Source: High-Def Digest Here's an excerpt from Michael's chat with High-Def Digest.
HDD: You clearly have a love for Batman. What is it about the caped crusader that captures your interest? Michael Uslan: He’s a super-hero who has no super-powers. His greatest super-power is his humanity. I could strongly identify with him and believe in him. Also, he has the most primal origin story that anyone can relate to on a deeply emotional level. And… he has the world’s best super-villains!
HDD: Did you face a lot of rejection when trying to get the 1989 'Batman' film made? Tell us about some of what you went through. Michael Uslan: I was told I was crazy, that it was the worst idea they ever heard, and every studio turned me down. Favorite rejections:
"Michael, 'Batman' will never succeed as a movie because 'Annie' didn’t do well."
"Michael, 'Batman and Robin' won’t work as a movie because the movie 'Robin And Marian' didn’t do well."
"Michael, nobody’s ever made a movie out of some old television show!"
"Michael, audiences will only remember and love that Pow! Zap! Wham! funny guy with the pot belly."
"Michael, Superman is the only super-hero from the funny papers who is big enough to be made into a motion picture feature."
HDD: After 'Batman Returns' the franchise went in what many consider to be a very unpleasant direction, culminating in 'Batman & Robin,' which upset fans and scored poorly with critics. How did you feel about the film? Michael Uslan: It was the TV series Redux.
HDD: Which of the Batman films is your favorite and why? Michael Uslan: 'Batman' because it was my dream-come-true after well over ten years, 'Mask of the Phantasm' because some of the best stories about Batman ever made came from the brilliant folks on the animation side, and the Christopher Nolan trilogy.
HDD: What can we expect from the new film? Is there a worry about living up to Heath Ledger's much praised portrayal of The Joker in 'The Dark Knight?' Michael Uslan: July 20, 2012. Fasten your seat belt!
HDD: You pushed to get Batman into theaters and a comic book movie boom followed. Do you feel that your efforts influenced the movie landscape as it is today? Michael Uslan: The first Batman film in 1989 was revolutionary. To this day, Burton’s vision, Furst’s designs, and Elfman’s music seem to reverberate through all genre pictures. Their influence has been enormous and pervasive. Nolan taught Hollywood the art of the successful reboot and Bond, Star Trek, Superman, Spider-Man, et al owe what they are doing to his influence. I’m happy to let history answer this question over the years.
HDD: Tell us a little bit about your book, 'The Boy Who Loved Batman.' Michael Uslan: It’s intended to motivate young people so that if they burn with a passion for something in life, my story will prove to them that if they get up off the couch, forfeiting their sense of entitlement that the world owes them something, and instead make a commitment to knock on doors till their knuckles bleed, maintaining a high threshold for frustration, they, too, can make their own dreams come true.
HDD: What's next for you? Are you sticking with Batman or do you intend to keep branching out like you did with 'Constantine' and 'The Spirit?' Michael Uslan: I have many fun and favorite projects in the works from the pages of some famous and historic comic books and comic strips and now there’s strong interest in my turning my book into a feature film a la “A Christmas Story.”
Be sure to head over to
HDD, there' a lot more Q&A from Michael. Also, be sure to check out Michael's book by clicking the link below.
Michael E. Uslan (born June 2, 1952) is the originator of the Batman movies and was the first instructor to teach "Comic Book Folklore" at an accredited university. Uslan is a native of Cedar Grove, New Jersey.
Uslan is best known as a key producer (another being Benjamin Melniker) of all of the modern Batman films to date, starting with Tim Burton's 1989 film, and continuing to 2008's The Dark Knight and also includes various feature-length films based on the Batman: The Animated Series and The Batman. Uslan envisioned a dark Batman, not the sort of Batman that came from the "funny books," as reflected in the 1960s TV series starring Adam West.
When Uslan initially pitched the idea to producers, he was turned down. The justification from producers was that Batman was based on a comic book, and it did not have much success in the box office. He was turned down for various reasons, one most curious and nonsensical was a executive that argued that Batman and Robin wouldn't work as a film because the studio's previous flop Robin and Marian starring Sean Connery as an elderly Robin Hood failed to find success.
Uslan views the 1989 Batman film directed by Tim Burton and starring Michael Keaton as the Caped Crusader as being most representative of the earliest take of the character by Bob Kane and Bill Finger from 1939. Meanwhile, Uslan considers the second Tim Burton/Michael Keaton Batman film, Batman Returns (1992) as serving more as an embodiment of the "almost soulless, very dark, almost vampiric" comics of the 1990s. Uslan considers the Joel Schumacher directed Batman Forever (1995) starring Val Kilmer taking over for Michael Keaton as being the closest in spirit of the Dick Sprang drawn, Bill Finger-written stories (featuring not only Batman, but also Robin as played by Chris O'Donnell in Batman Forever) of the 1940s and 1950s. Finally, Uslan sees the second Joel Schumacher directed Batman film (this time, starring George Clooney as the Dark Knight instead of Val Kilmer or Michael Keaton), Batman & Robin (1997) as being most representative of the Batman of the mid-1960s (à la the campy TV series starring Adam West).
@All_Thats_Bueno
Graphic City
ComicBookMovie.com, and/or the user who contributed this post, may earn commissions or revenue through clicks or purchases made through any third-party links contained within the content above.