Michael Keaton Looks Back On Batman

Michael Keaton Looks Back On Batman

Michael Keaton talks about the pressure, uncertainty and risk involved in filming Batman.

By Hawksblueyes - May 13, 2011 06:05 AM EST
Filed Under: Batman
Source: HERO COMPLEX

With today's generation growing up on Christopher Nolan's version of Batman, it's easy to forget that it wasn't so very long ago that our best on screen adaptation was a campy Adam West running around in leotards. If you weren't there waiting for something better to come along, I think it is even more difficult to remember just how "modern" and "fresh" Tim Burton's Batman was for it's time.

L.A.Times Hero Complex was lucky enough to speak with Michael Keaton recently and get his thoughts looking back on Batman all these years later.

“It was me in London, alone, and my sleep during that whole movie was never right. As often as I could, I was getting on the Concorde and trying to get back to spend some time with my kid.”



It was an extremely difficult undertaking and Tim is a shy guy, especially back then, and there was so much pressure. We were in England for a long time shooting at Pinewood and it was long, difficult nights in that dank, dark, cold place, and we never knew if it was really working. There was no guarantee that any of this was going to play correctly when it was all said and done. There had never been a movie like it before. There was a lot of risk, too, with Jack looking the way he did and me stepping out in this new way. The pressure was on everybody. You could feel it.”

“We’re standing there at one point, I’m in my bat suit, Jack is in Joker get-up and I just looked at him and said, ‘We’re grown men, right?’”

By: TwitterButtons.com

By TwitterButtons.com

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Hawksblueyes
Hawksblueyes - 5/13/2011, 6:38 AM
;P
nuck82
nuck82 - 5/13/2011, 7:02 AM
i think he was a great batman and i love both of his films so much, but in that statment he sounds like hes bitching and that bugs me, i dont know why, but it does. "we'er both grow men right" [frick] that statment : (
MoumentheBatman
MoumentheBatman - 5/13/2011, 7:05 AM
Doesn't he have anything else to say except that damn "We’re standing there at one point, I’m in my bat suit, Jack is in Joker get-up and I just looked at him and said, ‘We’re grown men, right?"?!!!!
I can't recall any damn interview with Keaton without him saying that one way or another!

No one would've cared or known about you, Keaton had it not been for Batman so show some [frick]ing respect.
nuck82
nuck82 - 5/13/2011, 7:19 AM
yeah we was very famous befor batman, did so many comedys in the 80s, people knew who he was and when they named him to be batman, everyone was all the comedian? really? but it worked
Hawksblueyes
Hawksblueyes - 5/13/2011, 7:20 AM
He was famous before the films and he was famous after the films. As far as being so sensitive about what he said, I'm a fan and I think I would feel a little silly standing there in those outfits myself.
megabatfan
megabatfan - 5/13/2011, 7:20 AM
^^^ you guys being so harsh on 1 of the greatest batman...Arguably the best. He's talking about the entire situation and the whole idea of doing something out of the box would create concerns as an actor. I'm sure he didn't think that way for the sequel, because Batman had been established.
Heck even Bale said he did not feel intimidating in his costume.
DocMartin09
DocMartin09 - 5/13/2011, 7:21 AM
Nice.

megabatfan
megabatfan - 5/13/2011, 7:21 AM
Exactly @ nuck82 & Hawkblueyes
drykillogic22
drykillogic22 - 5/13/2011, 7:26 AM


Keaton is Awesome...
TesDaGreat
TesDaGreat - 5/13/2011, 7:31 AM
Keaton did a good job portrayal of batman. But his portrayal of bruce wayne was horrible!
darkclarkent
darkclarkent - 5/13/2011, 7:31 AM
He was in Beetlejuice before Batman so when he was cast everyone knew him from that as well. Working with Tim Burton a year prior. This isnt the whole article he was expressing how it felt to take on a huge character and them doing it right. Keaton is the effing man.

Animated Gifs

Nice Effing Model!!!!
ElBicho
ElBicho - 5/13/2011, 7:31 AM
Keaton was awesome as Batman and Bruce Wayne.

His Bat-voice was great because:

1) You could understand him
2) He didn't have monologues in the Batman suit
ThisFan
ThisFan - 5/13/2011, 7:36 AM
I was never a big fan of his films but wow he has no respect for the character.
SageMode
SageMode - 5/13/2011, 7:40 AM
Keaton was the best Batman IMO.



StrangerX
StrangerX - 5/13/2011, 7:45 AM
One of my top five movies of all time. Keaton added that real darkside to the character that was needed, and everyone else followed suit. He is the man.
nuck82
nuck82 - 5/13/2011, 7:52 AM
stupid movie multiplicity, keaton went and did that insted of batman 3, yes i like multiplicity when i was young, but him in batman 3 would have been epic i think, even if robin would have been taller then batman lol
weapon925
weapon925 - 5/13/2011, 7:58 AM
He was a self sustaining Batman as apposed to Bale's where Fox does all the brainy stuff. We haven't seen Bale's do much thinking for himself out side of how does this impact poor little me.
level1paladin
level1paladin - 5/13/2011, 8:01 AM
@MoumentheBatman I'd have to say that's a ridiculous statement. Keaton is a great actor and was in some of my favorite comedies of the 80's and early 90's. I thought Keaton's Bruce Wayne was far better than Christian Bale.
mrteaspoon
mrteaspoon - 5/13/2011, 8:02 AM
Hey guess what? Dressing like a crime fighting bat is inherently silly. Stop being butthurt.
bs77
bs77 - 5/13/2011, 8:18 AM
There's no comparing the two batmans. They are different interpretations, by completely different directors and actors. They are both entertaining and served the source material well. For those being hard on Keaton, I remember Bale saying he felt pretty darn silly standing on set in a rubber suit and that's why he took a more animalistic approach. I like to think of Bale's version as something that evolves. He's transitioning from a character that has to make a "first impression" as a crazy vigilante to a character that has a "reputation" as one. Hopefully we'll see the voice thing taper off now that people know who he is and fear him regardless. I love Keaton's movies because they feel like a hybrid of a comic and a movie. Bale's is a "what if" a real dude tried this.
TheLight
TheLight - 5/13/2011, 8:18 AM
Everyone knows before Bale, there was Keaton and despite what some out there think, Keaton's portrayal of Batman was the best to this day. Bale is the best at being Bruce Wayne in my opinion. True that Christian Bale's take on Batman now is good, but he's now lacking the intimination that Keaton carried into both Batman films by Tim Burton. He started losing some of that threatening allure to the bat when he was trying too hard to match his "Bat" voice to Keaton's in "The Dark Knight". Guys, you have to agree that if not for the earlier films, they would have never thought of how to make the suit, get the tone of the voice and make him dark and unnerving to the criminals. I'm not saying that they're should be a vote on who's the best, but we should at least have the respect to remember how we've been lead to this road today.

Ancar
Ancar - 5/13/2011, 8:28 AM
He's a great actor, but a goddamn horrible Batman/Bruce Wayne!

And he knows that.
TheLight
TheLight - 5/13/2011, 8:36 AM
@Ancar - Look at it this way, Bale's bat signal got destroyed at the end of "The Dark Knight". Keaton's went to him in "Batman Returns". What's that tell ya'?
SageMode
SageMode - 5/13/2011, 8:39 AM
@Lester: Keaton's Batman voice is how it should sound. More grim than his Bruce Wayne voice, but still Batman-ish. Bale's Batman sounds like he has laryngitis. lol
marvel72
marvel72 - 5/13/2011, 8:40 AM
definetly the best batman,no stupid f*ckin throat cancer voice.
TyrannicalOverlord
TyrannicalOverlord - 5/13/2011, 8:43 AM
@tyko450- No respect for the character? He embodied the character! Before Burton's Batman we had Adam West as a reference and everyone thought Keaton was just a comedic actor so for him to be uncertain about how this movie was going to be received and making a joke while stanidng around set in a constume is understandable.

@weapon925- So Bale's Batman didn't:
-learn fighting styles
-learn the psychology of the criminal mind
-uncover the plot the League of Shadows had for Gotham
-plan and execute the abduction of the Chinese Exec from Hong Kong
-engineer the device that enabled him to use cell phone signals to emulate the 3-D sonar capabilities he used to catch the Joker
-use dummy corporations to buy a majority share of Wanye Enterprise stock out from underneath the CEO's nose
Yeah, he's pretty dumb. Lucious Fox does all his thining for him.

getupkid
getupkid - 5/13/2011, 8:44 AM
Bale brings a more believable physicality to the role, but Keaton's insight into Wayne's brooding, self-destructive, isolationalist nature is untouchable....
niknik
niknik - 5/13/2011, 8:45 AM
I thought it was going to be a totoal bust using him for the role. He had done nothing but comedy and was skinny as a bean pole. During production many refered to him as "Mr. Batmom".

Then the film came out and I was truly impressed. It was all in the eyes. You look at that film again and you can see when you look at his eyes. The intensity and fire in his eyes sold it. He WAS batman.
CigBreath
CigBreath - 5/13/2011, 8:54 AM
the other day i was imaging like a funny skit where like val kilmer and micheal keaton are in a comic book store buying comics from Adam West (also there is a cardboard cutout of George Clooney from ER) So like, Kilmer and Keaton are like arguing about who was a better Batman, and then Christian Bale walks in and he's like, oh hey guys, and they quickly shut up, and Bale is buying some Batman comics for research and Keaton and Kilmer are like, what are those, and then all of sudden Jack Nicholson walks in the door with a big smile and pulls out his long joker gun and shoots Keaton, Kilmer and Bale, while Adam West ducks behind the counter. Adam stands up and looks over at Jack Nic who is laughing hysterically, and then Adam starts laughing, and Nic sorta stops laughing and looks at the floor. Kilmer and Keaton are dead on the ground but where is Bale? All of sudden Batman swings down outside the buidling, grabs Jack Nic and rips him out the door and up and out of sight. West laughs, the end.
getupkid
getupkid - 5/13/2011, 8:57 AM
Really @Magic? You're right, he's a very happy-go-lucky guy with a great deal of regard for his own well-being. My mistake.
MoumentheBatman
MoumentheBatman - 5/13/2011, 9:14 AM
Nothing against Keaton, I still appreciate his contribution but for crying out loud no matter how famous he might have been before Batman it wouldnt even compare to after!
And regarding being redicilous, Keaton is an actor for crying out loud, it's his job! So, Mr.Keaton, get over it already!
Chrome
Chrome - 5/13/2011, 9:14 AM
Keatons potrayl also gave us batman the animated series (confirmed by the producers themselves.. including the art work for Penguin eas based on the movies).. the batmoble, the DEEP VOICE.. the catch phrase.."I'm Batman".. the attitude.. it all was because of the success of Tim Burtons Batman. Thanks to that.. we got batman the animated series, Superman the animated series, JLU, JL, teen titans. etc etc etc.. it was all Spun off from Tim Burtons batman... STOP the Keaton HATING young people. Before keaton there was no deep voice batman.. kevin Conroy added this in due to the popularity of it and put in the animation. RESPECT
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