Batman
-Plans for bringing Batman to the Movie screen originate as far back as the 80's after the success of the Superman movies. Movie Producers Jon Peters and Peter Guber originally owned the film rights to Batman before they took them to Warner Brothers.
-Tom Mankiewicz wrote the very first Batman script titled "The Batman". Mankiewicz wrote the first two Superman films and worked on several James Bond films (Diamonds are Forever, Live and Let Die and The Man with the Golden Gun)
-Mankiewicz wrote the script in 1983. At the time he suggested casting Jack Nicholson as the Joker and Peter O'Toole as the Penguin. As for Batman, he wanted an unknown.
-Mankiewicz's script was loosely based on the run of Steven Englehart and Marshall Rogers. Rupert Thorne, Silver St. Cloud and Joker all appeared in Englehart's stories.
-DC originally had the power to veto the script or block any part they didn't like. However now that DC is owned by Warner Brothers, such powers don't exist.
-Ivan Reitman was attached to the film during the 80's.
-Batman's costume in the film was supposed to have been the same as the one in the comics. However the colors were supposed to be darker.
-When Tim Burton signed on for Batman, one of the first things he did was ditch Tom Mankiewicz's script. Burton explained in his biography that he felt the Mankiewicz script failed to capture the spirit of Batman and was more of a Superman type film.
-Sam Hamm replaced Mankiewicz as the script writer at the time.
-Sam Hamm thought that it was stupid for Batman to wear a cape and wrote several scenes in his script to show it. In one scene where Batman is chasing Joker, his cape gets snagged causing him to fall back. In the scene where Joker shoots the Batwing, Batman tries to eject, but his cape gets snagged in the plane causing him to go down with it. Both scenes were removed (Thus perhaps explaining why Batman didn't eject from his plane)
-Joker's origin in the film was loosely based on the origin shown in "The Killing Joke". The Corto Maltese location mentioned in the film is taken from Frank Miller's "Dark Knight Returns"
-Hamm's script was rewritten several times mostly by Warren Skaaren. Skaaren removed Robin from the story, improved the Joker's lines and made the most significant change in the movie; Making Joker Thomas and Martha Wayne's murderer.
-Depending on who you believe, Bill Murray was either in the running to play Batman or Joker.
-Adam West wanted to play Batman and was bitter when he wasn't chosen. In his biography, West felt that he could have played a different Batman.
-When Michael Keaton was cast as Batman, fans sent a petition to Warner Brothers protesting the decision. It fell on deaf ears.
-80% of scenes with Batman were done with a double.
-Producer Jon Peters gave Tim Burton a tough time during the filming of the movie. Burton felt that Peters and Guber prevented him from making his definitive film. Peters also tried to intimidate Michael Keaton but backed down when Keaton stood up to him.
Batman Returns
-Tim Burton almost didn't return to make the second Batman film.
His experiences with Jon Peters and Peter Guber left a bitter taste.
Burton returned after given assurances that he would have creative control
over the film.
-Sam Hamm had absolutely nothing to do with the final product. The film is
entirely based on the scripts that Daniel Waters and Wesley Strick wrote.
-Max Schreck is named after a real actor.
-Hamm's original script had a more traditional comic story which was discarded by Burton.
-After it was written out of his Batman scripts, Hamm tried to add the "cape is stupid" scene in his Batman 2 script.
-Waters rewrote the script numerous times and left after he couldn't get it right. Wesley Strick came on to clean things up.
-In the early scripts, Batman ran into a boy mechanic who would help him out later on. This boy was supposed to played a sidekick type role. The role was written for Marlon Wayans.
-Batman Returns was filmed in the United States to make it an American film. Batman was filmed in Pinewood studios where James Bond has been filmed.
-Danny Devito came up with the idea of making Penguin into a mutant bird man.
-Anton Furst was not available for this film because he died of a drug overdose.
-The film ran into controversy when many people complained that the movie was being marketed towards children in the form of the McDonald's promotion and Kenner's toys. It was due to this, that the studio decided that the third film would not have the same tone as Batman Returns.
-Former Batman editor and writer Dennis O'Neill once told a comic convention that he thought Burton was too weird for Batman.
-Burton was set to make a spin-off Catwoman film but it was shelved after Pfieffer became pregnant.
Batman Forever
-Michael Keaton was set to play Batman for the third time, but left due to creative differences and salary demands.
-Tim Burton was not interested in directing the third film so he moved on as producer and chose Joel Schumacher to succeed him. Burton once stated he'd rather stick himself with an ice pick than direct another Batman film.
-Robin Williams was long rumoured to play the Riddler.
-Joel Schumacher wasn't too happy with Val Kilmer and Tommy Lee Jones during the shooting of the film. Schumacher claimed that he manhandled Kilmer once and called Jones a jerk for trying to upstage Jim Carrey.
-Val Kilmer did most of his own stunts.
-Bob Kane, along with just about everyone else, wondered why the suits had nipples on them.
-Two Face's origin is based on the Golden age version where Batman is in the courtroom.
-The scene where Batman hurls extra silver dollars to confuse Two Face was taken from the animated episode "Two Face part 2"
Batman and Robin
-Val Kilmer passed on this film because of the skating scenes. Perhaps his riff with Schumacher also may have had something to do with it.
-Robin's motorcycle "Red Bird" is based on the comics where Robin's car is also titled the "Red Bird"
-Though it is long believed that making Batman and Robin campy was Schumacher's idea, the studio was the one who was behind it.
-At first Joel Schumacher defended his film saying that he answered the requests of parents who wanted a kid friendly Batman film and he gave them one. Later on he admitted that Batman and Robin was a mistake and at the time he was in the business of "selling toys" and not making movies.
-Schumacher changed Barbara Gordon to being Alfred's niece because he felt that Alfred had a bigger role in the movie than Gordon.
-Bruce Wayne's love interest Julie Madison is a character from the comics.
-Batman and Robin was the least successful of the four films.
-Many people have said that both Batman Forever and Batman and Robin are carbon copies of each other. Here are some observations.