Batman (Movie)
From DC Database
Contents |
Summary
Credits
Director: Tim Burton
Stars: Michael Keaton, Jack Nicholson, Kim Basinger
Synopsis
Cast of Characters: Bruce Wayne/Batman, The Joker, Vicki Vale, Harvey Dent, Commissioner James Gordon, Alfred Pennyworth, Bob the Goon.
First Appearances: First appearance of all characters (movie versions)
Final Appearances: The Joker (dies); Vicki Vale; Bob the Goon
Synopsis: Gotham City is swarming with crime and only one man can stop it: The Batman.
During a heist at a chemical plant, gangster Jack Napier (Nicholson) falls into a vat of acid during a battle with Batman (Keaton). Napier's face becomes bone white and his face twists into a wicked grin and he becomes the Joker. Photographer Vicki Vale (Basinger) begins dating Bruce, not knowing his dark secret.
The Joker creates smilex gas and uses it to poison the citizens of Gotham, and he plans on using Vale to lure Batman out.
Notes
- Shot between 1988-1989 in England.
- Release date: June 1989 (North America).
Trivia
- The portrayal of the Joker being the murderer of Batman's parents angered many fans of the comics. Tim Burton urged writer Sam Hamm to include the plot twist, but Hamm consistanly refused. But, while the movie was in production, there was a writer's strike. With Hamm unable to prevent the change, Burton was able to include the scene without resistance.
- The scene where Alfred allowed Vicki Vale to enter the Batcave enraged quite a few of the hardcore batfans, especially those who were just upset with the above Joker scene. Writer Sam Hamm claims to this very day that he did not write either scene.
- In this film, Burton wanted to play around with the Jokers Origin story. To tie it in with the Origin of The Batman, Burton made Jack Napier the killer of Bruce Wayne's parents and not Joe Chill. However in the comics, The Jokers name before becoming the Joker was unknown at the time. The name Jack Napier is taken from "Jack" for the actor whom played the character in the film, Jack Nicholson. And "Napier" for Alan Napier, The man who played Alfred in the Adam West series, who had died a few weeks before production started.
- When Michael Keaton was signed to play Batman, many fans were upset. Up until this point, Keaton had been featured mainly in comedies like Gung Ho and Beetlejuice and fans thought he would be a throwback to the Adam West Batman of the sixties.
- Jack Nicholson's hiring to play the Joker brought a legitimacy to the production, much like Marlon Brando's and Gene Hackman's hiring had doon for Superman: The Movie years before.
- Actress Sean Young (Ace Ventura: Pet Detective) was origianlly cast to play Vicki Vale. She was riding a horse one day shortly before production was set to begin and she was injured. Tim Burton and the producers panicked to find another actress to fill the part on time. With days to spare, they hired Kim Basinger, faxed her the screenplay and flew her out to England to shoot.
- Billy Dee Williams was the origianl Harvy Dent. The plan was for Williams to return in Batman Returns and become scarred in the final minutes, creating the Two-Face character for the next movie.
- There was a massive marketing campaign for the movie. Billboards and bus stops were emblazened with the famous Bat symbol, the bat symbol even appeared in the middle of Times Square on New York City. Merchandising was a major factor as well.
Everything from action figures to video games to clothing to even Batman Breakfast cerial was put out to the public.
When all was said and done, the Batman movie had made the biggest multimedia impact since the original Star Wars movies.
- There were two soundtrack albums for this movie.
There was Danny Elfman's orchestral score and there was a contemporary album done by 1980's pop star Prince.
Three songs from the Prince album were used in the movie, including Partyman and Scandalous. He also made a sone titled Batdance, which featured soundbites from the movie in-sync with the song, and also referenced the old 1960's Batman televison series theme at times.
- There are rumors that Warner Brothers considered hiring 80's megastar Michael Jackson to work on the soundtrack before deciding on Prince.
- The look and feel of this movie was influenced by Frank Miller's Dark Knight Returns and Year One series and The Killing Joke.
- This film was in development since 1980. In 1980 Tom Mankiewicz wrote a treatment for a Batman movie that featured not only Batman's origins but Robin's origins as well. Dick Grayson was to appear as Robin in full costume(much like Batman Forever)at the end of the film setting the stage for sequels. The film was originally based on the Batman comics of the 70's and was to be epic like the first two Superman films. Comissioner Gordon and Barbara Gordon were to appear as well as the Penguin,Rupert Thorne and Silver St.Cloud was to be Bruce's love interest. Dick Grayson's parents was to be killed by the Joker and Bruce Wayne's parents to be killed by Joe Chill from the original comics. Mankiewicz wanted an unknown to play Batman,William Holden to play Gordon and David Niven to play Alfred. The film was to be called The Batman and was to be released in 1985 but the script was shelved due to the fact that a director and cast couldn't be locked down. Ivan Reitman and Joe Dante were considered to direct.
- Before filming began Robin the Boy Wonder was to make an appearance in the film and was to be played by an actor named Ricky Addison Reed who even went through costume fitting but the part was dropped by Tim Burton because Robin wasn't vital to the story of the first film. The unused Robin storyboard sequence can be seen on the Batman anthology DVD.
Recommended Readings
Related Articles
External Links
References
- "Batman: Two Disc Special Edition" DVD (2005)
