Over 20 years ago, filmaker Joe Dante (The Gremlins) was very nearly the director of Batman - a movie that would eventually be made by Tim Burton in 1989 with Michael Keaton in the title role. Although Dante initially agreed to helm the comic book movie, he reveals here why exactly he decided to pull out and talks about the different kind of film it would have been.
"After Gremlins started making money, Warner Bros. bosses came to me and asked 'Would you like to do our Batman?'. So I signed on. It was a good project, I grew up with Batman - but the problem was, I didn't really believe in Batman."
"I just couldn't swallow the idea of the guy living up on a Hill, dressing up as a bat...Robin and all that...I didn't feel right about it so I went in and told them that I didn't think I was the right guy for the movie."
"They, of course, said 'You must be crazy!', but I seriously believed, and still do, that I wasn't the right choice for the movie. It wasn't the movie that Tim Burton did, it was much more period. I don't regret not taking it on."
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