The one performance Michael Keaton will always regret: “I was clueless. I sucked”
After his late 1980s and early 1990s heyday, Michael Keaton didn’t really disappear from Hollywood, although it’s not untrue that he actively took a step back after growing disillusioned with the opportunities coming his way after the hottest period of his career.
He did take a lengthy sabbatical from the silver screen, with 1998’s flop festive comedy Jack Frost his last onscreen appearance for four years. When he did return, it was hard to say that things were looking up when he was billed below Ally McCoist of all people in the decidedly ropey sports drama A Shot at Glory.
Still, great actors are always capable of clawing their way back to relevancy, even if it took a while. There was the odd bright spot here and there, like Quentin Tarantino’s Jackie Brown, Steven Soderbergh’s Out of Sight, and a scene-stealing supporting turn in The Other Guys, but it wasn’t until Birdman that Keaton’s renaissance truly began.
His Academy Award-nominated and career-best performance was swiftly followed by ‘Best Picture’ winner Spotlight, an acclaimed outing in The Founder, and a deliciously hammy villainous role in the comic book blockbuster Spider-Man: Homecoming. In a full-circle moment, Keaton’s comeback was capped off by a reunion with the director behind his two most iconic characters.
Whether anyone wants to rank Batman or Beetlejuice first or second, it can’t be argued that those two outsiders are the star’s definitive roles, with Keaton collaborating with Tim Burton for the first time in 27 years on Disney’s live-action remake of Dumbo. The movie was resoundingly mediocre and underperformed at the box office, but the actor’s biggest issue was with his own work.
“I love working with Tim so much, but I don’t think we ever really analysed why we work pretty well together; we just do,” he told The Times. “I think I let him down on one movie, but that’s just me, and it bugs me to this day. I was clueless on Dumbo. I sucked in Dumbo.”
Stretching a 64-minute animation into a 112-minute blockbuster was always going to be a tall order, and Keaton is adamant that he completely whiffed as the ruthless and exploitative circus ringleader, VA Vandevere. Does he have a point? It’s not a terrible performance, and he’s far from the worst thing in Dumbo, so maybe he’s being a little harsh on himself.
Fortunately, he made amends for his Burton-helmed misfire when they re-teamed again for the long-awaited legacy sequel Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, which showcased that Keaton hadn’t missed a beat in playing to the cheap seats as the eccentric, oddball ghoul with a penchant for causing mischief and mayhem.
Many things about Burton’s Dumbo suck, but Keaton isn’t one of them. He tried his best with a thinly written and poorly realised antagonist, but actors have a habit of being their own harshest critic.
