Michael Keaton Weighs In on Batgirl Movie Cancellation, Uncertainty About His Future as Batman
Michael Keaton can only assume that Warner Bros. Discovery’s shelving of the nearly-complete, HBO Max-bound Batgirl movie was a “good” business decision — even though it played a role in derailing his return to the role of Bruce Wayne/Batman.
Asked by TVLine for his reaction to Batgirl’s unceremonious cancellation, Keaton said in the Emmys press room on Monday night, “I think it was a business decision; I’m going to assume it was a good one.
“I really don’t know,” he made a point to add. “I don’t follow that that much.”
Keaton had just collected his first ever Emmy, for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie, for Hulu’s Dopesick.
The decision to shelve the nearly-complete Batgirl movie — which was intended to bypass theaters and premiere on HBO Max — sent shockwaves across the entertainment biz in early August. The standalone pic, starring In the Heights‘ Leslie Grace as Barbara Gordon aka Batgirl, by some accounts was not testing well enough with audiences to instill confidence in Warner Bros. Discovery.
“We’re not going to launch [a] movie until it’s ready. We’re not going to launch a movie to make a quota. And we’re not going to put a movie out unless we believe in it,” WBD’s President and CEO David Zaslav later explained. “Particularly with DC, where we think we want to pivot and we want to elevate and we want to focus.”
Batgirl was to mark one of Keaton’s first encores as Batman since 1992’s Batman Returns. He also reprised the role for the long-delayed, potentially-in-limbo, Ezra Miller-starring The Flash standalone movie, and he reportedly has been replaced with Ben Affleck in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (in theaters Dec. 23).
So, when might Keaton next, actually be seen as Batman…? If ever?
“I don’t know. We’ll see,” Keaton told TVLine. Reprising the role for Batgirl “was great, it was fun,” he said. “I really have no idea.” (With reporting by Vlada Gelman)
In his Emmy speech, Keaton called out his “doubters” (which seemed like a down note for a big star who had just won a major award). I wonder if he’s still a little bitter about all the people who said he was a bad choice to play Batman in the first place. (Even though most of them changed their minds after seeing the first Tim Burton movie.)
Michael Keaton was the only person to play Batman that I liked in the role.
Who ever wrote this,needs to learn English and comose a
Sentence that makes sense
Lol! I like how you did that.
Indeed, when composing an sentence pupil should use a rooming dictionary or some such!
It’s spelled COMPOSE.
I loved Michael Keeton in Batman. He really was the best!
I read that the movie was awful so WB decided to shelve it. They are $50 billion in debt right now so probably being really really careful on what they release to avoid massive (more) losses.
HIs statements about the film lead one to think that it might have been really horrible. Unfinished film screenings usually feature a bunch of fans of the genre or IP. Later showings of completed projects are shown to a broader fan base to see how the film appeals to people who aren’t predisposed to like the film. If an earlier showing to folks who should have liked it fell flat? Yikes. I think the idea of shoveling another 30+nillion into a film for a streaming service was a non-starter. The TF show didn’t work. Batgirl probably cannot carry a project. Part of an ensemble sure.
Between the nostalgia for Keaton as Batman (which is sure to be stoked further if THE FLASH ever makes it to theaters) and the wave Brendan Fraser is riding for his well-deserved comeback, I have to believe BATGIRL will eventually be released on HBOMax. Especially if Fraser starts winning awards for THE WHALE later this year. Maybe it’ll have a tag on it that says, “In another timeline in the multiverse…” or something to appease the continuity cops. But I believe it will be released unless it’s just 110% unwatchable. And this is the studio that released BIRDS OF PREY, so “unwatchable” is a high bar for them.
Well first that’s have to pony up tens of millions of dollars because it’s an unfinished film. But they can’t, because as a tax write off they have to basically destroy it or risk fines and paying it all back.
Sorry, cannot relate. In my book
Keaton’s the least likely actor for Batman. Bruce Wayne is supposedly this handsome, dashing debonair, a playboy non-pareil. None of that describes Keaton
I’m mostly in agreement here as well. And I’ve always liked Michael Keaton as an actor. The first thing I ever saw him in was “Night Shift” (1982) with Henry Winkler and Shelley Long, when I was 8. The “Batman” casting was pure Tim Burton, because of their collaboration on “Beetlejuice” (1988). An additional view I hold about “Batman” (1989) is that until midway through, when Bruce Wayne figures out that The Joker/Jack Napier killed his parents, Vicki Vale is the main character of that movie. The entire movie could more accurately be called “Vicki Vale and The Batman of Gotham City”.
I don’t think he was horrible, but this retro nostalgia thing that he was some great Batman was always weird to me. That movie succeeded on Jack Nicholson and tremendous production design, not his performance. It was groundbreaking as a “serious” superhero movie at the time, but doesn’t hold up completely well. And I really like Keaton as an actor, but he wasn’t really Bruce Wayne or Batman. Though it’s hard to cast. A guy as good looking as Bruce Wayne but big and scary as Batman, and can act. They’ve never a 100% nailed it because that’s easier to draw than to cast. No one ever cast as Batman would ever scare anyone, in costume or out. (Well, maybe Bale on a film set).
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That’s an interesting take I’ve never thought about once, but you’re right. Vicki Vale really is the protagonist in the movie. She even has a kind of an arc accepting Batman. We basically end on her looking longingly, other than the superhero money shot. Batman is practically the McGuffin. Bruce doesn’t have much of an arc…how is he different at the end than the beginning? Because Alfred let Vicki Vale in the Batcave? He doesn’t really get his “revenge” and end his story, he doesn’t realize vengeance isn’t the answer, justice is, he’s pretty much the same.
it was counter casting.
keaton did something more interesting than the usual version of wayne.
he even showed wayne unafraid of going toe to toe with the joker, even freaking him out at one point.
‘i know who you are…..’