While the script was being finalized, a production designer was hired to begin building the massive sets the film would require. Burton chose Anton Furst, having admired Furst’s work on Stanley Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket. Born in England in May 1944, Furst studied theater design at the Royal College of Art in London. In the 1970s, he became one of the early designers of laser special effects and started the company Holoco. He entered films doing laser effects for Star Wars (1977), Superman (1978), Moonraker (1979) and Alien (1979). His first production design credit came with the British TV movie It’s a Lovely Day Tomorrow (1975), but it was his fifth film, 1984’s The Company of Wolves, that really made people stand up and take notice. The film brought him a BAFTA Award for Best Production Design, and led to him working with Kubrick. Impressed by how Furst had turned the derelict Beckton Gasworks in East London into a convincing facsimile of Vietnam, Burton felt Furst would be just the man to create Gotham City from the ground up.109 “Anton is one of the best people in any country and I like him,” said Burton. “I always have to feel like I’m friends with the production designer and the cameraman.”110
Michael Uslan was also enthused about Furst’s hiring. “I think you’ve got to give credit where credit is due, and I believe on that first film there were two geniuses involved—Tim Burton and Anton Furst,” said Uslan. “I remember when Sam Hamm’s script came in and it said that Gotham City is as if Hell had erupted from under the earth, and Anton said to Tim, ‘What does that mean?’ And Tim said, ‘I think that means New York City had there never been planning and zoning.’ And Anton said, ‘I get it.’ He goes off and studies all kinds of conflicting styles of architecture, a lot of Japanese, and he came back with blueprints for Gotham City and the Batmobile, the whole look of the picture. And it was genius work. It was really genius work, because Tim had said, ‘If we are going to make the world’s first dark, serious, comic book superhero movie, we have to make Gotham City the third most important character in the piece, because if the audience doesn’t believe in Gotham City from the opening scenes, they’ll never believe there could be a Batman fighting the Joker in this world.’ And he was right about that.”111
Furst found visual inspiration for Gotham City in Orson Welles’ 1965 film Chimes at Midnight. “There’s fascism and German Expressionism and a sort of general industrial mix to these buildings,” said Furst. “The result is timelessness that runs from the 40’s to the future. And the humor comes from taking the brutalism to the limit.”’ The production was based at Pinewood Studios, located 20 miles west of London in Buckinghamshire. Five months before filming was due to begin, Furst went to work with an art department crew of 14, a construction crew of 200, and a budget of $5 million. “With a main street which is a quarter of a mile long, I am told it’s the biggest set since Cleopatra,” said Furst.112 The interior sets for the film filled nine soundstages, and an exterior Gotham City set covered most of the studio’s 95-acre backlot.113
With the sets taking shape, Burton and the producers turned their attention to casting. For the pivotal role of the Joker, Burton wanted an actor who had a kinetic, unpredictable screen persona, a real live wire. For him, that meant just one person—Robin Williams. An offer was made, and Williams, who was a comic book fan, was enthusiastic about taking the role.114 However, from the very beginning, Michael Uslan had felt the only actor who could play the Joker was Jack Nicholson. Jon Peters and Warners Bros. executive vice president Mark Canton agreed with Uslan. Peters had already begun laying the groundwork for casting Nicholson in the summer of 1986 when he was in New England producing The Witches of Eastwick, in which Nicholson played the devil. “We were talking at 3 A.M. on the night before Jack had to do the church sequence in which he denounced women and threw up over everybody,” said Peters. “I said he should play the Joker, and he said, ‘Are you crazy? Here I am playing the devil and making every woman mad at me. You want me to throw my career down the toilet?’”115
Nicholson’s real life was filled with as much drama as his films. Shortly after Nicholson was born in Neptune, New Jersey on April 22, 1937, his father abandoned the family. In Jack’s Life: A Biography of Jack Nicholson, biographer Patrick McGilligan writes that once when young Jack was sent to the neighborhood grocery store to buy bread and milk, he spent the money instead on comic books. When he returned home, he received a spanking and the comic books were taken away.116 Another biographer, Peter Thompson, writes in Jack Nicholson: The Life and Times of an Actor on the Edge that when Nicholson was in fourth grade, he was punished by being sent to stand in the corner, next to a blackboard. Picking up an eraser, he powdered his face with white chalk, then turned and grinned—white faced—at the class.117 If Nicholson’s life were a screenplay, that would be called foreshadowing. So would the honor he received as graduation from Manasquan High School approached; the Class of 1954 voted him “Class Clown.”
Upon graduation, he left New Jersey for California, where he went to work at MGM, becoming a messenger boy in the cartoon department. He also began taking acting classes, and by the early 1960s was appearing in low-budget films at American International Pictures, including director Roger Corman’s The Little Shop of Horrors (1960), The Raven (1963) and The Terror (1963). He also worked frequently on television and began writing screenplays, making his first script sale in 1963 with Thunder Island, a low-budget quickie thriller co-written with Don Devlin and filmed in Puerto Rico. He went on to write scripts for Corman’s The Trip (1967), starring Peter Fonda as a TV director experiencing LSD for the first time, and Head (1968), a feature film starring the TV singing sensations, The Monkees. Nicholson might have continued as a screenwriter if he hadn’t been asked to play a small but pivotal role in a film being made by his friends Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper. The film, Easy Rider (1969), became a cultural phenomenon, with Nicholson receiving critical praise for his role as George Hanson, an alcoholic lawyer who joins two hippie bikers on a cross-country journey. The part earned him his first Academy Award nomination.
Through the 1970s and 80s, Nicholson established his reputation as a powerful, unpredictable screen presence, and racked up more Academy Award nominations for his performances in Five Easy Pieces (1970), The Last Detail (1973), Chinatown (1974), The Shining (1980), Reds (1981), and Prizzi’s Honor (1985). He won Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role for One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975) and Supporting Actor in Terms of Endearment (1983). By the time he took the role of Daryl Van Horne in The Witches of Eastwick (1987), he’d also earned a reputation as a ruthless industry player and an unapologetic ladies man. He’d also learned, from a Time magazine reporter who was doing a feature on him in 1974, that the couple he thought were his parents were actually his grandparents, and the woman he regarded as his sister was actually his mother. By the time he learned the news, both his mother and grandmother were deceased.
With the projected costs of Batman climbing (they had doubled since the original estimate), Warners executives felt that Nicholson’s name on the marquee would give them some much-needed box-office insurance. Peter Guber flew Tim Burton to Aspen to meet Nicholson and talk to him about the movie. Upon arrival, Nicholson said, “Let’s go riding.” Burton wasn’t an equestrian, but he joined Guber and Nicholson for a horseback ride. “I was terrified,” said Burton. “I didn’t realize that horseback riding was part of my job description.”118
Nicholson was impressed with Burton, so Jon Peters was told to cement the deal.119 He contacted Nicholson and asked if the actor would like to fly to London on Warner Bros. Gulfstream 3 jet to see the sets under construction. The aircraft would be stocked with caviar, and there would be a personal trainer and a masseuse on board. Nicholson agreed.120 “Convincing people to do things, or drawing pictures in one’s mind, it takes a while,” said Peters.121 Arriving in England, Nicholson was taken to Pinewood Studios to see the massive Gotham City sets and production drawings. Peters told him he would only be needed for about three weeks of shooting, but as Nicholson boarded the jet back to Los
Angeles, he was still non-committal.122
Upon arriving back in Los Angeles, Nicholson let it be known that he’d be interested in playing the Joker—for the right price. By the time the dust settled, Warner Bros. had agreed to pay the actor $6 million plus a portion of the film’s gross earnings and a 17.5% royalty on merchandising products bearing his visage. It was a deal that would eventually bring Nicholson a reported $50 million;123 some estimates put Nicholson’s earnings as high as $60 million.124 Producer Peter Guber said, “Jack is as difficult a deal to make as any talent deal in Hollywood. He has certain beliefs in his value that have been tested over time. [But then], you’re buying somebody who has an audience from the Sixties, the Seventies, the Eighties, and the Nineties.”125 Nicholson felt he was worth whatever he could get. In an interview with Jean-Paul Chaillet of The Vancouver Sun, he said, “The minute someone signs a deal with me, they’ve made money, so what does it matter? The most expensive item in a film’s cost that people complain about—the star’s salary—is merely a guarantee against financial failure. I’ve made 40 or 50 movies. Only three haven’t gotten more than they guaranteed me. This is an amazing record, if you don’t mind my saying so. In other words, I am not out there destroying the movie business, I am making the movie business.”126
When Nicholson agreed to the role, Michael Uslan was ecstatic. “The day he was hired was one of the greatest days of my career, maybe one of the great days of my life,” said Uslan. “I was just thrilled beyond thrilled.”127 Having agreed to take the role, Nicholson embraced it with his usual professionalism. He contacted Warren Skaaren and began working with him on the Joker’s scenes. “He was like an encyclopedia of culture and history and art,” said Skaaren. “I threw out a line from Nietzsche, and Jack threw out a line from Nietzsche.”128 Nicholson also consulted with Batman creator Bob Kane, and learned that the look of the Joker had been partly based on Conrad Veidt’s make-up in the 1928 silent thriller The Man Who Laughs, in which Veidt portrayed a character whose face was disfigured when he was a child, resulting in him having a permanent, grotesque smile. Nicholson tracked down a copy of the film and watched it.129 He also met with Batman’s creator. “I stressed to him that the Joker is not the buffoon clown that Cesar Romero played on the TV series,” recalled Bob Kane. “He is a psychotic killer, as ghastly as his smile.”130 Kane, who gave Nicholson a Joker lithograph, was immediately enthused about Nicholson’s casting, saying, “He is going to blow this film away.”131
With the hiring of Jack Nicholson, the casting of the central role of Batman/ Bruce Wayne took on much greater importance. Michael Uslan had thought they would go the Superman route, and hire an unknown for the title role since they had landed a superstar for the villain. Tim Burton, however, thinking about the eventual reaction of film critics, doubted whether that approach would work. Burton said, “In my mind I kept reading reviews that said, ‘Jack’s terrific, but the unknown as Batman is nothing special.’”132 Burton shared his apprehensions with Michael Uslan. “Once Nicholson was hired,” said Uslan, “Tim said, ‘Do you agree with me that we can’t get an unknown, because Nicholson would wipe the screen with the guy?’ I said, ‘Yeah, I get that.’ And he says, in terms of that list of serious actors, he didn’t know how to use them and have them getting into a Batsuit without getting unintentional laughs from an audience.”133
Jon Peters had his own idea of who would make a good Caped Crusader, having just screened Tim Burton’s latest movie for Warner Bros. executive Mark Canton and come away impressed with Michael Keaton’s scene-stealing performance as the title character. “When Mark Canton, Peter Guber and I saw Beetlejuice, we went, ‘Wow!’” said Peters. “Michael is so explosive in that character and almost dangerous. We already knew that he had the sweet side, the lovable side and the funny side, but I really didn’t know he had that dangerous side. And that’s when we decided to go for it. It was a big risk, but that’s what makes a movie like this fun and exciting, taking those risks.”134 Having just worked with Keaton, Burton was enthused about the idea. “It’s funny,” said the director, “getting Michael wasn’t my idea. One of the producers, Peter Guber, I think, said to me, ‘What about Michael Keaton?’ I said, ‘Whooaaa.’ I actually had to think about it. The more I did, the more it made sense. I met with some very good square-jawed actors, but I had real trouble seeing them put on the outfit. Physical presence didn’t seem to be enough. I was looking for the unknown. Michael has an incredible temper, and I thought that was important for Batman. Plus, I’d had a very good experience with him on Beetlejuice. He comes up with a lot of ideas. We’re going for a very shorthand psychology here. And Michael is very good at shorthand.”135
Not everyone was immediately sold, however. After feeling euphoric about the hiring of Jack Nicholson, now just ten days later Michael Uslan was dumbfounded by the choice of Keaton. “I got the call from one of the execs, who said, ‘What do you think about Tim’s idea about hiring Michael Keaton to play Batman?’And I said, ‘Oh, great, Mr. Mom as Batman. That’s a great idea. That’s how we’ll do a serious Batman.’ Took him about a half an hour to convince me that it wasn’t just a gag that they were playing on me. And of course I was apoplectic. I had now spent about seven years of my life to bring a dark, serious Batman to the screen and it was like all my hopes and dreams were going up in smoke, and it was terrifying for a short period of time, until Tim really explained to me what his vision was. And I remember he started the conversation with me, he said, ‘Michael, going from comic books to movies, a square jaw does not a Batman make.’ And that was just part of his genius. He saw something that nobody else really clearly understood. When Tim came up with Michael Keaton, it just blew everybody away.”136 Since the actor playing Batman would spend much of the film with 2/3 of his head covered in a black rubber cowl, Burton knew it was important to get an actor with very expressive eyes. “Eyes are windows into the soul,” he said. “You can see in Michael’s eyes that the guy has something going on. And Bruce Wayne is somebody who’s definitely got too much going on in his mind.”137
Among those who thought Keaton was all wrong for the role was Keaton himself. “When Tim first came to me with the script, I read it out of politeness,” said Keaton. “All the while, I’m thinking there’s no way I’d do this. It just wasn’t me. My name doesn’t spring to my mind when somebody says, ‘Batman.’”138 Keaton was already feeling thoroughly exhausted. “I had just finished four films in a row,” said the actor. “I was tired and not really looking to work for a while. All I was looking to do was take a break and read some scripts.”139 Then he cracked the cover of the Batman script. “I read it and thought, ‘This guy’s fascinating!’ I saw him as essentially depressed. I told that to Tim, thinking he wouldn’t agree, but he said, ‘That’s exactly what I see.’ The choice was to play Batman honestly. So I started thinking, ‘What kind of person would wear these clothes?’ The answer seemed pretty disturbing. This guy is in pain.”140 Keaton’s interest was definitely piqued. “There was a lot to like about this character from an acting standpoint and so, as tired as I was, I jumped at the offer.”141 The actor signed a contract that obligated him for only one picture. “I haven’t signed for a sequel and I don’t know if I will do another one,” he said. “If the director and the script were good, I would consider it. But I didn’t jump in with this one and say, ‘Yeah, I’ll do three of these suckers.’”142
Keaton looked no farther than the text of the script for clues about how to play the character. “I decided early on that I didn’t want to start going through comic books and stuff,” he said. “I didn’t want to work that way; I wanted to make this man stand on his own.”143 Keaton had never really been a comic book reader, nor had he paid much attention to the 1960s TV show.144 “Michael brought a freshness to the role,” said Tim Burton. “In other words, he knew absolutely nothing about it.”145
For Keaton, playing Batman was a chance to be in a big Hollywood blockbuster that would kick his career into overd
rive...if it didn’t kill it. “I looked at the script of Batman, considered who was involved, and my instincts told me that it was huge,” said Keaton. “Now, huge means a lot to an actor. If Batman succeeded, it could be a huge success. But if it failed, it could be a huge failure. Not only it—but me! Maybe I never really stopped to consider what could have happened to my career if it had bombed...but I usually trust my instincts, and my instincts told me that I knew how to play this character, and I trusted Tim’s vision.”146 Later, speaking to Bill Zehme of The Chicago Daily Herald, Keaton looked to his future as Batman with tongue-in-cheek self-deprecation. “This is what will happen,” he said. “I’m gonna do four or five of these movies, and it’s gonna become my career. I’ll have to keep expanding the bat suit because I get fatter every year. I’ll be bankrupt. I’ll have a couple lawsuits going. I’ll be out opening shopping malls, going from appearance to appearance in a cheesy van. I’ll kind of turn into the King, into this bloated Elvis, smoking and drinking a lot. I’ll invent a little metal attachment, like a stool, for my hip, where kids can sit because my back can’t take their weight. I can hear myself already—‘Just climb right up there, li’l pardner. Is that yer mom over there? Heh-heh- heh. Go tell her ol’ Batman would like to have a drink with her a little bit later...’”147
Despite having taken a dramatic role as an alcohol and cocaine addict in the downbeat film Clean and Sober (1988), Keaton was known primarily as a comedic actor. The youngest of seven children of George and Leona Douglas, Michael was born on September 5, 1951 in Coraopolis, Pennsylvania. “Our whole family was funny,” he told Lou Gaul of the Doylestown, Pennsylvania Intelligencer, “but my mom was the funniest...Once or twice a year, my mom would set up my brother, Paul, by saying, ‘These mashed potatoes smell funny.’ He would go to smell them, and she’d push his head right in the bowl. He’d fall for it every time, though no one else would. As soon as she would say, ‘These mashed potatoes smell funny,’ all of the rest of us would back up.”148
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