Scripts from Burton's films

[batass4880]

For those of you who like this sort of thing, here are links to five scripts from Tim Burton's films for your reading enjoyment:

B89 (Sam Hamm, first draft, October 1986): http://www.dailyscript.com/scripts/batman_early.html

B89 (Warren Skaaren, shooting script, October 1988): http://www.dailyscript.com/scripts/batman_production.html

Returns (Sam Hamm, unproduced): http://www.dailyscript.com/scripts/batman-returns_unproduced.html

Returns (Daniel Waters, early draft, May 1991): http://www.dailyscript.com/scripts/batman-returns_early.html

Returns (Wesley Strick, shooting script, August 1991): http://www.dailyscript.com/scripts/batman-returns_shooting.html

[The Dark Knight]

Cheers, much appreciated.

[Sandman]

WOW these are awesome thanks dude  .

[DarkVengeance]

Awesome!! This is great!

[BatmAngelus]

I read these awhile ago, but here is a brief rundown on some of the different things you'll find in these drafts:

Sam Hamm's first draft is very interesting. 
Jack Napier and Bruce Wayne are the exact same age. 
Bruce is even more of the billionaire playboy from the comics.  Overall, there's more of Bruce and Vicki's relationship in it (which makes sense for Hamm since he says on the SE DVD that he saw the story to be about "a guy who's insane...who meets this girl and becomes sane"  I'm paraphrasing, of course, but you get the idea). 
It also, due to studio requests, plugs in Robin 2/3 of the way in.  On the SE DVD, there is an animated storyboarded Robin sequence, which is based off of a sequence in this draft.
A lot of Joker's lines are different.  It's as if they did a complete dialogue rewrite on him for the film.

The Warren Skaaren revision is the closest to the final film and even that has some major differences.  Check out the scene at Vicki Vale's apartment- it's completely different.  Not to mention the action sequence following it that was cut completely before filming. 
This was also, presumably, after Nicholson had been cast since Jack Napier becomes the killer of Bruce's parents in this draft.
Also note the cathedral confrontation.  In both Hamm's original draft up to the Skaaren shooting script, the cathedral sequence consisted of only Batman & Joker.  It was in production that last minute rewrites lead to Vicki and the thugs being there as well.  Still reading these two B89 drafts offer insight on two alternate versions of how the final confrontation could've been.

Sam Hamm's draft for "Batman 2" feels more like a direct sequel since it has Vicki Vale continuing as love interest, the return of the Flugelheim Museum, and such. 
The Penguin is also closer to his comic book counterpart and the main plot is loosely connected to Napier's killing of the Waynes. 
Still, I think what we got from the final film was more interesting.  Plus, Catwoman is pretty much a creepy serial killer in this one, which didn't sit well with me, and Robin is a mysterious teen on the streets who fights crime.

The Daniel Waters draft for Batman Returns is much weirder than the final product, though it does have several parts that I wouldn't have minded seeing in the final film. 
This is the draft where Robin was a mechanic who helps Batman out after the Red Triangle Circus Gang sabotages the Batmobile, Penguin is Max Shreck's long lost brother ("Oswald Cobblepot" is a made-up alias in this draft), Riddler is briefly mentioned at the end, and Batman has a lot more lines (which lead to Keaton asking for them to be cut because he believed the character should be more silent.  Thank you, Keaton).
The Strick rewrite is much closer to the final product.

[Redskull]

The Daniel Waters draft for Batman Returns is much weirder than the final product, though it does have several parts that I wouldn't have minded seeing in the final film. 
This is the draft where Robin was a mechanic who helps Batman out after the Red Triangle Circus Gang sabotages the Batmobile, Penguin is Max Shreck's long lost brother ("Oswald Cobblepot" is a made-up alias in this draft), Riddler is briefly mentioned at the end, and Batman has a lot more lines (which lead to Keaton asking for them to be cut because he believed the character should be more silent.  Thank you, Keaton).
The Strick rewrite is much closer to the final product.

What script is this, where is the riddler reference?

[BatmAngelus]

The Daniel Waters first draft.
http://www.dailyscript.com/scripts/batman-returns_early.html

The Riddler reference is at the end as two of the bad guy lackeys wonder where else they're gonna go.

[batass4880]

I like how in Hamm's first draft he had the Joker wearing a pimp's hat instead of a painter's hat at the art museum. I could totally see Jack wearing it!

This script was very ambitious. When the Batwing was shot down by the Joker, the plane was supposed to do a bellyflop on the street destroying subway tunnels before crashing into the church, if I remember correctly. If WB went all the way with this draft it probably would have cost ALOT more money.

[Kamdan]

This script was very ambitious. When the Batwing was shot down by the Joker, the plane was supposed to do a bellyflop on the street destroying subway tunnels before crashing into the church, if I remember correctly. If WB went all the way with that draft it probably would have cost ALOT more money.

It woulds have also taken more time to do and that wasn't a luxury they didn't have.

[batass4880]

It woulds have also taken more time to do and that wasn't a luxury they didn't have.

True. They were rewriting the cathedral scene as they were doing this sequence, from what I've heard.

Also, speaking of time, it seemed like the first draft would have ran at least 2.5 hours but I could be wrong.

I also heard that Vicki was supposed to be killed by the Joker before he and Batman went up the tower but I cannot find this in either scripts.