The director of Batman Forever and Batman & Robin, Joel Schumacher, has been talking about his turn as Batman's director...
The summer of 1997 proved a turning point in the career of director Joel Schumacher. Up until that point, he was one of Warner Bros' go-to directors, alternating Batman films with John Grisham movie adaptations, and turning them each into box office gold. Furthermore, his directorial CV is not short of interesting movies before that, from The Lost Boys to Falling Down.
Yet then Batman & Robin happened. And whilst Schumacher has made the odd good film since - Tigerlandfor a start - things clearly haven't been the same since.
In a new chat with Variety, Schumacher has been looking back at his time making Batman movies. And whilst a good chunk of what he's said there is stuff has covered before, it's no less interesting.
He revealed, for instance, that taking Batman darker was never an option open to him. "Because of Batman Returns, families had objected that it was too adult, which is no criticism of Tim Burton's. When they offered it to me, I went to Tim and said 'this is your franchise and they want me to do it. I won't do it if you don't want me to'."
Burton's response was to take it, as he had no intention of making another Batman. And as Schumacher recalled, "even though Batman Forever is really sexy, it was a movie the whole family could see." As Schumacher also correctly noted, "it was the biggest movie of the year and the cheapest Batman ever made."
Batman & Robin would be the first, and to date only, sequel that Schumacher had directed, and it was a project hit by Val Kilmer's late departure. Schumacher brought in George Clooney who "made a noble effort", but admits that the problems with the movie lie at his own door. "I was the problem with Batman & Robin", he told Variety. "I did my job. But I never got my ass in the seat right".
"I just hope whenever I see a list of the worst movies ever made, we’re not on it. I didn’t do a good job. George did. Chris [O’Donnell] did. Uma [Thurman] is brilliant in it. Arnold is Arnold."
There's no harm in hoping, we guess. And yeah, "Arnold is Arnold" does sum up one of the issues quite well.
Of course, it's a film too that'll always be remembered for giving Batman nipples. So was Schumacher surprised that the Batpecks turned into the issue they did? "Yes," he replied. "I was like 'are you kidding me?' I think that will be on my gravestone. It's how I'll be remembered".
The man who gave Batman nipples. If only we could all be remembered so.
The full piece with Variety can be found here.
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