoremassis02]

Batman Forever definitely had the unfortunate luck of being lumped in with Batman and Robin. The film is definitely MTV pop 90's but there is also a good Bruce Wayne/Batman story there. He balanced Drama (and in adult themes) with lighter kid-friendly and 60's batman homages (which does go back to Burton).

This was interesting for the info at the beginning.
-He didn't have TV as a child and read comics (So at latest he could have been reading Batman comics from the late 40's well into the 50's)
-He could relate to the film Great Expectations' boy at the grave because he lost his father young and came from a single-family home where his mother worked a lot.

I think that actually explains the tonal changes between the overall solid Batman/Bruce Wayne story and the light goofy Riddler/Two-face stuff. I'm not sure if he's said otherwise since, but he said in the interview posted above that there was no studio checklist for Forever and he made the film he wanted.

I think the true legacy of Schumacher's Batman legacy is that it's always in the back of your mind. From many actors wearing the sonar suit either for references or test screenings to the pop culture cameos in the Auther remake and the "dad song" kiss from the rose has seemed to become

. Schumacher arguably also started the James Bond Batman connection that's not only felt thru by the amount of different Batman we've had, but also indirectly reflected on Nolan who is in dire need to make a Bond film (and that rubbed off on his Batman films)


I remember seeing a small youtube clip on a gentleman filming himself in front of a mirror wearing a panther suit and you can tell he's completed a childhood dream. There is nothing but pure joy. I hope Joel Schumacher knew that there was a good amount of fans who were that touched with his contribution to Batman. As questionable as some of the choices may have been (both then and hindsight) people just took the nipple criticism too far and that shouldn't be the defining legacy of his films.

[eledoremassis02]

[The Laughing Fish]

Seal made a very nice video on Instagram to pay tribute to Joel Schumacher for turning Kiss From A Rose into the hit song that it's known for.

https://www.instagram.com/tv/CBwRcqOBcOl/

[thecolorsblend]

Seal made a very nice video on Instagram to pay tribute to Joel Schumacher for turning Kiss From A Rose into the hit song that it's known for.

https://www.instagram.com/tv/CBwRcqOBcOl/

That was a really sweet tribute to Schumacher. I guess I never fully connected Schumacher with the fact that Seal has a career at all. But it certainly makes perfect sense.

Something a lot of people tend to forget is just how busy the man was for the bulk of his career as a director. Check out the below.

St. Elmo's Fire (1985)
The Lost Boys (1987)
Cousins (1989)
Flatliners (1990)
Dying Young (1991)
Falling Down (1993)
The Client (1994)
Batman Forever (1995)
A Time to Kill (1996)
Batman & Robin (1997)
8mm (1999)
Flawless (1999)
Tigerland (2000)
Bad Company (2002)
Phone Booth (2002)
Veronica Guerin (2003)
The Phantom of the Opera (2004)
The Number 23 (2007)
Blood Creek (2009)
Twelve (2010)
Trespass (2011)

While doing all of that stuff, he also had a sub-career directing music videos.

INXS- Devil Inside (1988)
Lenny Kravitz- Heaven Help (European Version) (1993)
Seal- Kiss from a Rose (1994) (shot on the BF set, which explains why the video looked so of-a-piece with the film)
Smashing Pumpkins- The End is the Beginning is the End (1997) (great song, great band)
Bush- Letting The Cables Sleep (1999) (very underrated song, btw)
The Killing Floor- Star Baby (2012)

Were every single one of those films knock-out classics? Maybe not. But the overall trajectory is toward a high level of quality, good writing, good casting and a very FILM type of look.

Again, exasperating loss.