Trivia / Batman (1989)

• Ability over Appearance: In the original script, Bruce Wayne was described as a man with "muscles on top of muscles and scarred from nightly combat". Michael Keaton was cast not because he fit that description, but because you'd never suspect him of being Batman.
• Actor-Inspired Element: Tracey Walter was cast as Bob the Goon on Jack Nicholson's personal recommendation when producers asked Nicholson who he wanted to play his right hand man; the two were friends in real life, and their villainous chemistry as Big Bad and The Dragon is all the better for it.
• Approval of God: Bob Kane approved of the twist of the Joker being the one who killed Batman's parents, saying that he wished he'd thought of it himself.
• Awesome, Dear Boy: Jack Nicholson has said that the Joker might have been his favorite role of all, because it was the "least limiting" creation he did (read: lots of freedom to go Large Ham) and the character's Crosses the Line Twice behavior mirrored his own sense of humour. The fact that he negotiated such a sweet back-end deal that ended up paying him more than any actor had received for a role before probably didn't hurt.
• Billing Displacement: Jack Nicholson is the top billed actor, not Michael Keaton, because top billing was one of the demands Nicholson had for accepting the role. Justified, as it's the bigger part and Nicholson had already hit Living Legend status (plus all the money it took to sign him as well). Keaton is listed before Nicholson in the end credits however.
• Blooper:
  • Look very closely during the shot where the camera slowly zooms in on the Joker’s broken and bloody corpse. He blinks.
  • During the Jokers first reveal you can't help but notice a large purple splodge on his neck from the dye on his coat not being quite dry yet.
• Cameo Prop: The surgical tools used to "reconstruct" the Joker's face are the same props as the dental tools used in Little Shop of Horrors.
• The Cast Showoff: Jack Nicholson's Jack Palance impression. It's pretty good, too.
• Celebrity Voice Actor: In the Japanese dub, Bruce Wayne/Batman is voiced by actor Hiroyuki Watanabe, Jack Napier/The Joker is voiced by heavy metal singer Demon Kakka, and Vicki Vale is voiced by actress Masumi Miyazaki.
• Creator Backlash:
  • Tim Burton once said of the film "I liked parts of it, but the whole movie is mainly boring to me. It's OK, but it was more of a cultural phenomenon than a great movie." He also wasn't horribly enthusiastic about how Prince's songs were used in the film. In fact, according to Joel Schumacher, Tim Burton outright wanted Batman out of his hands and was relieved when Schumacher took over the film franchise beginning with Batman Forever.
  • Screenwriter Sam Hamm, one of the many writers who worked on the script, has also absolved himself from the sequence where Alfred leads Vicki to the Batcave, a move that didn't sit well with a lot of fans. Hamm said the scene didn't come from him and that the day Alfred let someone in the Batcave would be his last day of employment. It gets a Call-Back in Returns.
  • While Danny Elfman was overall pleased with his score for the film, he was disappointed with how it was mixed into the film itself.
    It didn't have any care put into it. I've had many scores play in big action scenes that really propelled the scene. And in the end of the [Batman] dub, I realized I could have had the orchestra play anything. I could have scored the film with some percussion, a harmonica and a banjo because all you hear are some percussion hits in big moments, but you can't really hear what the orchestra is doing.
• Creator-Chosen Casting: Bob Kane personally vouched for Jack Nicholson to play the Joker.
• Creator's Favorite: Jack Nicholson named the Joker as one of his favourite roles.
• The Danza: Jack Nicholson as (pre-Jokerization) Jack Napier.
• Deleted Scene: A scene was cut from the parade sequence (but made it in the comic book version of the script) where the crowd discovered that all the money that The Joker was handing out was counterfeit. In a follow-up to The Joker's earlier line that he wanted "My face on the one-dollar bill", all the dollar bills that were thrown to the crowd had The Joker's picture in place of George Washington's.
• Enforced Method Acting: Michael Keaton hated the Batsuit because he suffered from claustrophobia. Burton and Keaton both decided that it would enhance his performance. And it did.
• Executive Meddling: Does the entire last act in the cathedral feel like it was tacked on at the last minute to you? It was. Executive Producer Jon Peters worked it into the movie all behind Tim Burton's back.
• Fake Nationality
  • Batman being filmed in London, there are several minor roles filled by British actors passing for American (most of them doing quite well). Including the young Jack Napier, played by Hugo Blick.
  • The casting of Jack Napier and Carl Grissom is (implied) to be this on both an in-universe and meta level. Jack Nicholson is of Scots-Irish descent, while Jack Palance was a Ukrainian-American, and their characters' surnames both sound British Isles or northern European. But their criminal empire is implied to be primarily Italian-American, given a lesser don named "Tony Rotelli" and another guy who looks stereotypically Sicilian. Of course, the syndicate also includes a Chinese gangster, so obviously Gotham's criminals (at least here) are pretty accepting of different people.
• Follow the Leader:
  • A spate of "dark and gritty" and '30s-'40s pulp-inspired superhero/comic book movies followed, including Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990), The Crow (1994), The Shadow, The Phantom (1996), Darkman and Dick Tracy, the latter two having Danny Elfman providing a rather Batman-y score.
  • According to Robert Wuhl, the cathedral climax was a result of Jack Nicholson and Jon Peters seeing The Phantom of the Opera.
• God Does Not Own This World: The movie's soundtrack is the one and only album Prince recorded under Warner Records he wasn't able to secure the rights of the master tapes to. As part of the contractual agreement to create the soundtrack, Prince had to sign the rights to the album over to Warner Bros. directly. And though he was allowed to perform them live at his concerts, Prince was forbidden to include any of the movie's tracks on his greatest hits compilations; a restriction that would stick until almost immediately after his death, when "Batdance" was included on the posthumous compilation 4 Ever.
• Hostility on the Set: Jack Palance was so annoyed by the inexperienced Tim Burton's methods, that he snapped, "Hey, I've made over a hundred pictures, how many have you made?"
• The Other Marty: Sean Young was originally cast as Vicki Vale, but was injured in a horseback riding accident prior to commencement of filming which caused her to drop out of the project. Young would eventually go on to visit production offices dressed in a homemade Catwoman costume, demanding an audition for Batman Returns, before being escorted off the premises.
• Milestone Celebration: The film was released on 1989, the 50th anniversary of Detective Comics #27, the debut issue of Batman. Special commemorative silver coins based off the film were issued to commemorate the milestone.
• Playing Against Type: Comedian Michael Keaton as the Batman. Keaton himself lampshaded this in interviews with the observation that Bruce Wayne should be the person who looks least likely to be Batman.
• Predecessor Casting Gag: In an interview, Tim Burton said there were plans to have Adam West and Julie Newmar as Thomas and Martha. In a separate interview, West said he was never contacted, implying this idea didn't get very far (West also said if they did offer him, he probably would have refused). That said, he and Newmar did finally get to be Thomas and Martha Wayne in an episode of Batman: The Brave and the Bold decades later.
• Prop Recycling: The doctor's tools were originally Orin Scrivello's dentist tools, and then perverse gynecological equipment.
• Recycled Set: The alien nest and colony from Aliens was reused as the set for the Axis Chemicals facility. The crew had to remove most of the xenomorph webbing before filming, but bits of it can still be spotted if you look carefully enough.
• Romance on the Set:
  • Kim Basinger separated from her husband of nine years and took up with Jon Peters over the course of filming. According to one book, an annoyed Jack Nicholson said to her one day,
  If you showed up on time instead of fucking our executive producer, we'd get this movie done.
  • In a 2017 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Peters recalled that Michael Keaton was romantically interested in Basinger during filming, while he was in the midst of a divorce from wife Caroline McWilliams. Keaton resented Peters when he successfully courted Basinger, who left her first husband, Ron Snyder, for the relationship.
• Saved from Development Hell:
  • The film rights to Batman were first purchased in 1979 by producers Benjamin Melniker and Michael E. Uslan, who wanted "to make the definitive, dark, serious version of Batman, the way Bob Kane and Bill Finger had envisioned him in 1939. A creature of the night; stalking criminals in the shadows".
  • Richard Maibaum was approached to write a script with Guy Hamilton directing, but the two turned down the offer. Uslan was unsuccessful with pitching the film to various movie studios because they wanted the film to be similar to Batman (1966). Columbia Pictures and United Artists were among those to turn down the film.
  • Disappointed, Uslan then wrote a script titled Return of the Batman to give a better idea of his vision for the film, comparing it to The Dark Knight Returns, which it pre-dated by six years. In November 1979, producers Jon Peters and Peter Guber joined the project and Melniker and Uslan became executive producers. The four felt it was best to pattern the film's development after that of Superman: The Movie. Uslan, Melniker, and Guber pitched the idea to Universal Pictures, but the studio turned it down. Though no movie studios were yet involved, the project was publicly announced with a budget of $15 million in July 1980 at the Comic Art Convention in New York. Warner Bros. decided to also accept and produce Batman.
  • Tom Mankiewicz completed a script titled The Batman in June 1983. Taking inspiration from Batman: Strange Apparitions, it focused on Batman and Dick Grayson's origins, with the Joker and Rupert Thorne as villains, and Silver St. Cloud as the romantic interest. Comic book artist Marshall Rogers, who worked on Strange Apparitions, was hired for concept art. The film was then announced in late 1983 for a mid-1985 release date on a budget of $20 million. Originally, Mankiewicz had wanted an unknown actor for Batman, William Holden for James Gordon, David Niven as Alfred Pennyworth, and Peter O'Toole as the Penguin, whom Mankiewicz wanted to portray as a mobster with low body temperature. Holden died in 1981 and Niven in 1983, so this would never come to pass. Among those attached to the script were Joe Dante and Ivan Reitman, who wanted to cast Bill Murray as Batman and Eddie Murphy as Robin. Nine rewrites were performed by nine separate writers, most of them being based on Strange Apparitions. However, it was Mankiewicz's script that was still being used to guide the project. Wes Craven was among the directors that Melniker and Uslan considered, due to their working together on Swamp Thing.
  • Tim Burton was brought in following the success of Peewees Big Adventure. Burton had his then-girlfriend Julie Hickson write a new thirty-page treatment, as he felt that Manciewicz's treatment was too campy. The success of The Dark Knight Returns and The Killing Joke rekindled interest in Batman and inspired Warner Bros. to go in a darker, more serious direction. In March 1986, Steve Englehart was hired to write a new treatment. His version was also based on Strange Apparitions and featured Silver St. Cloud, Dick Grayson, the Joker, and Rupert Thorne, as well as a cameo appearance by the Penguin. Warner Bros. was impressed, but Englehart felt there were too many characters. He removed the Penguin and Dick Grayson in his second treatment, finishing in May 1986. Hamm replaced Silver St. Cloud with Vicki Vale and Rupert Thorne with his own creation, Carl Grissom. He completed his script in October 1986, which demoted Dick Grayson to a cameo rather than a supporting character before removing him altogether. The film was finally given the greenlight in April 1988 and finished production that October.
  • Burton brought Sam Hamm, who was a comic book fan, to write the script.
• Separated-at-Birth Casting: Hugo Blick is a dead ringer for a young Jack Nicholson and nails the grin and mannerisms so perfectly that it just adds to the creepiness of an already scary scene.
• Spared by the Cut: Vicki Vale and Alex Knox were both supposed to be killed off in earlier drafts. Knox's death was still planned as shooting began, but the crew loved Robert Wuhl's performance enough that they not only spared him but gave him a Heroic Bystander moment during the climax.
• Throw It In!:
  • When exploring Wayne Manor with Vicki, Knox (Robert Wuhl) ad-libbed the jokes aimed at Bruce's decorative collection of odd-looking armour.
  • After the Board to Death meeting when the Joker tells Bob to tail Knox, Jack Nicholson ad-libbed his Grissom impression (complete with Jack Palance's breathy voice).
  • Jack Nicholson revealed in an interview that the strange dance the Joker does when he exits Vicki Vale's apartment (when he raises his arms, blows a raspberry, and runs off) was something called the "bird dance" which he improvised during the take. He took it from a friend of his, the late actor Clegg Hoyt.
  • Michael Keaton came up with the famous "I'm Batman" line - in the script it was "I am the (K)night".
  • Keaton was also the one who decided that Batman didn't turn his head. This was because the cowl wasn't fitted to his head quite right and bowed outwards when he turned his head, so it would've looked wrong.
• Tie-In Cereal: The Batman cereal released for this movie was a corn cereal with its pieces shaped like the Batman logo and even came with a small bank!
• Uncredited Role: Chris Andrews as an election ceremony patron.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Pierce Brosnan was the first choice for the role of Bruce Wayne before Michael Keaton was cast, but turned down the offer due to his lack of interest in portraying a comic book character at the time. Brosnan would eventually be cast as Doctor Fate in Black Adam, set within the DC Extended Universe.
    • Mel Gibson was also approached for the part of Bruce Wayne, but turned it down due to scheduling commitments to Lethal Weapon 2.
    • Harrison Ford, Kevin Costner, Charlie Sheen, Tom Selleck and Dennis Quaid were considered for the role of Batman as well before the casting of Keaton.
  • Robin Williams was offered the part of Jack Napier when Jack Nicholson hesitated to take the role. Williams had even accepted the part when the producers approached Nicholson again, and told him Williams would take the role if he didn't. When Nicholson agreed and Williams was released from the part, he was so furious for being used as bait that he refused the offer to portray Edward Nygma in Batman Forever, and even declined to be involved in any Warner Bros. productions until the studio apologized.
    • John Lithgow read for the role of the Joker as well, but personally believed that he was not right for the part and persuaded the director not to cast him.
      Lithgow: My worst audition was for Tim Burton for Batman. I tried to persuade him I was not right for the part, and I succeeded. I didn’t realize it was such a big deal. About a week later I heard they were going after Robin Williams and Jack Nicholson.
    • David Bowie, Willem Dafoe, Brad Dourif, James Woods and Tim Curry were also considered for the Joker before the casting of Nicholson. Curry would later go on to be cast as the character in Batman: The Animated Series, but was replaced by Mark Hamill due to him coming down with bronchitis, his voice being too similar to Captain Hook in Peter Pan & the Pirates, and being considered TOO scary for younger viewers.
  • Don Johnson, Dale Midkiff, Martin Sheen and William Petersen were considered for the role of Harvey Dent before the casting of Billy Dee Williams.
  • Sean Young was originally cast as Vicki Vale, but was injured in a horseback riding accident prior to commencement of filming which caused her to drop out of the project. Young would eventually go on to visit production offices dressed in a homemade Catwoman costume, demanding an audition for Batman Returns, before being escorted off the premises.
  • Kiefer Sutherland was offered the part of Dick Grayson before the character was subsequently written out of the script. Dick Grayson would later appear in Batman Forever and Batman & Robin portrayed by Chris O'Donnell.
  • The Coen Brothers, David Cronenberg and Joe Dante were approached to direct the movie before Tim Burton was hired. The Coen Brothers reportedly turned down the offer as they didn't want to do a film that wasn't theirs. Sam Raimi was also in the running to direct the movie, but was overlooked as he was not a big enough name. Raimi was later brought up again as a potential replacement for Burton on Batman Forever, but was turned down in favor of Joel Schumacher.
  • Prince's soundtrack album for the film was originally going to be a collaborative project with Michael Jackson. According to Prince, he would've provided funk songs sung from the Joker's perspective, while Jackson would've recorded ballads from Batman's point of view. However, Jackson turned down the offer due to his prior concert commitments.
  • John Williams was considered to compose the score for the film before Danny Elfman was hired.
  • Burton stated in an interview that he had initially wanted Adam West and Julie Newmar, from the 1960s series, to play Thomas and Martha Wayne in the flashback. Audiences would recognize West and Newmar from the series and see them get shot, symbolizing the "death" of the old Batman. Script rewrites caused this to be scrapped, and West later said he wasn't even offered the role (and even if he was, he wouldn't have taken it). West and Newmar would respectively voice Thomas and Martha in one episode of Batman: The Brave and the Bold.
  • In the original script, written by Tom Mankiewicz, crime boss Rupert Thorne hires Joe Chill to murder Thomas Wayne because he is running against Thorne for city council.
  • A later draft written by Sam Hamm also has a large part of the film concentrating on Bruce traveling abroad and training with Henri Ducard, whom Bruce would later discover to be a criminal. This script was later overhauled into the version seen in the film, and Ducard was deleted. Months before the film's release, then-DC Comics editor Denny O'Neil asked Hamm to guest-write a "Blind Justice" storyarc throughout Batman-themed comics as a tie-in, and Hamm introduced his character there (specifically, in Detective Comics #599, April 1989). Ducard would later appear, played by Liam Neeson, as a Composite Character with Ra's al Ghul in Batman Begins.
  • That hooker who smiles at Little Jimmy in the film's opening scene? Originally, she was supposed to be only 14 years old. She was also going to be shown chatting casually with a couple of cops, showing us how corrupt the Gotham police are even before we meet Eckhart.
  • Vicki Vale and Alex Knox were both supposed to be killed off in earlier drafts. Knox's death was still planned as shooting began, but the crew loved Robert Wuhl's performance enough that they not only spared him, but gave him a Heroic Bystander moment during the climax.
  • Jon Peters wanted to use a Nike product placement with the Batsuit.
  • In Sam Hamm's draft, the Joker takes down the Batwing in a Joker tank. The ending had the Joker attempting escape via helicopter, the helicopter rouses a swarm of bats that had been sleeping in the rafters, and the bats engulf the Joker, who falls to his death.
  • At one point, Batman was going to use a giant horseshoe magnet to draw a jet-packing goon into the Batmobile's trunk.
  • The script was originally a lot more campy - at one point, there was going to be a scene where Batman fought three jetpack-equipped henchmen of the Penguin's, while the Penguin watched from an "umbrella-copter".
  • In what would sadly be his only convention appearance in 1994 due to his near-fatal injury the following year, Christopher Reeve revealed that he pitched an idea for the film in which he would've reprised his role as Clark Kent from the Donnerverse Superman films in a cameo. This would've placed the film in the same universe as the 1978-1987 Superman films, but alas, Warner Bros. execs said no. Interestingly enough, there would be another attempt at introducing Superman to the Burtonverse films with Superman Lives, with Michael Keaton set to reprise his role as Bruce Wayne before the film was cancelled shortly before production began. The two properties were finally confirmed to be in the same universe in the 12th issue of the 2019 Dial H for Hero comic book series, which revealed that the Donner/Burton film series are set in Earth 789.
• Writing by the Seat of Your Pants: Tim Burton at one point had no clue how the film was going to climax because the producer changed the script last-minute and had the entire cathedral scene created and readied without informing Burton.
  "Here were Jack Nicholson and Kim Basinger walking up this cathedral, and halfway up Jack turns around and says, 'Why am I walking up all these stairs? Where am I going?' 'We'll talk about it when you get to the top!' I had to tell him that I didn't know".

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