Burton continuity references in Akiva Goldsman's draft

[The Laughing Fish]

I was reading Akiva Goldsman's production draft for BF today, and I saw a few clear references to the Burton films. This draft was dated on the 24th of June 1994, and you can read it for yourself on the link below.

Source: http://www.dailyscript.com/scripts/batman_forever.html

The final cut of Batman Forever and the deleted scenes made a few nods to what happened in B89 and BR, but this script makes the connection very clear. The first reference you can read below is Two-Face calling Batman a killer during the helicopter scene, as he does in the deleted scene. But the dialogue is significantly different.

BATMAN
Harvey, you need help. Give it up.

EXT.  HELICOPTER                                             

Batman stands on one of the struts, begins trying to climb into the open side of the speeding bird.

TWO-FACE
Words of wisdom from our ex-friend?

Harvey SLAMS Batman's face with his foot. He goes down.

TWO-FACE
Mano a Mano a Bato.

Batman pulls himself back up. Grabs Harvey's foot. Flips him to the floor. Drags him half way out of the bird.

BATMAN
Surrender.

TWO-FACE
Ever been to Arkham, Batman? You'd feel right at home. You took a year of my life. So I'm here to pay you back. There's only one way out of this waltz. One of us dies.

BATMAN
I won't kill you, Harvey.

Batman gets Harvey by the throat.

TWO-FACE
Batman doesn't kill? Bullsh*t.
(epiphinous)
You're a killer too.

Somehow Harvey's words seem to shake Batman a beat. It's all the distraction Harvey needs.  He SMASHES Batman across the face.
      
Batman slips, falls out of sight.

The guilt Batman seems to have for killing people during the Burton era was originally going to tie together with psychological conflict and the entire red book subplot. Two-Face saying "You're a killer too" would haunt Bruce nearly every time the Man-Bat looking creature would appear on screen. This mental image occurs a few more times in this draft, and it's revealed Bruce has been suffering from these nightmares for some time.

Shortly after the first riddle was discovered during the investigation of Fred Stickley's death, there was a scene where Bruce watches Chase Meridian on TV, as she protests against suggestions that Batman is a menace to society on a talk show. The Joker and the Penguin are mentioned during the debate. This would've been Chase's second scene in the film.

Phone RINGS. Bruce hits a switch and a desk video-phone lights into life. Alfred.

ALFRED
Channel 12, sir.

Bruce presses a button and Alfred's image shrinks to a small box in the corner, superimposed atop a TV picture.

ON SCREEN -                                                 

A talk show in progress. A radiant black host: VONDELLE MILLIONS talks to a panel of experts.

VONDELLE
--joined us, we're talking about the mutilation of Lady Gotham, caused late last night by Batman-

BRUCE                                 
_Excuse_ me?!

VONDELLE
-- will take up to nine months to repair. Today's topic: Batman-crime-fighter or criminal?

BATMAN
How 'bout Two-Face? Anyone here heard of him?

The shot WIDENS to reveal the panel.

ON SCREEN - Our first expert: DR. JANISLAUS ROYCE.           

ROYCE
Batman is a major cause of crime in Gotham. So-called super-villains seek him out hoping to prove themselves in violent conflict. Batman does not deter crime, he invites it.

VONDELLE
I'm sure our audience objects to your gender bias. Batperson.

The second expert PIPES in, DR. DAVID AIMS.

AIMS
What is the Dark Knight's credo? Batman does not kill? What of those slain during his fight with Jack Napier aka Joker? Or in his Christmas conflict with the orphan Cobblepot? Batman belongs behind bars, not his morally disadvantaged victims.

CHASE
(O.S.)
Bull (bleep)!

WIDER                                                         

Chase sits at the end of the panel.

VONDELLE
What did you say?

CHASE
Which part of the word didn't you understand?

Watching, Bruce sits a little straighter, more hopeful.       

BRUCE
I could like this woman.

CHASE                                 
Batman is a _reaction_ to the crime in his city, not a creator of it! Without him many more would be dead. Batman is a true hero...

VONDELLE
Hey, Doc, got the hots for Batman?

HOOTS and HOLLERS from the audience.

CHASE - CLOSE. Busted.

Reading this reminds me of what would've happened if a fangirl argued with Dr. Bartholomew Wolper in The Dark Knight Returns. And as you can tell by the talk show host's "Batperson" remark, Goldsman had the idea to poke fun at political correctness long before Batman's Batgirl joke in B&R.

I think it's a shame this scene got written out. It gives Chase as a character a little bit more depth and shows she really believes in what Batman stands for, which might explain her sexual attraction to him.

Some of the anti-Batman rhetoric, without the explicit Burton references, would be incorporated into the deleted scene of talking head demanding the Caped Crusader to retire, as you can watch below.

Speaking of which, it brings me to the next Burton reference in the draft.
 

Bruce glances at Gotham Times, of Headline- "Bat More Harm Than Good?"

BRUCE
Maybe they're right.

ALFRED
Which 'they' might that be, sir?

BRUCE
Jack Napier's dead. My parents are avenged. The Wayne Foundation contributes a small fortune to police and crime prevention programs.

Bruce touches a cowl resting on the control panel.

BRUCE
Why do I keep doing this?

ALFRED
Why, indeed?

BRUCE
Could I let Batman go? For Dick. For me. Could I leave the shadows? Have a life. Friends. Family...

ALFRED
Dr. Meridian...

Bruce touches his lips, the spot Chase kissed Batman.

BRUCE 
(pained)
She's the first woman in a long time that's... No. She's the first woman ever. And she loves Batman. Not Bruce Wayne. If I let go of Batman I'll lose her.

ALFRED
Perhaps. Perhaps not. Why not ask the lady?

BRUCE
How? As Batman, knowing she wants me? Or as Bruce Wayne and hope...?

Bruce reaches to the phone. Hits an autodial key. (OVER) TONES as the phone begins to dial.

PHONE
(CHASE) Hello?..Hello?..Who is this?

He disconnects the phone.

BRUCE
Who am I Alfred? I don't think I know anymore.

As you can see, the dialogue was rewritten in the film version of the scene, and it specifically focused on Bruce contemplating how his repressed memories were linked to being Batman as his way of fighting his own demons, but instead it became a burden. This part of the conversation with Alfred was actually planned to occur earlier on in the story.

Besides the obvious mention of Jack Napier, the draft version had Bruce contemplating he can live a normal, even alluding to his previous relationships with Vicki and Selina before becoming convinced that Chase is the right woman for him.

Another Burton reference the draft had is this mention of Catwoman, during the scene where Bruce visits Chase at her apartment.

Bruce is agitated, starts to looking around. At her desk he finds a virtual shrine to Batman. Pictures. Newsphotos. Articles.

CHASE
(OVER) Find anything interesting?

BRUCE
Why do I feel like the other man, here?

CHASE
Come on, Bruce. This is what I do for a living.

BRUCE
I'd say this goes a little beyond taking your work home.

CHASE
What do you want me to say? That I'm not attracted to him?

She hits a button and on screen newsfootage rolls of Batman fighting Catwoman.

CHASE
(mesmerized)
Look at the abuse he's taking. He's not just fighting criminals. He's punishing himself.

Chase hits a button, freezing on Batman's face.

CHASE
It's as if he's paying some great penance. What crime could he have committed to deserve a life sentence of such agony?

Bruce hits a key, blanking the screen.

BRUCE
Maybe he just had a lousy childhood, is that it Doc?

The only Burton references that were retained in the film were the ones that weren't as explicit: Chase referring to Catwoman during her meeting with Batman on the rooftop and Bruce infers avenging his parents made him feel worse over time while persuading Dick not to seek revenge for his own family. It's too bad the more blatant nods were removed from the rewrites. It would've made the movie feel more connected to what Burton started, but studio politics got in the way. This draft of the movie seemed less goofy, and still lacked the tone they were looking for. The fact there was some swearing alone must've had Warner Butchers sh*t tons of bricks.

[thecolorsblend]

I assume the Batchlers were involved in watering down the Burton references. It's a shame, really, since Goldsman made Batman's identity crisis and crisis of conscience more explicit. Those elements are still present in the film but they're more implied than they were originally.

Lest it sound like I'm criticizing the Batchlers, they did flesh out the villains, especially the Riddler, quite a bit. So was it a fair trade in the end? Tough to say.

We should emphasize that WB wanted a more commercial type of film. Anything that smacked too much of darkness seemed to be a target for removal. In retrospect, maybe we should be happy that the final script is as good as it was... if not as good as it might've been.

[Kamdan]

The Batchlers were the writers Burton approved when this was conceived as a sequel to Returns. Schumacher then had Goldman brought in to revise it. I believe this was in hope of having Keaton reprise the role. Once he was out of the picture and a new actor cast, that's when they decided to limit the references to the previous films.

[thecolorsblend]

The Batchlers were the writers Burton approved when this was conceived as a sequel to Returns. Schumacher then had Goldman brought in to revise it. I believe this was in hope of having Keaton reprise the role. Once he was out of the picture and a new actor cast, that's when they decided to limit the references to the previous films.

So Goldsman wrote those passages and then removed them? Yikes, that sucks...

[Kamdan]

So Goldsman wrote those passages and then removed them? Yikes, that sucks...

Goldman seemed to be the only one in the documentaries annoyed about how the final film deleted the red book subplot, so deleting the references to the Returns was the least of his worries.

[The Dark Knight]

The Batchlers were the writers Burton approved when this was conceived as a sequel to Returns. Schumacher then had Goldman brought in to revise it. I believe this was in hope of having Keaton reprise the role. Once he was out of the picture and a new actor cast, that's when they decided to limit the references to the previous films.

This makes the most sense.

I like Forever. It has connective tissue to Returns but I'm also happy to consider it a seperate entity.

[Kamdan]

I like Forever. It has connective tissue to Returns but I'm also happy to consider it a seperate entity.

The best frame of mind to take with Batman Forever. Schumacher tried to keep everything intact for a continuation of Burton's previous films, but once Keaton decided to walk, that's when it began to take its own identity. I don't think Schumacher ever wanted to put nipples on the bat suit when Keaton was being talked to. That came later when he wanted a younger and sexier looking Bruce Wayne/Batman. Kilmer honestly would have been better suited for a Batman: Year One adaptation Schumacher was always interested in making.

The storyline of Bruce Wayne questioning his motivations and being consumed by revenge would have came off better had Keaton returned. However, when you hear about his instance on cutting most of his Batman dialogue in Returns makes you wonder if that played a part in his dismissal of the role. I'm not sure what Keaton's opinion was of Robin, but he had to have been aware of the notion of him being in the story since he was in the previous films' scripts but got cut. In Forever, it was the most organic way Robin could be introduced. Maybe he dragged his feet on the idea and saw there was no way to write him out of this one and that played a part in him deciding not to come back.

[The Laughing Fish]

I skimmed through this early draft by the Batchlers - dated some time in 1993. The only Burton continuity reference it had was when Batman sees a projection of his memories during the film's climax, and right after he witnesses Two-Face taking Robin hostage.

INT. - MAZE
Batman shouts and kicks the mirrors, but cannot reach them.

INT. - TUNNEL, NIGHT
Batman runs down the tunnel, it's getting narrower and narrower. Gravity seems to be behaving now. He spots the only door at the end of the ever narrowing corridor.

THE DOOR IS A PERFECT SILHOUETTE OF BATMAN
He opens it and steps into:

EXT. - GOTHAM CITY STREET, NIGHT
Batman can't believe it. He's suddenly in the middle of Gotham City, but suddenly it all seems too familiar. It's many years ago, it's that fateful night, and now, up ahead, he sees his PARENTS ABOUT TO BE KILLED.

BATMAN
NO!

But as Batman dashes toward them, THE GUN FIRES, THE PARENTS FALL, THE PEARLS BREAK and the IMAGES DISAPPEAR AS BATMAN RUNS THROUGH THE ELECTRONIC PROJECTION. As he continues to dash through a NARROW BLACK, ASCENDING CORRIDOR, EVIL PROJECTED IMAGES OF THE JOKER, THE PENGUIN AND CATWOMAN BOMBARD HIM. Batman skilfully avoids them as he continues ever upward through the narrow, black corridor.

Source: https://ia800107.us.archive.org/21/items/Batman3ScriptProductionDraftAkivaGoldsman/Batman%203%20script%20Early%20Draft%20The%20Batchlers.pdf

If they had kept this scene, they would've recycled scenes from the Burton films.

I haven't read the whole draft yet, but as far as I know, it keeps the Vondelle Millions talk show debate from Goldsman's other draft, but removes all the Joker and Penguin references. There is a callback to Frank Miller's TDKR of young Bruce falling down into a hole when he was a child while his parents were still alive, but the red book subplot is nowhere to be found.

[The Joker]

Man, what a loss. I think my kid self in 1995 would have found any sort of reference to Jack Nicholson's Joker in Batman Forever totally awesome! Same goes for Michelle Pfeiffer's Catwoman or Danny Devito's Penguin as well since the Burton films were, especially by 1995, near and dear to my cold heart. Hell, I recall reading the Batman Forever novelization by Peter David and appreciating the references to the apprehending of Penguin's Red Triangle Circus Gang.

The whole deal with the projected images of Batman's villains from the Burton era, kinda comes across a more of a low-key version of what was later proposed in the Batman Unchained draft. Interesting to think how that projection scene would have been fully realized though.

[The Laughing Fish]

The whole deal with the projected images of Batman's villains from the Burton era, kinda comes across a more of a low-key version of what was later proposed in the Batman Unchained draft. Interesting to think how that projection scene would have been fully realized though.

Yeah, that's a good point. There are some similarities between this scene and what they had in mind for the cancelled Batman Unchained project.

It seemed Schumacher wanted to call back to the Burton era at some point in his tenure as a Batman movie director. You can argue he already did that in the final cut of BF, with Chase making a subtle reference to Catwoman while meeting Batman on the rooftop, and Bruce hinting his own vengeful past as he tries to dissuade Dick from seeking revenge. But he likely would've gone much further had he made a third film.

It's too bad his poor creative decisions and Warner Butchers' Happy Meal agenda ruined the future of the series.

Interesting to think how that projection scene would have been fully realized though.

As I said before, my guess is they would recycle some footage from B89 and BR. I doubt that Warner would be willing to pay big bucks for Nicholson, Pfeiffer and DeVito to come back...for what would be a quick cameo that last a couple of seconds, at best.

An ensemble project like Batman Unchained on the other hand...sighs. Batman on film and missed opportunities go hand-in-hand, I tell you.