It's so hard to remember, it being so long ago, but, it went something like this; "Hey Ager," he says "can you help me in both casting and plotting my new Batman movie, I hear you're quite the fan?" So i threw out a few names, Alec Baldwin for Batman, Dennis Farina for Carmine Falcone and he disagreed strongly with both. He felt that in this day and age people want a theatrical villain not some crime boss, out the door went my year one push (even though Baldwin was much too old for year one). Baldwin, he felt, was too big, he wanted a smaller, thinner Batman (these 2 factswe know to be true). The following will be who we agreed on. Almost every actor I use has done movies with him or the lead (if this is not the case I will explain. I will recast and replot each Batman after '89 and brfore Begins. Had they all been successfull we would have never gotten the Nolen era, so let's be glad.
So Tim says to me he wants to start Batman a bit into his crime fighting already, seasoned vet if you will. I convinced him that since it is on him to intro Batman to the world, and if he were to continue for years to come with the same cast a young Bruce is better, he agreed. He was adamant about that Mr. Mom guy as Batman so we did use him in the cast, but differently as we searched for the younger lead. In this new version he wanted the Joker, Batman's greatest enemy to be the villain. I was fine with that. However, I felt having Joker kill Bruce's parents was weird because of the sheer size and population of Gotham. He also wanted Harvey Dent to be spotlighted, I opted to enhanse his role, leading to the obvios in later films. He wanted to create a mob boss to be killed by the Joker out of revenge. The story we settled on was how Batman nearly 1 year into the cape and cowl, has wiped out almost the entire underworld with the help of Gordan and Dent. In a fit of desperation, and no soldiers to turn to, (a perfectly sane, though essentric, Maxie Zeus hires a no-name thug to raid the chem plant... thus creating the vengeful Joker. The rest would play out as he hoped, with added dialogue for Dent. Also, as Joker kidnaps Zeus(who's quaters are filled with Greek mythological artifacts ALL OVER, I mean, ALL OVER), Zeus loses and commands the Joker to siece, as he is the God of Thunder, and then gets electricuted by the buzzer, screaming that it is he doing it to Joker before he fries. Joker makes some funny comment how he was the crazy one. The movie plays out from there as normal except Joker goes to Arkham.
I found that kid from 21 Jump Street and Crybaby, young, dark, eerie, and thin. We were both satisfied
Johnny Depp as Batman
Age: 26
He will stay as Batman throughout the series, as will everyone else
Tim, 1 year later, uses him as the lead in another movie (and several more after that)
There's an actor he's enjoyed in several productions and is eager to use him. I wanted someone more impactful to the audience, to leave a larger impression on them. Once I mentioned the man I had in mind, he was immediately on board.
Martin Landau as Alfred
Age:61
Landau starred as Bela Lagosi in Burton's Ed Wood
Gordon was going to have a bit part played by a no-name untill I interviened.
I've always felt that both Gordon and Dent could put on the mask and look the part (when Gordon was younger)
Paul Newman as Gordon
Age: 64
Newman was approached to play the president in Mars Attacks before Nicholson, but declined to play in another movie
I, again, wanted baldwin, but Tim insisted Mr. Mom be given his due. His role would be great as it would slowly lead into 2-Face.
Age: 38
The perfect pic to use and obviously Burton likes him
He wanted both Michelle Pheifer and Kim Basinger but, since we dropped Batman's age we looked younger.
Jullianne Moore as Vivki Vale
Age: 29
Although she never worked with Burton she has worked with Depp
For Maxie Zeus, the part we didn't agree on, we went back and forth. I stressed how I wanted to underplay his Psyche. Someone who could play scary, indimidating, corny, and since they were in a Burton movie, they had to be eerie.
Christopher Walken as Maxie Zues
Age: 46
I was going to use his Sleepy Hollow pic but I went with the easy 1 here
He told me he wanted Nicholson for Joker. So did Bob Kane. I hated to disagree but I thought he would be Jack-er, just Jack with makeup. I asked who elso he had in mind. His 2nd was Tim Curry but, Curry in clown makeup (It), although good, was obvious and not new. It would draw to many comparisons. He liked David Bowe, James Woods, and Willem Dafoe too. The last 2 I liked.
Willem Dafoe as Joker
Age: 34
I chose the Movie Joker since the part was almost his
Iwill be posting my last Fancast for a long time shortly. It will be the Recasr, replot of the next 3 movies. Its much shorter. No Tim Burton story, just the new Characters and why. Thanks