Batman's voice in Burton's films

[The Laughing Fish]

I had a thought that occurred to me right now. If Batman '89 was the first live-action adaptation for the main character to speak in two distinctive voices as Bruce Wayne and his alter ego, then how Burton and Keaton never seem to get any credit for it? Granted, Kevin Conroy went one better in BTAS by speaking by acting as charming as Bruce Wayne and brooding as Batman. But still...

[Slash Man]

Probably because Keaton was so subtle with his performance. With Bale, it's more... overt.

[riddler]

Probably because Keaton was so subtle with his performance. With Bale, it's more... overt.

Yeah that's the thing; Keaton is like Jim Caviezel in the sense that he has multiple voices depending on his characters traits. Not that the bat voice HAS to be raspy but I bet Keaton could have pulled that off better than Bale; see Beetlejuice, that character was supposed to be a chain smoker yet he didn't sound nearly as annoying as Bale and wasn't hard to understand.

Now it should be noted Keaton rarely spoke period in the cowl. But he came off much more confident as Batman than he did as Bruce Wayne almost as if the cowl gave him confidence.

[Edd Grayson]

Like The Dark Knight said, it helps if you're not playing the character but you are the character. That's Keaton.

[Silver Nemesis]

An equally salient question would be why Michelle Pfeiffer never gets any acknowledgement for being the first – and to date, the only – actress to use two different voices for Selina and Catwoman.

[The Laughing Fish]

An equally salient question would be why Michelle Pfeiffer never gets any acknowledgement for being the first – and to date, the only – actress to use two different voices for Selina and Catwoman.

Come to think of it, you're right. I've never noticed how subtle she spoke as Catwoman compared to her nervous self as Selina Kyle. It goes to show that Burton was trying to portray both her and Batman as two damaged people who found a release in life by becoming costumed freaks.

I've always hold Conroy in a very high regard like everybody else, but it's always odd to me that he always gets the credit for being the first actor to speak in a distinctive Batman voice. I guess he went one better than Keaton by speaking in a distinctive style as the Bruce Wayne playboy?

Off-topic: here's a TV spot for the upcoming Birdman movie.

Is it just me, or Keaton's voice meant to be a subtle dig at Bale's Batman voice? 

[Catwoman]

michael (and by extension, tim) doesn't get enough credit, period. on anything. the voice thing is just one part of it. his batman was the most intimidating of any live action batman, his bruce was the best detective, and even though we only see him challenging max where you see a bit of val's bruce running wayne enterprises, that little bit makes it look like he would have been the best "business bruce" too. and i loved how awkward he was, first with vicki, then with selina. he's so underrated. him and val both, i think deserve a lot more credit than what they get. both were miles better than christian bale in and out of the suit.

as for michelle, i love her voices. you're shocked, i know. lol. but its fun to change back and forth trying to mimic her in and out of the catwoman personality. andrea barbeau's selina voice had the same sultry confidence, no reason for her to change it i guess cause she's the bad girl. doesn't matter if people know it's her. with michelle, it was like this whole other personality coming out, and everything changed. brilliant.

[Edd Grayson]

michael (and by extension, tim) doesn't get enough credit, period. on anything. the voice thing is just one part of it. his batman was the most intimidating of any live action batman, his bruce was the best detective, and even though we only see him challenging max where you see a bit of val's bruce running wayne enterprises, that little bit makes it look like he would have been the best "business bruce" too. and i loved how awkward he was, first with vicki, then with selina. he's so underrated. him and val both, i think deserve a lot more credit than what they get. both were miles better than christian bale in and out of the suit.

as for michelle, i love her voices. you're shocked, i know. lol. but its fun to change back and forth trying to mimic her in and out of the catwoman personality. andrea barbeau's selina voice had the same sultry confidence, no reason for her to change it i guess cause she's the bad girl. doesn't matter if people know it's her. with michelle, it was like this whole other personality coming out, and everything changed. brilliant.

Hear, hear! 

[The Laughing Fish]

It's good to see someone giving Keaton his due for his top five favourite comic book film castings.

2) Michael Keaton: Bruce Wayne/Batman in Batman and Batman Returns

Say what you will about Keaton, but the man proved that obscure casting choices are sometimes the best. While Keaton could never work as Batman in today's muscle-bound market, he set the example for how Batman should exist on-screen. It was Keaton who first used different voices between his Bruce Wayne and Batman personas. It was Keaton who learned to act through his eyeballs. It was Keaton who brought the catchphrase "I am Batman" to life—something that no other actor has been able to deliver with the same grit. Christian Bale may have had the build, but Keaton had the bad ass.

Source: http://comicbook.com/2014/11/25/five-comic-book-movie-actors-were-grateful-for/

[The Laughing Fish]

Here's another article that credits Keaton for coming up with a distinctive voice, with Keaton being interviewed himself.

Michael Keaton Reveals The Secret Origin Of His Batman Voice
The 'Birdman' star looks back at his 'Batman' beginnings.

by josh wigler 22h ago

If you're looking for someone to blame for Christian Bale's Batman voice, maybe you should point the finger at Michael Keaton.

As the star of Tim Burton's "Batman" movies, Keaton was the first actor to decide that Bruce Wayne and the Dark Knight could not share the same voice. The Golden Globe-winning actor sat down with Josh Horowitz on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, and explained why he arrived at that choice.

"I'm kind of a logic freak," he said. "I don't know how to do anything unless I have a logic to it. It can be the silliest, stupidest, broadest thing, but I have to work from somewhere."

Keaton encountered a serious logic problem during his first scene shooting as the Caped Crusader, in which he confronts a criminal in a dark alley.

"There's no way this guy doesn't just look at me and say, 'That's Bruce Wayne, everybody! I figured it out!'" he said with a laugh. "'It's obviously you! You're four feet away from me!'"

Burton and Keaton explored a few different ways to preserve Batman's identity in the scene, from the way he was positioned, to the use of contact lenses. Ultimately, the only thing that made sense to Keaton is if Batman used a different voice than the famous Gotham City playboy.

"I had to do something," he said. "I had to drop down a register. Then I learned, later, that it became a thing [for future 'Batman' movies]."

Looking back on it now, and even at the time, Keaton was an unlikely choice to take on the DC Comics superhero — a fact that's not lost on Keaton at all. He said he had to find some extra layers in Batman and Bruce Wayne beyond all the grim-and-gritty, lending levity to scenes like his dinner date with Vicki Vale, in which she and Bruce sit across from each other at a long dining table in a room he's never entered.

"It's funny, but it's also kind of pathetic, and not serious pathetic," Keaton said of the scene. "Then, in the next couple of minutes, this guy gets to go out and kick somebody's ass. That guy, and that guy, was very interesting to me."

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/2047921/michael-keaton-batman-voice/