BATMAN & ROBIN Director Shares His Thoughts On Christopher Nolan's Trilogy

BATMAN & ROBIN Director Shares His Thoughts On Christopher Nolan's Trilogy

Joel Schumacher, the director responsible for the extremely camp Batman Forever and Batman & Robin, talks here about Christopher Nolan's very different take on the iconic DC character in The Dark Knight Trilogy. What's the verdict? Find out after the jump!

By JoshWilding - Dec 04, 2012 04:12 PM EST
Filed Under: Batman
Source: ComingSoon.net

In a lengthy interview with ComingSoon.net, director Joel Schumacher has looked back on the two Batman films he helmed before Christopher Nolan rebooted the franchise with 2005's critically acclaimed Batman Begins. After the downright dreadful Batman & Robin, pretty much every fan was relieved to see Schumacher leave the franchise behind. However, there's no denying that he succeeded in delivering what Warner Bros. wanted; a family friendly film which sold a hell of a LOT of toys. Below, he shares his thoughts on Nolan's take on the character.


"I think what's very interesting about Batman and how brilliant Chris Nolan is is, if you look at the last Batman, ours were at a much simpler time. Our job was to entertain the whole family. To make it fun and sell a lot of toys. It was a franchise. The last one is really about what we're going through, the extraordinary gap between the haves and the have-nots... I think right now the last Batman is very reflective of the times we're living in, which are scary times. I'm not a predictor of revolutions and I don't think there will be one in the United States, but there are the seeds of it. When you have too many poor and too many rich, those are the seeds of revolution."


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Wildaniel
Wildaniel - 12/4/2012, 4:44 PM
Freeze in HELL Batman! LOL.
CaptainObvious
CaptainObvious - 12/4/2012, 4:45 PM
Bat credit card.
GuardianAngel
GuardianAngel - 12/4/2012, 4:46 PM
If you see some of Schumacher's other films, they're not THAT bad. He even said he was wanting to make a "dark" Batman movie, but the studio didn't let him.

But I still don't forgive him.
Wildaniel
Wildaniel - 12/4/2012, 4:46 PM
In other news my Dark Knight Rises Broken Cowl statue didnt come in today, it says it will be delivered on Thursday. WTF is the point of preordering something weeks before it is released if your not gonna get it the day it comes out?!?
Wildaniel
Wildaniel - 12/4/2012, 4:49 PM
I was just a kid when this movie came out, I thought it was awesome! Then I got older and realized how much it sucks. But I still have some of the tie-in toys, lol.
MarkCassidy
MarkCassidy - 12/4/2012, 4:51 PM
He directed The Lost Boys, so he can't be all bad. Plus, I actually find Batman And Robin more entertaining than Batman Forever..that actually attempted to get me invested in it as a serious film.
marvel72
marvel72 - 12/4/2012, 4:54 PM
he has made some good films i.e falling down,a time to kill,tigerland & the lost boys but he has definitely made the worse batman films ever!
XxComablackxX1937
XxComablackxX1937 - 12/4/2012, 4:59 PM
Both films aren't any good in my opinion although Jim Carry was entertaining as The Riddler but that's about as far as my compliment's go.

Haven't seen any of his other films, but i hear he is a decent director.
Karmatron
Karmatron - 12/4/2012, 5:01 PM
Gusto was the most funny guy on CBM he had me laghing at everything he said. He was a true hero here on cbm.
Supes17
Supes17 - 12/4/2012, 5:01 PM
SHUMACHER IS THE MAN

Nolan does't know shit.
WB, please hire this man again, he clearly understood Batman from the comics.
FightAs0ne
FightAs0ne - 12/4/2012, 5:02 PM
Come on @LEVITIKUZ. Just chill...
elcaballerooscuro92
elcaballerooscuro92 - 12/4/2012, 5:02 PM
[frick] YOU SCHUMACHER!!! [frick] YOU !!! [frick] YOU !!!
AlanWarlock
AlanWarlock - 12/4/2012, 5:03 PM
The two directors have much in common, most notably the fact that each directed really poor Batman films - Schumacher with "Batman Forever" and the g*dawful Jim Carrey and "Batman & Robin" (none of which was good); Nolan with the aggressively disappointing "The Dark Knight Rises."
AEStark
AEStark - 12/4/2012, 5:06 PM
I haven't read this yet, or any of the comments, but I'm almost certain no one cares what you think, Mr Schumacher
Supes17
Supes17 - 12/4/2012, 5:06 PM
After Tim Burton ruined Batman by making it campy, Shumacher stepped in and made the character dark and gritty...Like he's supposed to be. Nolan for some reason, thought it was a good idea to make his Batman trilogy campy again...

THIS is Batman


NOT THIS campy shit

dracula
dracula - 12/4/2012, 5:07 PM
@AlanWarlock what are you talking about The Dark Knight Rises Kicked ass
Jimdlux
Jimdlux - 12/4/2012, 5:08 PM
I think this is the 1st time I wil say that I agree with Nolan. TDKR was a reflection of reality...Reality sucks and so did TDKR. Movies are suppose to be an escape from reality, not a reminder.

I'm watching it right now...Blake just shot 2 guys and red powder spewed instead of blood...GOD! this is a bad movie...
rockerdude22
rockerdude22 - 12/4/2012, 5:08 PM
I was about 6 when B&R came out. I liked it then just because it was Batman. Over the years, I started to realize how awful it really is lol
AEStark
AEStark - 12/4/2012, 5:08 PM
Ok, I've read it, and only do I still not care, but now he's trying to incite revolution?
DocHorrible
DocHorrible - 12/4/2012, 5:10 PM
I remembered loving Batman & Robin when I was 6, so I guess in that way Joel did the job the studio wanted: he entertained little kids and made it a family film.

Personally, I always thought it was a great adaptation of the Batman 1960's tv show, rather than the comic. Still a terrible movie in terms of Batman, but a rather good adaptation and reflection of the television series.

Not that that makes up for the Bat nipples, but it's an interesting film to see as a film-version of Adam West's Batman.
jimpinto24
jimpinto24 - 12/4/2012, 5:14 PM
If you look at Joel Schumacher's first two Batman films, they were more PG-13...let's entertain the kids. While Chris Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy was more dark & an a more in-depth look on the Batman character.
megabatfan
megabatfan - 12/4/2012, 5:22 PM
When Batman Begins came out & my dad saw it, he thought it was horrible! He said he preferred Batman & Robin. That's when I flipped out & am now incarcerated for patricide...
Minghagz
Minghagz - 12/4/2012, 5:28 PM
Minghagz
Minghagz - 12/4/2012, 5:32 PM
THRILLHO
THRILLHO - 12/4/2012, 5:40 PM
For shame...
ToTheManInTheColdSweat
ToTheManInTheColdSweat - 12/4/2012, 5:40 PM
When Clooney says "I'm Batman", it strikes the fear of god in your hearts and souls.

Schumacher DIDN'T fail, he wasn't making a dark, artsy fartsy movie. He was going for Avengers tone, light and fun, because if there's one thing Batman is, IT'S LIGHT AND FUN. Too bad the studio [frick]ed him up and didn't properly advertise it. One of the greatest CBM's in my humble opinion.

Lets pray the reboot is closer to this comicbook faithfulness.
ToTheManInTheColdSweat
ToTheManInTheColdSweat - 12/4/2012, 5:41 PM
Smh at some of these comments.
GUNSMITH
GUNSMITH - 12/4/2012, 5:43 PM
HIS BATMOBILES WERE THE MOST ARTISTICALLY COOL HONESTLY..
fawfulmark2
fawfulmark2 - 12/4/2012, 5:52 PM
To be fair, I damn Batman Forever with faint praise, as they get the mulligan of trying to make an Adam West-esque film, and as strange as it may sound now, almost everyone wanted a film like it back then(even Bob mother[frick]ing Kane himself!) And I wonder if someday they may do a director's cut of the film, since the deleted scenes would have made the final film WAY better then it had been. Also Seal.

But Batman & Robin....is iredeemable. A mess of a film, lazily done since they pretty much just took the basic villain plot of Forever a redressed it a bit, they had rushed the bloody thing out(they said they started shooting almost immediately after Forever was released in Theaters), butchering the mythos( Barbra was changed to Alfred's neice, though that was a fault of all 4 of the films regulating his role to "that guy who just turns on the signal") George Clooney saying he wasn't even really trying, Alicia Silverstone NOT EVEN KNOWING THERE WAS A [frick]ING BATGIRL IN THE SERIES AT ALL, them [frick]ing up with Schwarzenegger(his most famous role was playing an emotionless killing machine, so it should have at least been decent), them making Robin so annoying that it contributed to mostly all the hate the character gets these days, and too many other things for me to mention.

Triumphant was never released, and they said they were planning on taking it into a darker territory like the Burton films, but Shumacher saying he was exhausted already from working on the films for years and having Harley Quinn be the Joker's daughter and played by Madonna meant it still was probably gonna be so-so.

and yeah, like others said, he's like a everse Michael bay-while Mike's films are all pretty bad(except The Rock), Shumacher's are all good except for these(and I wasn't a big fan of The Babysitter either).
Karmatron
Karmatron - 12/4/2012, 5:54 PM
Bring Back Gusto people!
Karmatron
Karmatron - 12/4/2012, 5:55 PM
Da fack you jelly buttons
Karmatron
Karmatron - 12/4/2012, 5:55 PM
blah blah blah and derp
darkjoker1
darkjoker1 - 12/4/2012, 5:56 PM
batman and robin was so horrrble alest batman forever was better lol XD but wow it was such a sucky movie a bat card....-_- and those puns....
Brady1138
Brady1138 - 12/4/2012, 6:02 PM
Schumacher, don't blame the times for the atrocities which you have committed. Did you even see Burton's movie? It was made in a "simpler" time where kids toys abounded, but it was still respectful to the fans and the source material.
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