NEW INTERVIEW WITH JOEL SCHUMACHER!!!

[DarkVengeance]

I found this over on the Hype forums:

O: When you were working as a hired gun like that, did you feel emotionally invested in the film?

Quote:
JS: 

Quote:
No, because I always knew that it was way beyond me. I always knew that I was the tiniest cog in the wheel. It also went from... It was going to cost $8 million, and then it suddenly went up to $30 million. It seems very overproduced. 




O: Did it make you gun-shy about attempting a super-production like that as a director?

Quote:
JS: 

Quote:
I think the only movie I've ever been involved with like that was Batman & Robin. Batman Forever had a very modest budget, considering the phenomenal profits it made, and how little we all made. We had very modest salaries. The whole thing at Warner was that Batman Returns had ended the franchise, and none of the theaters wanted it. We would have meetings with theater distributors who didn't want another Batman movie, because they had gotten burned on Batman Returns. None of the merchandising people wanted the merchandise, because they had had it all sent back. Nobody paid much attention to us, and then the movie kicked ass, and anybody who had been stupid enough to come onboard with their merchandise made a fortune. Everything was sort of contained in my life. Even though St. Elmo's Fire and The Lost Boys and Flatliners and Falling Down and The Client had all been successful--and I know I'm saying that in a very la-di-da, cavalier sort of way--they didn't cost money. So then, with Batman & Robin, everybody got really greedy. They wanted more toys, more machines in the movie, to make it more for kids. Adults think kids are too scared of Batman, so we had to make it more kid-friendly, make it funnier, make it lighter. I take full responsibility. It's all me. I know I disappointed some people, but it's a Batman movie. We're at war. Let's get over it. 




O: Batman Returns is very dark and personal for a big blockbuster.


Quote:
JS: 

Quote:
Well, [Batman Returns director] Tim [Burton] was going through a very dark period then. Tim is a wonderful person, and he's an artist. I said to Warner that I wouldn't do a Batman movie unless Tim said that it was okay, because we're friends. So I went to see him, and he said, "Please, please, I had a nervous breakdown during Batman Returns." He was going through a lot. It's very difficult when you make a huge movie and it's very successful. The pressure on doing the sequel is a whole different story. I know what Tim went through now, and I know why he said to me, "Please, please, I don't want to do another one." 




O: Did you have the option to cast Michael Keaton in the third one?


Quote:
JS: 

Quote:
Yes. We were actually making it with Michael Keaton, but his demands were so ridiculous that Warner had to fire him. I inherited him. I was given Michael. By the time he was fired, I was saying, "Val Kilmer, Val Kilmer, Val Kilmer." I was saying, "Let's go younger." I'm always saying "Let's go younger" on my movies. 




O: What do you think Val Kilmer brought to the role of Batman?


Quote:
JS: 

Quote:
Well, he was a very handsome Batman. I think that Batman Forever was an excellent Batman comic book. I think Nicole [Kidman] was delicious. I think Tommy Lee Jones was great and Jim Carrey was a phenomenal Riddler and Drew Barrymore was delicious, and it was sexy and fun, and it was the most profitable movie of the year. Everybody won. Can we move off Batman, ya think? That was years ago. I've made seven films since then. 

[batass4880]

Does anyone believe Keaton was fired? I heard WB offered like $30 million to him but he declined because the script was not to his liking.
Thanks for the interview DV!

[Proximo]

I dont know what to belive, But overall i think it was a good read.

[thecolorsblend]

My reading of it was that Keaton didn't want to do the movie without Burton but he was nevertheless "committed" to the film... so he asked for a huge salary (the exact figure seems to vary) never thinking WB would actually accept it... but accept they did!     So then he then he was stuck trying to figure out some other way of getting fired.  Strange how trying to get fired isn't always very easy.  Anyway, apparently he channeled Crispin Glover's demands and antics from the BTTF days until WB eventually had no choice but to show him the door.

Given how BF worked out, I sometimes wonder if that's a pink slip he really treasures.

[Seantastic]

I heard that Keaton left due to the fact that the script was focused towards children more this time, plus with Burton leaving, that added more fuel to Keaton wanting out

[Grissom]

I don't think Schumacher is being very honest, I've read many articles and interviews concerning Batman Forever and it was understood that Keaton left because of the direction Schumacher was going along with the script and the exclusion of Burton. Schumacher even said that Keaton LEFT the project years ago. And what is this nonsense that Batman Returns was a huge disappointment, yes it didn't make as much money at the box office and in merchandising but it did make a healthy profit.

WB never said they fired Keaton in fact I read years ago where a major studio head also said Keaton LEFT the project. Keaton himself said he wasn't satisfied with the new direction of the film.

And Burton had a nervous breakdown, really? I'll have to hear that from his lips first. And even if he did, he should have more breakdowns because Batman Returns was excellent!

[The Dark Knight]

I heard that Keaton left due to the fact that the script was focused towards children more this time, plus with Burton leaving, that added more fuel to Keaton wanting out

Yep. Keaton wanted to do an origin story, like Begins. When he found out the direction was going to be kid friendly - and with no Burton directing, he wisely chose not to do it. He kept his pride.

[DocLathropBrown]

The idea of Keaton being in a Bat flick that focused more on Bruce's around-the-world training makes me feel all tingley. I'm picturing a more accurate adaptation of The Man Who Falls.

Point blank, Keaton wanted a more Batman-focused, character driven film. Something like Returns was, but with a greater narrative emphasis on Batman himself. Granted, BR does do a lot of analysis of Batman through the other characters, but the narrative wasn't about him.

It wasn't really Burton leaving that was the big problem, certainly, that meant Keaton has his reservations and concerns, but he was more than willing to be in the film under Schumacher, but when he read the script AND found that Schumacher wasn't going to budge on things, that's when he left.

I've never found substantiation for the idea that Keaton forced them to fire him. He didn't have to, he wasn't signed for another. He only signed on a film-by-film basis. So he didn't have to force WB to fire him, he had the right to refuse. Warners did try to keep him with $35 million, but we all know Keaton's response to that.

Like he said on his "Biography" episode: "It was like they were saying 'Here, Michael. Here's $35 million in exchange for your soul, your integtrity.'" Keaton is an artist, first and foremost.

[thecolorsblend]

Hey Brown, you could very well be right.  My speculation was just me reading between the lines.

And just so there's no confusion on the matter, for $35 mill I'd sell out so fast it'd make your head spin. 

[Gotham Knight]

All I'm gonna say is there are some honesty issues going on with JS, in regards to both Burton and Keaton.