The wild way Michelle Pfeiffer impressed Tim Burton: “What was I thinking?”
Following up a game-changing blockbuster must have been a daunting task for Tim Burton, but Batman Returns managed to live up to expectations, aided massively by its pitch-perfect casting.
Danny De Vito was an obvious, if-inspired choice for the Penguin, but finding the right actor for Catwoman proved to be a much trickier matter. Annette Bening was originally hired before dropping out after becoming pregnant, while Sean Young infamously arrived at Warner Bros headquarters in a homemade costume, causing Burton to hide under his desk.
Once Michelle Pfeiffer landed the part, she embarked on a months-long training regime to squeeze herself into the iconic costume and convincingly handle herself in an on-screen scrap. She would also embrace the more feline aspects of Selina Kyle, even if one scene, in particular, stretched her method abilities to their very limits.
In the scene where Catwoman puts a live bird in her mouth, it would have been easier and safer to simply use practical effects and cinematic sleight-of-hand to accomplish the shot, but Pfeiffer opted to do it for real, although it wasn’t without its risks.
As she exclaimed to The Hollywood Reporter: “I look back and say, ‘What was I thinking?’ I could’ve gotten a disease or something from having a live bird in my mouth.” However, she admitted “it was fine at the time,” even if she was quick to point out that she didn’t think the bird in question “was drugged or anything” for its big moment.
Fortunately for Pfeiffer, she only had to do it once, but that was more than enough to leave Burton suitably in awe: “I don’t think I’ve ever been so impressed. She had a live bird in her mouth while the camera was rolling,” he said. “It was four or five seconds, and then she let it fly out. It was before CG, it was before digital. It was so quick, it seems like it was an effect.”
No animals were harmed in the making of Batman Returns, then, but an unfortunate stunt performer on Pfeiffer’s first day wasn’t so lucky. After “training for months with the whip master,” the star was gearing up for her first scene wielding the implement, only to reveal she “caught his face with the whip, and it drew blood.” She got the hang of it eventually, though, performing the overwhelming majority of stunts herself.
As someone famed for their dark and gloomy aesthetic, it’s fitting that something as outlandish as one of his performers putting a live bird in their mouth for the sake of a single shot stands out as one of the most memorable moments from Burton’s entire filmmaking career, but that was only one small part of what made Pfeiffer’s turn as Catwoman so unforgettable.
