Batman Forever The Story Behind the Surprise Hit Nobody Really WantedIn 1. Batman was at a crossroads. Just four years earlier, Tim Burton had achieved what many thought impossible launching a big screen take on the Dark Knight that was both critically acclaimed and a commercial hit. WB Shop is the official online store of Warner Bros. Get the best deals on Harry Potter movies, Hanna Barbera merchandise, Batman games, and much more at WBShop. Critics Consensus Loud, excessively busy, and often boring, Batman Forever nonetheless has the charisma of Jim Carrey and Tommy Lee Jones to offer mild relief. Burtons Batman was not the campy version Adam West had popularized on TV in the 1. But Batman Returns, Burtons 1. Warner Bros. itching for a change. Batman Forever 1997' title='Batman Forever 1997' />While the film was successful, it fell 1. Its darker tone and grotesque villain Penguin Danny De. Vito was far less toy friendly than Jack Nicholsons. Joker, with merchandising an ever growing key to franchise health. Burton and the studio mutually agreed the director would step back and take a producing role for a third Batman film. Batman Forever ou Batman jamais au Qubec est un film amricain sorti en 1995, ralis par Joel Schumacher et produit par Tim Burton pour Warner Bros. Il s. Batman Robin is a 1997 American superhero film based on the DC Comics characters Batman and Robin. It is the fourth and final installment of Warner Bros. One of Batmans most recognizable items among his prized possessions in fighting crimes in Gotham City is his unique costume. Zero Byte Files Delete. It is popularly known simply as the Batsuit. Enter Joel Schumacher, a veteran director who would change the course of Batmans onscreen history more than anyone could have imagined and not just with anatomically correct suits. With Michael Keaton later dropping out as Batman, Val Kilmer stepped into the cape and cowl as Bruce WayneBatman. A slew of notable franchise newcomers rounded out the cast, including Jim Carrey the Riddler, originally to be played by Robin Williams, Tommy Lee Jones who took convincing to join as Harvey DentTwo Face Chris ODonnell Robin and Nicole Kidman love interest Dr. Chase Meridian. Schumacher personally had to meet with distributors around the world to get them to carry the film. Most toy companies turned their noses up at the project. When Batman Forever hit theaters 2. June 1. 6, 1. 99. Defying all expectations, it went on to break the then record for opening weekends at the box office with 5. I DONT GET ITIn 1. Schumacher agrees to direct the film after receiving Burtons blessing. Keaton is still expected to star, with Robin Williams considered the frontrunner to play the Riddler. Schumacher is juggling duties on John Grishams The Client as he prepares for Batman Forever. Joel Schumacher, director I would never do it unless it was OK with Tim. Hes always been a gentleman to me. Tim and I had lunch and he said, Fine. Im finished Joel, so fine. That having been done, it was a very exciting prospect. I grew up on Batman comics. I was going to get to make a Batman movie. Lee Batchler, screenwriter Later on when we wanted to do the Riddler, it was going to be Robin Williams. With the Riddler, we wrote it with Robins voice. He read our script and loved it, they just didnt make the deal. So when it came to Jim Carrey, he very much did our script. It was just a little less Robin Williams. It was a little more straight. It was very much the same character and the same lines. Schumacher Michael Keaton was going to play Bruce WayneBatman. That was the constant. I was with my friends watching Tombstone. Its a terrific movie, and Val gave a really scene stealing performance. When they were all kind of walking down the street together. I said to one of my friends, God, hed make a great Batman wouldnt he thinking that could never transpire. Peter Macgregor Scott, producer Joel was in the Carolinas shooting The Client. I go to see Joel on set and got Tommy Lee Jones and all of his principle actors working. Tommy Lee and I were quite good friends. Id done Under Siege and The Fugitive with him. And I remind him that he got the Academy Award for The Fugitive. F you he said laughs. Hes a great guy. Difficult but wonderful. Later when we were working on Batman, I said to Joel, Tommy would be a fantastic HarveyTwo Face. He said, Go get him. So I sent Tommy Lee the screenplay down in Texas, and two hours later, he calls me up and he says, I dont get it. I said Why dont you reread the fking thing and remember that the Academy Award winning actor Tommy Lee Jones is playing the fking role And I hung the phone up. Laughs. A few hours later, he calls back and says, OK, Ill do it. And then he got on a plane and flew into Burbank the next day, and we went to work. No management. No nonsense. The deal was obviously going to be worked out. Janet Scott Batchler, screenwriter We originally met with Joel and with Tim, and they told us they wanted to do two villains again, like in Batman Returns. They knew they wanted Tommy Lee Jones as HarveyTwo Face. We suggested the Riddler. Joel also told us they wanted to introduce Robin. Schumacher Chris ODonnell was perfect in the version we were making. I asked Nicole Kidman to play the heroine because I thought there would be restrained but definite sexuality between Val and Nicole. And they overachieved. Getting Jim to play the Riddler I dont think I got him to play the Ridder. I think we raced into each others arms. No one else could wear the suit. I think the audience has to feel with the Riddler that he could outsmart you. We sort of feel that with Jim that there is a mind like Robin Williams and other great comic minds where they are just ahead of you. That he could outsmart you. And yet be totally insane. We decided just to do the Riddler on steroids. Batchler To solve the two villain problem, we said, OK, for this time around, Batman will have his villain. Bruce Wayne will have his own villain. So the Riddlers enmity was against Bruce Wayne, and Two Faces was against Batman. Each persona has its own villain, structurally. Scott Batchler We really wanted to explore the duality of the characters. When we met with Tim, we pointed out that in a role like Superman, Superman has an alternate identity, but hes the only one. Lex Luthor is Lex Luthor. Lois Lane is Lois Lane. In Batman, everybody has a dual identity. Schumacher I asked Drew Barrymore to play one of HarveyTwo Faces girlfriends, Sugar. Debi Mazar, whom I knew as Madonnas makeup artist, had been in Goodfellas. I didnt know she could act, and she sent me pictures that had been taken of her as Bettie Page. The original characters were called Leather and Lace. The studio felt that was a little you know so they became Sugar and Spice, the PG 1. They were great. WHERE ARE WE GOING TO SHOOT ITWith casting complete and a first draft to guide them, preproduction begins as the screenwriters continue to make revisions. Macgregor Scott The first question was, where are we going to shoot it Warner Bros., as big as their stages are, they were absolutely insignificant to be able to put in Wayne Manor or the Batcave. Barbara Ling, production designer For the Batcave, it was incredibly challenging to get the scale. I didnt want it to be a little Batcave. The Howard Hughes Spruce Goose Dome in Long Beach was the only place I could have ever built the Batcave, because you really needed the height. Theres no soundstage that had enough scope that you could go up and look down. It was very difficult to work in there because that was really just a big umbrella. So you had to build a structure inside to hold everything up. That was extremely challenging, building it. But it was thrilling to finally see it work. When you have the car on the turntable, that was six stories high. You couldnt have done it on a soundstage. Warner Bros. made a deal to build sets inside the Spruce Goose hanger, built to house Howard Hughes famed flying boat. Many of the crew stayed on the nearby Queen Mary during production. Macgregor Scott With costume designer Bob Ringwood, we had to create our own manufacturing warehouse to make the suits, using large and expensive pieces of equipment.