30 years ago, Batman changed everything.
Tim Burton’s blockbuster overcame initial fan backlash over Michael Keaton’s casting as the Dark Knight (thank the gods that the internet wasn’t around back then) to become nothing short of a seismic shift for the genre and how Hollywood handled — and would handle — it. The summer of ’89 was filled with sequels, and Batman stood out among the Last Crusades and Lethal Weapon 2s. (Jack Nicholson’s scene-stealing/hammy work as the Joker helped considerably with that.) It was something audiences had never experienced before, from the minimalist marketing campaign centering on the film’s iconic one-sheet to Burton’s goth-meets-art deco/Bat-noir approach to bringing a comic book to life without camp.
Batman and its $411 million box office gross would set the tone for how to market and release a blockbuster and bombard fans with merch. It said comic books could be taken seriously as dramas on the big screen; we wouldn’t have Marvel Studios or Christopher Nolan’s Caped Crusader without it. In honor of Batman‘s 30th anniversary on June 23, here are a few things you may not know about the making of an instant — and game-changing — classic.
1. Awareness was so strong leading up to release of the film, that Warner Bros. dialed back on the traditional marketing spend of flooding the airwaves with TV spots. That’s virtually unheard of now in today’s modern blockbuster climate.
2. An early draft of Sam Hamm’s script featured Dick Grayson. During the film’s climactic parade scene, Joker would murder Grayson’s trapeze artist parents — and the future Robin would be poised to seek revenge for their deaths. The scene felt problematic in that Joker would be responsible for two heroes’ origins by way of murdering their folks. So it was ultimately cut. But the storyboards for it were animated for the Batman Special Edition DVD release, with Mark Hamill voicing Joker.
3. Before Dick Grayson was written out of the movie, the production approached Kiefer Sutherland to play him.
(Credit: WB)
4. Keaton suffered from a bit of claustrophobia when he put on the Batsuit. The skin-tight rubber suit was so restrictive, he famously couldn’t move the head or neck (hence Keaton’s unique movements with the character). While wearing the suit at first sent him into a panic, he was eventually able to use it as a way to help him find the character and form his performance. As he explained in an interview:
“I thought ‘I don’t know how I’m going to do this, I’m feeling really scared. And then it hit me. I went, ‘This is perfect. This is designed for this unusual dude.’ The guy who has this personality that’s really dark, and really alone, and really kind of depressed.”
5. Another issue with the suit? The cowl’s ears were too tall and wouldn’t fit under the Batmobile’s closed canopy. The cockpit’s seat could not be lowered, so costume designers had to assemble a new mask with shorter ears.
6. The film’s most famous deleted scene (above) is best known to fans as being seen as an official still that was released in a Topps trading card set. The scene took place in the middle of Batman’s alleyway fight with Joker’s thugs, led by Bob the Goon. During the brawl, Batman briefly encounters a homeless young girl who just witnessed Gotham’s hero in action.
7. Jack Nicholson’s contract for playing the Joker supposedly stipulated that the earliest the Oscar-winner would show up for make-up would be 9am.
8. As mentioned above, fans were not happy with Michael Keaton’s casting. It made the national news, including The Wall Street Journal. To shut fans up, Warner Bros. hastily put together a short teaser trailer with that infamously featured temp audio. But the teaser was a hit — audiences would pay full admission price to see it in theaters with movies that showed it.
9. The film’s iconic teaser poster was designed by the film’s production designer, the late Anton Furst, and was launched in 1988 by the B.D. Fox ad agency — the same place responsible for the original RoboCop one-sheet. The font on the poster announcing the release date is (*pushes up glasses*) Futura Bold Condensed.
10. Jack Palance, who played Gotham crime boss Carl Grissom, was apparently not a fan of then-30-year-old director Tim Burton. During the filming of one scene, Palance didn’t hit his mark when Burton called “action.” Burton asked the screen legend about it and, annoyed, Palance reportedly scolded his director by saying “I’ve made more than 100 films, how many have you made?”
(Credit: WB)
11. Robin Williams was pursued for the role of Joker when WB’s first choice, Jack Nicholson, declined. The studio kinda used Williams’ name as a bargaining tactic to help change Nicholson’s mind, however. So when Nicholson heard that Williams was taking the part, The Shining star reconsidered and joined the production. Williams would later be rebuffed by another Batman movie, Batman Forever, when the role of the Riddler went to Jim Carrey.
12. Other actors considered for Joker/Jack Napier were Tim Curry, Willem Dafoe, and David Bowie.
13. Originally, a draft of the movie’s script ended with Joker killing Vikki Vale (Kim Basinger).
14. Prince’s contributions to the film’s soundtrack ran much longer than anyone was expecting. The musician was contracted for two songs but was so inspired by Burton’s vision that he created a whole album’s worth. Later, Burton would admit that he struggled with finding ways to work many of Prince’s songs into the movie and felt guilty about that.
15. This is the only live-action Batman movie to feature The Dark Knight against just one supervillain from his rogue’s gallery.
[Sources: IMDB, Uproxx, YouTube]
