In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Michael Keaton ("Birdman") was asked if he would entertain the idea of playing Batman again.said, “If it was Tim Burton directing? In a heartbeat. Tim, in the movies, really invented the whole dark-superhero thing. He started everything, and some of the guys who have done these movies since then don’t say that, and they’re wrong.”
The other day I mentioned how Tim Burton and Michael Keaton were originally planning to do a third Batman film together, but Warner Bros. didn't care for the dark tone of Batman Returns and had Burton replaced with Joel Schumacher. Not long after Keaton also walked away from the project and $15M paycheck. He was replaced by Val Kilmer ("Top Gun"). “I hadn’t been stupid about it," Keaton explained. "I always knew it was a big machine with a big studio and corporation behind it. But the simple answer was, it wasn’t any good. I was nice. I said to them, ‘This is a really interesting character with a dual personality.’ I tried to make them understand. But when somebody says to you, ‘Does it have to be so dark?... I thought, are we talking about the same character? So finally I just said no.”
In the second of the blockbuster Batman films, the physically deformed criminal genius The Penguin threatens Gotham City--and, helpless, the entire city can only pray that Batman Returns. Only Batman (Michael Keaton) can defend the city from total chaos as The Penguin (Danny DeVito) lays twisted waste to a great metropolis. Meanwhile, the Dark Knight may have met his equal in the lethally lithe Catwoman (Michelle Pfeiffer)--only he doesn't know if she is feline friend ... or foe.
Actors: Michael Keaton, Danny DeVito & Michelle Pfeiffer
Director Tim Burton * Screenwriters Susan Montford & Sam Hamm