Michael Keaton Not Opposed to Playing Batman, Again

By Reggie's Take on October 12, 2014 • ( 1 )

Michael Keaton while out promoting his new movie “Birdman”, due in theaters here in the U.S. on October 17th also talked about his role as Batman.

During an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Keaton told them that as a movie fan he had no interests in watching nor did he like Batman movies, but that didn’t mean as an actor he wouldn’t consider playing the character of Batman again.

Keaton said under the right set of circumstances that he would be up for returning, saying. “If it was Tim Burton directing? In a heartbeat,”

Batman Returns / 1992 / WB

What Keaton liked most about Batman was the presences of a dual personality, that Bruce Wayne was very troubled and he’s also a vigilante superhero

“Now I can say this, because for many reasons, I never allowed myself to say it at the time: It was never about Batman for me. It was always about Bruce Wayne. He’s funny! He’s screwed-up! The guy is the coolest motherf***er in the world, and he’s messed-up!”

Keaton also explained why he decided not to return for a third time, passing on “Batman Forever” and that it was really more the direction Warner Brothers was going that made him pass.

“I always knew it was a big machine with a big studio and a corporation behind it. But the simple answer was, that approach wasn’t any good… 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?”

Batman / 1989 / WB

Reggie’s Take:

It would be interesting to see Michael Keaton return to the character of Bruce Wayne, however I’m not sure if you could get Tim Burton to return to the directors chair, although I could be wrong.

Knowing Keaton would be up to returning as an actor does bring up something interesting to this movie/Batman fan, what about Batman Beyond? I know it’s been brought up before by different sites and blogs, but lets face it, Keaton is about the right age to play an older beaten down, been out of the crime fighting business Bruce Wayne.

The movie studios seem to be pushing the comic book movies fairly hard these days and lets face it, it’s about the only original material coming from Hollywood as it is. I realize Warner Brothers is pushing the whole Batman v Superman movie in hopes of getting to a justice league movie, but “Batman Beyond” being so far into the future wouldn’t affect the whole Justice League franchise.

Batman is a dark and bruiting character and seeing something like “Batman Beyond” given a chance at the theaters with the right actor to portray Bruce Wayne and a director like Tim Burton might be better received then Warner Brothers might realize.

“Batman Beyond” was an animated television series that ran from January of 199 to December of 2001 with 52 total episodes.

Synopsis: Batman Beyond
Bruce Wayne a.k.a. Batman is in his 50’s and has created the ultimate Batsuit but is no longer able to do the job and places the suit away and vows to never use it. Years later there’s a new breed of criminal terrorizing Gotham City but Bruce has kept his vow.

Terry McGinnis, a teenager whose father was killed because he was going to expose criminal activities at the company that he works for which just happens to be Wayne Enterprises. Comes across Bruce as he was being beaten by some thugs, he takes him to the mansion and discovers the Batcave and the Batsuit; he takes the suit to get the people who killed his father. Afterwards Bruce decides to make him the new Batman and train him.