Michael Keaton reveals ‘Batman’ regret: “I approached it totally wrong”
Michael Keaton, who famously starred in Batman in 1989, has looked back upon the role and explained what he’d do differently if given the opportunity to rewrite history.
At the time of securing the opportunity to play the comic book hero, Keaton was already on an upward trajectory in Hollywood. He’d recently come off the success of Beetlejuice, directed by Tim Burton, and when the filmmaker was handed the keys to Gotham City, Burton made sure Keaton was signed up for the ride alongside him.
Nevertheless, the elevation to leading man in a project of Batman’s stature was a daunting task for Keaton. At first, he didn’t believe the interest in him starring as the masked superhero was genuine, but equally found the media’s fascination with his casting bizarre.
During a new video interview with GQ, Keaton looked back at his most iconic roles, including his starring role in Batman. He recalled: “When they said ‘We’re thinking of doing Batman,’ I said, ‘Wait, you’re thinking of making a movie about Batman?’”
The Academy Award-winning actor continued: “The fact that Tim said ‘That guy, I want that guy’… the fact that people cared one way or another so much is still baffling. But that was a ballsy move on his part. We also had a nice working relationship from Beetlejuice, so he felt that he and I could get along and would work well together.”
In the same interview, Keaton also expressed regret about his approach to the role, and why it was a mistake to focus so heavily on building muscle ahead of shooting the movie.
Keaton recalled: “One day Jack Nicholson walked by me and goes, ‘What are you doing?’ I said, ‘I’m working out.’ And he said, ‘What are you doing that for?’ I didn’t have an answer for him, he just walked off.”
He admitted: “I approached it totally wrong. It’s better to be really small and little and thin inside the thing. You can move, you can breathe inside. I don’t know what I was thinking, I just thought ‘I’m an actor, I’m gonna do all this stuff!’”
After his first attempt at playing Batman was received warmly, Keaton returned to the role in 1992 for Batman Returns. However, after Burton left the franchise, the star of the two films also decided to part company and was replaced by Val Kilmer in Batman Forever.
However, Keaton eventually returned as the beloved caped crusader in 2023’s The Flash. Explaining his decision to come back, the actor said: “The writing was actually really good. So I thought, why not? It’s cool to drop in and I’m curious to see if I can pull it off.”
Watch Keaton talk through his most iconic characters for GQ below.
Never Miss A Scene
The Far Out Film Newsletter
All the latest film news from the independent voice of culture.
Straight to your inbox.