Billion Dollar Batman

by Bruce Scivally

  After graduating from Connecticut’s Wesleyan University in 1983, Goldsman became a therapist specializing in autistic and schizophrenic children. Finding clinical work too restricting for his imaginative mind, he decided to try novel writing, and studied creative writing at New York University. He finally found his true calling in screenwriting, and had just sold his first script—eventually produced as Silent Fall—when a Warner Bros. executive introduced him to Schumacher. Schumacher hired him to adapt John Grisham’s best-selling legal thriller The Client.44 “The Client was a month and a half from shooting, and they felt the script wasn’t what they wanted,” said Goldsman. Goldsman was on the New Orleans location with Schumacher when the director was offered the Batman film. “When Joel had been offered Batman Forever,” said Goldsman, “I had salivated loudly, because I had been a Batman fan since I was little.”45 Still, streamlining the script was no easy task. “There was a lot of pressure coming in on that third film,” said Goldsman. “The franchise’s future was in danger after the second movie. People found Batman Returns too dark and disturbing and, because of the realities of commercial filmmaking, the franchise was in real jeopardy. But Joel was fearless in his determination to turn things around. I assisted him, but it was really Joel Schumacher who revived Batman.”46

  In March of 1993, as the script was taking shape, Warner Bros. chairman Terry Semel prepared to celebrate his 50th birthday. Semel’s wife Jane and his friend Joel Silver, a producer of high-octane action films, banded together to make a 45-minute spoof of Oliver Stone’s JFK for the occasion. Their film, called TSS (for Terry Steven Semel), followed the “conspiracy theory” of how Semel had become the most successful studio head in town. It featured cameos from Kevin Costner, reprising his role of D.A. Jim Garrison from JFK, and Warren Beatty as Dick Tracy. The film also featured Batman, as played by “super agent” Mike Ovitz of the Creative Artists Agency. Ovitz was known to have a pet peeve with his business associate Ron Meyer, who dressed more casually than the suit and tie preferred by Ovitz. In the video, Ovitz, in full Batman regalia and seated in the Batmobile, turned to Meyer, dressed in jeans and a sweater, and asked why he wasn’t wearing his Robin uniform. Meyer replied, “This is my uniform. I thought this was Batman and Ronnie.”47

  With a script that finally introduced Robin to the series, the studio began searching in earnest for an actor to play the role in November of 1993. Warner Bros. notified talent agencies in Hollywood that they were looking for a young actor between the ages of 16 and 18, of any race, proficient in the martial arts.48 The following month, an open casting call was held on a Sunday at Warner’s Burbank studio. Their press release said no previous acting experience was necessary, though a knowledge of martial arts would be beneficial, but applicants needed to be “sexy, streetwise, aged 14 to 20,” with a “great, athletic, tough body,” no taller than 5 feet 9 inches.49

  BATTENING THE HATCHES

  With pre-production picking up momentum, the script taking shape and the cast falling into place, Warner Bros. went into full protect-the-franchise mode; Batman was worth billions of dollars in ancillary licensing around the world, and they couldn’t chance the next film alienating the audience. The hiring of Schumacher was the first step in a carefully planned strategy to lighten up the character and bring the studio’s promotional partners back to the fold. Warner Bros. worldwide consumer product president Dan Romanelli told Daily Variety’s Anita M. Busch, “We knew we had a problem. We knew that people felt the last film was kind of dark. We really turned around the feeling about Batman as a movie franchise, and Joel was key to that strategy. There was an effort for the retailers and licensees to meet him to understand his vision. We set the high water mark on the first Batman and it was an amazing success. The second was a disappointment comparatively. It was a significant challenge to get the licensees and retailers on board for the third one, and I give a lot of credit to Joel.”50

  In January 1994, Schumacher, producer Peter MacGregor-Scott and Warner Bros. marketing executives held an event on the Warner Bros. backlot for 200 licensees, during which they unveiled the characters for the new Batman film and promised the new film wouldn’t be as dark as Batman Returns. One of the licensees in attendance said, “Warner Bros. knew they had to change the whole positioning of the film. And they did that. That meeting set the stage early on that it was going to be more fun. It was lighthearted, particularly with Schumacher joking around. He said—and we could tell because he’s very flamboyant—that it was going to be a more adventurous, entertaining Batman.” Schumacher didn’t stop there; he also appeared at Toy Fair and the Magic Apparel Show, a men’s fashion preview in Las Vegas, that summer.51 Schumacher admitted there was a deliberate intent to keep the violence in the new film on a comic book level so that kids would not be terrified. “There was a conscious effort, but it wasn’t dictated,” he told Variety.

  At the same time Warner Bros. was assuring their licensing partners that the new Batman film would be family friendly, the lawsuit filed by Benjamin Melniker and Michael Uslan against the studio over the profits from 1989’s Batman finally came before L.A. Superior Court judge David Yaffe on Monday, January 10, 1994. The heart of the proceeding was a deal made between Warner Bros. and PolyGram Pictures that the plaintiffs maintained was a “secret” deal that cut them out of gross profits from the mega-hit film.52

  Operating as Batfilms Inc., Melniker and Uslan optioned the rights to Batman in 1979. Although the 1989 film grossed over $300 million (according to court documents, that is; Variety estimated the gross at $411 million worldwide), the duo received only $400,000 for their producing interest. Claiming they were treated unfairly, especially considering that producers Jon Peters and Peter Guber were paid a portion of gross receipts, they sued Warner Bros. and PolyGram for $8 million.53

  Melniker and Uslan originally struck a deal with Casablanca Filmworks, which later became PolyGram, to attach Peter Guber as producer. On the second day of the trial, Melniker testified that he only learned through the trade papers in 1988 that Guber, along with Jon Peters, had made a separate deal with Warner Bros. to produce the film. Warner Bros. then tried to push Melniker and Uslan into executive producer roles with a deal that would give them 40% of the net profits, whereas Guber and Peters were given a deal allowing them a percentage of the film’s gross receipts. Continuing his testimony on Wednesday, Melniker said that he and Uslan agreed to accept the contract only because they were threatened with being thrown off the film’s production team altogether. Melniker claimed that he and Uslan were only made aware of the terms of the deal in 1988. However, under cross-examination, when presented with notes he had made during a 1981 meeting with a PolyGram exec in which the Warner Bros. deal was discussed, Melniker had to admit that he may, in fact, have been advised of the deal earlier than 1988.54

  On Thursday, a contract between Batfilms and Casablanca was introduced in court that said that if Universal, the original producer of the film, bowed out and Casablanca took over the financing, then Batfilms would, after costs of the film’s negative were paid and Casablanca had received $5 million, receive 15% of the gross receipts thereafter. Melniker and Uslan’s attorney introduced the document to show that their was intent in the original agreement to pay gross receipts, but lawyers for the defendants argued that the point became moot once Warner Bros. took over the film.55

  On Monday the 24th, two weeks after the proceedings began, Judge Yaffe tossed out the Batfilms suit on the grounds that Melniker and Uslan hadn’t provided enough evidence to warrant a jury verdict. Yaffe also ruled that it was disingenuous for Melniker, a trained lawyer, to complain that he was misled about profit participation when he knew the ramifications of the deal he signed. An attorney for Warner Bros., Robert Schwartz, said the ruling “says if you negotiate a deal with a studio with your eyes open and you’re well represented, you don’t come back two years later and say they treated me unfairly... This says the studios are not always bastards. You can’t just file against
a studio and expect a judge and jury to give you money.” Schwartz expected the ruling would deter others from filing “net profits” lawsuits.56

  As the lawsuit concluded, casting and script revisions were continuing for the next Batman movie. In February 1994, Tommy Lee Jones signed on to play Two-Face.57 For Jones, one of the deciding factors in taking the role was his 11-year-old son, Austin. Schumacher recalled that when he went to meet with Jones to encourage him to do the role, “I got there and Austin had a pile of Batman comics with Two-Face on top. Tommy told me he’s doing the character because it’s Austin’s favorite.”’

  The following month, Chris O’Donnell was being courted for the role of Robin.58Variety reported that O’Donnell had competition for the role; Leonardo DiCaprio, who’d won an Oscar nomination for his role in What’s Eating Gilbert Grape? (1993), was also vying for it.59 Schumacher, meanwhile, carried the search for Robin across the pond, traveling to London with casting director Mali Finn. “The day I was in London,” recalled Schumacher, “I met Ewan McGregor, Jude Law, Alan Cumming, Toby Stephens and a whole bunch more that have all become stars now.”60 In the end, the role went to O’Donnell, who had been a Batman fan almost since birth. “When I was a kid I always watched the TV show and had the toys, including the Batmobile,” said the actor, “although they were different than what they have now.”61 An unnamed head of a Hollywood agency told Entertainment Weekly, “Batman’s not exactly a thinking man’s movie. It’s a great career move, but it is a departure from the smaller, more interesting stuff he did earlier. It either shows he’s reaching as an actor or that he’s reaching as a capitalist.”’

  O’Donnell grew up in the Chicago suburb of Winnetka, Illinois, the youngest of seven children in an Irish Catholic family. His father owned radio stations in Wisconsin, while his mother sold real estate. At 13, he decided to become a model, and was soon posing in pajamas for Sears and Montgomery Ward’s, using his earnings to play the stock market. In 1987, while still in high school, he played a cashier who waited on basketball star Michael Jordan in a McDonald’s ad.62 As high school graduation neared, O’Donnell wasn’t particularly planning on a career in acting, but when a casting director came to Chicago looking for a young actor to play a rebellious teenager in Men Don’t Leave, one of O’Donnell’s teachers recommended him. He landed the role, and ended up playing Jessica Lange’s son in the 1990 film. Hollywood took notice, and after a cameo in Fried Green Tomatoes (1991), O’Donnell took a starring role in School Ties (1991). But it was his next role that made him a star. In Scent of a Woman (1992), O’Donnell held his own against powerhouse performer Al Pacino. The acclaimed film won O’Donnell a Golden Globe nomination. After completing his marketing degree at Boston College, he learned fencing and riding to star with Kiefer Sutherland and Charlie Sheen in The Three Musketeers (1993), then went to Ireland to star in the film adaptation of the best-selling novel Circle of Friends (1995). Now, the 24-year-old O’Donnell told The Toronto Star’s Mal Vincent, “Everyone says the Batman movie is going to change my life. Maybe so, but I don’t plan to be Robin for the rest of my life. My life has already changed a lot since Scent Of A Woman, but I think I’m keeping my feet on the ground.”63

  O’Donnell seemed to have cornered the market on playing “nice boys,” and hoped that playing the rebellious Robin would show another side of his abilities.64 He changed his persona with a close-cropped haircut with sideburns and a buff body. Schumacher took credit for O’Donnell’s transformation. After casting him as Robin, he suggested that the actor bulk up, though “he had a good body to begin with.”65 Schumacher also suggested that O’Donnell’s Dick Grayson should wear an earring. O’Donnell’s Midwestern sensibilities balked at that. He called his Irish Catholic parents to ask them about it. His mother hung up on him. Schumacher joked, “The terrible scandal about Chris O’Donnell is that there’s no terrible scandal.”66

  Robin Williams still had concerns about Akiva Goldsman’s rewrite of the script, whose title had now changed from Batman III to Batman Forever, and so was still indecisive about taking on the Riddler role.67 He finally passed in the final weeks of May, reportedly concerned that the character as written was “too intellectual” and not as comedic as the Riddler played by Frank Gorshin in the TV series.68 With Williams gone, the studio immediately hired Hollywood’s new golden boy, Jim Carrey, a rubber-faced comedian who first made a name for himself as part of the ensemble of the Fox-TV comedy revue series In Living Color before starring in the film Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, which was produced for a modest $12 million and earned a very impressive $72.2 million. That same year, he struck gold twice, first with The Mask, an adaptation of a comic book that was produced for $23.1 million and earned $351.3 million worldwide, then with co-star Jeff Daniels in Dumb and Dumber, which was produced for $16 million and earned $246.2 million worldwide. When Fox cancelled In Living Color, it freed up Carrey’s fall schedule, making him available for what was expected to be the start of production of Batman Forever in September.69 “It was a great surprise when I got the call that they wanted me to do it,” said Carrey. “It’s just amazing.”70 From Warner Bros. point-of-view, it wasn’t just good casting, it was insurance—they expected Carrey’s fans to make Batman Forever an instant hit.

  The final major part to be cast was that of criminologist Chase Meridian. The role was initially offered to Robin Wright, who had been in high demand since industry buzz began to spread about her work in Forrest Gump, which wasn’t due to be released for another two months.71 Other contenders for the role, according to Entertainment Weekly, were Jeanne Tripplehorn, who made her film debut in Basic Instinct (1992) and had more recently co-starred with Tom Cruise in The Firm (1993), and Linda Hamilton, the take-no-prisoners heroine of The Terminator (1984) and Terminator II: Judgment Day (1991).72 When Wright finally decided not to take the role, Hamilton was screen tested, and so was Rene Russo, who had just co-starred with Clint Eastwood in In the Line of Fire (1993).73 Rene Russo was said to be Schumacher’s top choice.74

  By the end of June, relations between Michael Keaton and Joel Schumacher, which had begun amicably, had deteriorated. According to The Los Angeles Times, Keaton and Schumacher clashed over the amount and quality of screen time Bruce Wayne and Batman were getting in the sequel.75 This was, no doubt, a sensitive issue for the actor after some reviewers complained that Batman seemed like a guest star in Batman Returns, with most of the film’s focus going to the Penguin and Catwoman. Keaton hoped that in the next film, unlike the first two, Batman wouldn’t be overshadowed by the villains. As a production insider said, “Let’s face it, the Batman movies are about who’s playing the villains—and there’s Michael stuck in a rubber suit.”76

  According to the actor’s friends, Keaton was also angry that the filmmakers were forging ahead without seeking his input, since he had been promised more involvement in the development of the story. He requested a meeting with Warner Bros. executives to express his ideas, but the meeting never happened. He did later meet with Schumacher, but felt it went nowhere. According to Entertainment Weekly, a “Keaton source” said that after one meeting with Schumacher, “Michael was not feeling confident. Creatively, it wasn’t happening. He was worried that the character he’d lived with for two films wasn’t going to be developed the way he wanted it to be developed.” The source said that as the script was being rewritten, “no one ever called [Keaton] to say, ‘Wait! You’ve got to see this!’ Or, ‘Wait ‘til you see what we’ve got for Batman!’” Another “Keaton source” was quoted by The Los Angeles Times as saying, “Michael wanted to breathe more life into the Batman character. This wasn’t a matter of ego. It was a matter of making the story better and the character more interesting.”77

  Another concern of Keaton’s was the salary he would receive for donning the claustrophobic Batsuit for a third time. When Robin Williams dropped out and exhibitor favorite Jim Carrey was pushed as his replacement, it was rumored that Keaton was unhappy that his costar might out-ea
rn him as well as upstage him. Having earned $5 million for Batman and $10 million for the sequel, Keaton now reportedly wanted $15 million plus a percentage of gross receipts, a demand Warner Bros. was unwilling to grant.78 Carrey, as it happened, earned between $5 million79 and $7 million80 to play the Riddler (depending on whether one believed Entertainment Weekly or Daily Variety).

  With his frustrations mounting, Keaton finally decided it was time to hang up his cowl. He made the decision on Thursday, June 30, 1994, making his wishes known late in the day and surprising the film’s principals. In a statement to the press, Keaton said, “I look forward to having the opportunity to play a wide variety of roles of many genres. I hope that several of them will be at Warner Bros. where I’ve had terrific experiences, both with the Batman movies and with such other projects as Beetlejuice and Clean and Sober.” The studio also released a statement, thanking Keaton for his work on the Batman films.81

  Promoting his film Speechless in December 1994, Keaton spoke to reporter Mal Vincent about his reasons for leaving the Batman franchise. “It’s just that I never felt really at home with the Batman thing, “ said Keaton. “I had on this heavy suit, and I kept wondering if I was doing the right thing, if it was working. I wanted all this intensity to come through, and I was seldom sure if it was working...It is a huge corporate machine. That’s not a bad thing. I liked being a part of it, but the new Batman script didn’t seem that rewarding. For me, I’m always trying to get away from the last role. I like to try something different every time out. A woman came up to me the other day and asked if I still did comedy. She said, ‘You’re primarily a dramatic actor now, aren’t you?’ At one time, I couldn’t get anything but comedy roles. Times change.”82

  In his statement to the press, Joel Schumacher took the diplomatic high road, saying, “Michael had contractual and financial lifestyle considerations as well as some artistic considerations that Warner Bros. and I had to consider. We also had the time to consider other possibilities. Hopefully this will be a fresh start for Michael and for Batman.”83 In Entertainment Weekly, Schumacher was quoted as saying, “Some people don’t want to play superheroes the rest of their life. Even Sean Connery left James Bond.”’ But to Knight-Ridder News Service reporter Frank Bruni, when Schumacher was asked why Keaton left the role, he joked, “The inside story? I had Tanya Harding break Michael’s leg.”84