In His Last Ever Interview, Ray Liotta Discusses Turning Down The Chance To Play BATMAN

In His Last Ever Interview, Ray Liotta Discusses Turning Down The Chance To Play BATMAN

In an unpublished interview with Ray Liotta, the late actor spoke about turning down the opportunity to play the Dark Knight in Tim Burton's Batman...

By MarkCassidy - Aug 09, 2023 09:08 PM EST
Filed Under: Batman (1989)

Ray Liotta sadly passed away last May, leaving behind an extensive body of work, including his iconic turn in Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas, and his most recent role in Apple TV+'s Blackbird, for which he won a posthumous Emmy Award.

Liotta never appeared in a superhero movie, but did famously turn down the opportunity to play Batman early in his career. Now, Deadline has shared a previously unpublished piece on the actor that will serve as his final interview.

In it, Liotta is asked about declining a meeting with director Tim Burton shortly after playing the volatile Ray in Something Wild.

"Something Wild came out, so I was getting attention from that. My agent called me up and said, 'Tim Burton would like to meet you. He’s doing a movie, Batman.' There were never any superhero movies then. That was pretty much the first one. I said, 'Are you f*cking nuts? Batman?!' I’m going, 'No, that’s stupid.' Who was stupid? I was stupid because I didn’t know.

Liotta has previously expressed his admiration for Jack Nicholson's performance, which led to some confusion that he was must have been courted to play the Joker, but Nicholson was Burton's first choice for the role (well, after Warner Bros. declined his suggestion of Brad Dourif, as the story goes).

Michael Keaton is still widely viewed as the best big-screen Caped Crusader yet, but do you think Liotta would have been a good choice for the part? Drop us a comment down below.

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NinnesMBC
NinnesMBC - 8/9/2023, 9:51 PM
Gone but never forgotten!

RIP Ray Liotta.
dracula
dracula - 8/9/2023, 10:08 PM
Can’t see him as Batman

Maybe Green Lantern
RafaelTorres
RafaelTorres - 8/9/2023, 10:17 PM
I just watched Something Wild the other day and he would’ve been the perfect Joker. It’s an incredible performance, and a seriously underrated movie.
AnthonyVonGeek
AnthonyVonGeek - 8/9/2023, 10:27 PM
Big Ray Liotta fan but I can’t see him as Batman. But then again I couldn’t see Micheal Keaton as Batman when I first heard he was cast and he surprised me.
AgentSmith
AgentSmith - 8/10/2023, 9:53 AM
@AnthonyVonGeek - That surprised everyone. Even though I was young, I do know everyone was like - "Mr. Mom for Batman? No way!" Just goes to show you how talented an actor Keaton still IS to this day!
Deadinside
Deadinside - 8/10/2023, 10:42 AM
@AgentSmith - When I first heard that Michael Keaton was cast as Batman I rented his movie Clean and Sober and that convinced me he was the right person for the cowl!☮🙂
Spawnnn
Spawnnn - 8/9/2023, 10:35 PM
THEDARKKNIGHT1939
THEDARKKNIGHT1939 - 8/9/2023, 10:47 PM
Maaaybe. Burton's the only director I could see making it work.
SummersEssex
SummersEssex - 8/9/2023, 11:03 PM
Keaton is widely viewed as the best big screen caped crusader?

Dafug he is.

Only if you’re the male version of those girls whose entire personality is The Nightmare Before Christmas.

gtfo here.
IronGenesis
IronGenesis - 8/9/2023, 11:18 PM
Before even knowing Liotta was a possibility for Batman…he was one of my choices to play Bruce Wayne in a Batman Beyond film.

So…yes! 😂. He gets my vote.
Nightmare
Nightmare - 8/10/2023, 12:00 AM
"As far as I can remember I always wanted to be Batman."

Forthas
Forthas - 8/10/2023, 1:32 AM
"Michael Keaton is still widely viewed as the best big-screen Caped Crusader yet..."

This is a myth! Every subsequent Batman film he has ever made has made less money that the one before. If he was as beloved as people claim, the Flash would not be the biggest box office super hero flop of all time. It is the nostalgic wishes of middle aged geeks that keep alive this idea that he was beloved as Batman. He certainly did better than what the public expected, but he has been overshadowed by two or three subsequent people to play the role.
FlixMentallo21
FlixMentallo21 - 8/10/2023, 2:28 AM
Actually, he might’ve been great for a Bat-character introduced just five years before Burton’s movie:

The ‘anti-Batman’: the Wrath.
Fogs
Fogs - 8/10/2023, 5:26 AM
Could've worked, who knows.
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