The comic book genre continues to be wildly popular, thanks to various cinematic universes currently in play. But long before co-CEO James Gunn created the DCU, there were the Batman movies. That franchise began with Tim Burton's pair of movies, before Joel Schumacher took over for two more titles (all of which are streaming with an HBO Max subscription). Chris O'Donnell starred as Dick Grayson/ Robin in the Schumacher sequels, and recently explained what went wrong with Batman & Robin. Although I have to admit I totally love that 1997 camp classic.

Fans who watched the DC movies in order will recall how the tone changed when late filmmaker Joel Schumacher took over for Batman Forever and Batman & Robin. O'Donnell played Batman's sidekick in both of those titles, and during an appearance on I've Never Said This Before with Tommy DiDario, he addressed what happened with the somewhat infamous latter movie. In his words:

Points were made. Batman & Robin came out just two years after Batman Forever, which means that pre-production might have begun shortly after the first Schumacher movie was released. And for O'Donnell's money, it was corporate greed that resulted in the project being more campy and less well-received than its predecessor.

Plenty of folks like Batman & Robin, but you can't deny that it leans heavily on camp. It was a box office and critical failure, and was responsible for the Batman franchise being dropped altogether. For his part, Joel Schumacher was planning another project called Batman Unchained before the studio dropped it.

Later in the same interview, the Grey's Anatomy alum went on to share how the studio simply kept throwing money at Batman & Robin. O'Donnell shared his perspective, offering:

The camp factor is part of the reason why the 1997 DC blockbuster has so many fans today, and why it's become a bit of a cult classic. Batman & Robin's inherent queerness is also something that many young fans connected with, and why Chris O'Donnell was countless LGBTQ+'s first crush. So while it's ended up aging surprisingly well, both critics and audiences weren't fond of the movie upon its release.

Batman & Robin is streaming on HBO Max, along with old and new DC titles. The next upcoming DC movie hitting theaters is Supergirl on June 26th as part of the 2026 movie release list. Hopefully, O'Donnell is able to appreciate the 1997 movie's legacy sooner rather than later.

While superhero movies are everywhere thanks to the various cinematic universes in play, there was a time when they were big risks for the studio. Given how popular the Caped Crusader is, fans spent years watching Batman movies in order, including the franchise that ran through the '90s (which is streaming with a Max subscription). And while it's usually listed lower when ranking the Batman movies, Joel Schumacher's 1997 movie Batman& Robin is campy fun that I've always loved. But we need to talk about the queerness of this comic book flick.

To be clear, there aren't any LGBTQ+ characters or storyline in this movie. But there are various elements of it that feel inherently queer. And speaking as a nerdy kid from the '90s, I'm not the only one of my peers who shares the same connection to Joel Schumacher's delightfully bonkers classic. So without further ado, here are the biggest moments that have made Batman & Robin into a queer cult classic. 

Chris O'Donnell, especially after kissing Poison Ivy

For many LGBTQ+ kids who grew up in the '90s, Chris O'Donnell was a major heartthrob, one who some queer fans have claimed as their gay awakening. He had (and still has) extremely handsome features, and was the dreamy bad boy of the franchise.

In Batman & Robin he spent way more time suited up as a bonafide hero, although he did clash with George Clooney's Bruce Wayne from time to time-- primarily about their shared attraction to Uma Thurman's villainous Poison Ivy. This plot point boils over in the movie's final act, where Robin eventually goes to Ivy's lair because her pheromones are so strong. The two kiss, which should kill the young hero... if he weren't wearing latex over his lips.

The after affects of said kiss, and the image of O'Donnell peeling off his rubber lips (which are essentially... condoms?) has been cemented on the memory of countless queer millennials who grew up watching the Batman franchise. And that's before he continued his career as a dreamboat in Grey's Anatomy and NCIS: Los Angeles.

Uma Thurman is in drag, including a burlesque number.

Perhaps the most queer-coded thing about Batman & Robin is Uma Thurman's truly iconic take on Poison Ivy. Let's be very clear: the Kill Bill actress is doing drag in this role. She's got her eyebrows blocked, with new ones drawn on and a Divine-inspired large eye shape. She's truly chewing the scenery throughout the movie, and her line deliveries are over the top and completely campy. I mean, who can forget her fight with Alicia Silverstone's Batgirl, where she famously declared:

Late filmmaker Joel Schumacher was an openly gay man himself, so I can only imagine that the costuming and overall direction for Poison Ivy was purposeful in Batman & Robin. And nowhere does she feel like more of a drag queen than Uma Thurman's bonkers and iconic burlesque number, where she starts as a big purple gorilla and is eventually lifted by ripped muscle guys. If this wasn't a formative movie for you and you need a reminder, you can re-watch that sequence below:

I mean, come on. If you weren't recreating this dance scene and doing all of Ivy's moves, were you even a closeted kid from the '90s? This striptease number didn't bring much to the plot of Batman & Robin, yet it remains one of the most iconic scenes from the 1997 blockbuster. I personally would love to know what kind of direction Uma Thurman was given by Schumacher about her performance the film. Both she and Arnold Schwarzenegger are over the top with their portrayals of Batman villains, although I have to say that Uma steals the movie as a whole thanks to her slinky, drag-infused take on Doctor Pamela Isley. 

The infamous Bat-butts and nipples

Over the years Batman & Robin has synonymous with a few aspects of Joel Schumacher's vision for the film. One of these is George Clooney's open disdain for the project, including his performance as Bruce Wayne. Another is the truly wild costume design for Batman and Robin's signature super suits. The look changed for each installment of the franchise, but Batman & Robin made the bold swing of making them more anatomically correct. That includes the infamous Bat-nipples, as well as multiple close-up shots of the heroes' butts.

Giving the two title characters realistic-looking nipples was something that nobody was asking for, but they did end up being iconic... for the better or worse. Batman & Robin opens on the two heroes suiting up to fight crime in Gotham City. We're treated to close-up shots of their chest plates, utility belts, and spiked gauntlets. All that seems fine enough, but then we're given bonkers close up shots of both George Clooney and Chris O'Donnell's butt armor. This is yet another memory that is burned into the minds of '90s kids who were still discovering themselves and their sexuality. 

The TV and film industry had a very long way to go regarding LGBTQ+ representation in the 1990s, but movies like Batman & Robin offered some queer-coded characters that young people could identify with... even if younger fans like myself originally didn't understand why we felt so strongly about the1997 DC flick. So while George Clooney and other members of the cast and crew might not love the film's legacy (although Clooney reprised his role recently for a cameo in Andy Muchietti's The Flash), Batman & Robin has had a lasting impression on queer kids who went to see the movie in theaters (or had their own VHS copy.) And since a gay director was at the heart of the movie, I have to assume that it was a purposeful gift to young LGBTQ+ fans. I only wish I could have thanked Joel Schumacher before his passing. 

Batman & Robin is streaming now on Max, which is the home for all things DC. The Caped Crusader is expected to return to the big screen in The Batman Part II on October 2nd 2026. In the meantime, check out the 2025 movie release dates.

Batman Forever is not the most popular in the long series of Batman movies, it may not be a movie you watch unless you decide to marathon the Batman movies in order, but it almost certainly has the most popular song ever associated with a Batman movie. “Kiss From a Rose” was an absolute smash that made Seal a global star and won him three Grammy awards. But you may not be aware that before the song was a hit, it had already been a flop-- one that might have ended Seal’s career if it weren’t for Joel Schumacher.

In a video posted to Twitter by Seal himself, he tells the story that the song was originally released in the summer of 1994, a year before Batman Forever hit theaters. But the song flopped, essentially ending the promotion of Seal’s second studio album. But he was then called by director Joel Schumacher, who was a fan and was looking for a song. Seal explained… 

While he initially told Schumacher he didn’t have anything to give him, he ultimately gave him “Kiss From a Rose,” which had actually been part of the soundtrack to another movie, The NeverEnding Story III, already. Schumacher apparently took the song to try in the movie, which, if you’ve seen Batman Forever you know isn’t how the song appears in the film. That was the Joel Schumacher decision that likely changed everything for Seal. He continued… 

It is remarkable to think that “Kiss From a Rose,” one of the biggest pop hits of its decade, came so close to being forgotten. Given its initial failure, if Schumacher had simply decided the song didn’t work in the movie it still wouldn’t have become the hit that it became. Of everything that happened behind the scenes of Batman Forever, this may have been the biggest decision. It was ultimately because the director loved the song that he found a place for it. As Seal says, he may owe his career to Joel Schumacher.  

A movie like Batman Forever, a film based on one of the most popular comic book characters ever, is the sort of film that is going to continue to attract fans for decades. And when it does, more people will discover “Kiss From a Rose.” The song is almost guaranteed to stand the test of time and become a true classic. With at least two upcoming Batman movies, we'll have to wait and see if either of them even tries to outdo this one. 

Kiefer Sutherland has had a remarkable career in film and television that has lasted over 30 years. From the coming of age drama Stand by Me to his role as Jack Bauer in 24, which Sutherland may not be quite done with, the actor has played many memorable roles that have become part of popular culture at large. But the actor also thinks he may have accidentally been a style icon as well, though not a very good one. It seems Sutherland’s character in The Lost Boys may have greatly helped to popularize the mullet.

Speaking with GQ, Kiefer Sutherland recently recounted several of his most popular roles and when discussing the character of David, the vampire he played in The Lost Boys, the actor states that he ended up with the “business up front, party in the back” haircut because he was trying to emulate his own rock ‘n’ roll idol, while also staying true to instructions he received from director Joel Schumacher. Sutherland explained… 

Having now read this description, you can certainly see it when you look at David in The Lost Boys. He’s got the short spikey white hair of Billy Idol down perfectly. While the “White Wedding” singer has appeared in films, he could have been a star in his own right on screen, as Idol was supposed to co-star in Terminator 2 once upon a time. Then you add the long hair in the back that the director really wanted. If Kiefer Sutherland had kept his hair completely long he still would have looked like an ‘80s rocker, but a completely different sort.

The mullet as a hairstyle certainly predated The Lost Boys, but the style’s height of popularity was, without question, the 1980s. And so it’s certainly possible that Kiefer Sutherland’s appearance in The Lost Boys was part of what brought about that popularity. A young Jeremy Renner sported a mullet back in the day and so did a lot of others. While the mullet is derided now, David in The Lost Boys is sort of the epitome of cool for the era. It’s not hard to imagine people wanting to emulate the characters look and then going and getting the haircut to match. 

It’s actually funny to hear Kiefer Sutherland say that he changed his hair because he thought he looked like a “bad wrestler” considering how popular the mullet would become among wrestlers for a long time. Perhaps that’s because of what happened here and the massive unintentional influence of The Lost Boys. Will we see something similar happen if The Lost Boys gets remade?

Next month, fans will be able to see a reimagining of Gotham from the mind of Matt Reeves, the director behind Cloverfield and two of the best Planet of the Apes films. And while we think Robert Pattinson holds his own as the latest incarnation of Bruce Wayne and his costume alter ego in the upcoming The Batman, it’s the villains in the drama who you will be talking about in the weeks and months after your screening. Colin Farrell, in particular, turns heads as Oswald Cobblepot, a crime boss better known as The Penguin. And Farrell, the actor, was in close proximity with the Batman legacy long before he stepped into his role. 

When Colin Farrell was coming up in the industry as a young Irish talent, he collaborated on two projects with the late Joel Schumacher, 2000’s Tigerland (which got Farrell a lot of critical recognition) and the claustrophobic Phone Booth in 2002. At that time, Schumacher was attempting to repair his reputation as a director, having taken a beating for helming 1995’s Batman Forever and 1997’s Batman & Robin. Given the chance to interview Farrell for his work in Matt Reeves’ The Batman, we asked the actor if Schumacher shared any war stories from his time in the Bat franchise, and he opened up to us by saying:

That “route” was a more colorful and campy route, probably one more akin to the 1960s Adam West-led Batman television show, propped up by cheeky puns and over-the-top villains played by A-list actors. Joel Schumacher, in his own way, was building off of the gothic take that Tim Burton brought to the franchise in his two films. But he has also admitted in interviews that he relented to the studio’s pressure to make movies that appealed to kids and sold a lot of toys. 

Here’s that apology that Colin Farrell was speaking of: 

This is unnecessary. Is Batman & Robin any good? No. Just ask George Clooney, who rips his performance in that movie every chance that he gets. But did it fit the mold of what superhero movies were chasing at that time? Yes. Christopher Nolan hadn’t made every comic-book adaptation “gritty” and “realistic” yet. In fact, Batman Begins was a direct answer to Batman & Robin, so you can argue that we don’t GET Nolan’s trilogy if not for Schumacher. 

It’s so touching listening to Colin Farrell talk about his close friend and former director Joel Schumacher, who died in 2020. And the actor is mesmerizing in The Batman, which reaches theaters on March 4, and is just one of the many upcoming 2022 movies that need to be on your movie-going radar. 

Long before cinematic universes and comic book movies became commonplace, Michael Keaton played beloved DC vigilante Batman in Tim Burton’s pair of movies. It’s almost hard to believe, but he’ll be stepping back into the cowl and cape in two different upcoming blockbusters. And Keaton recently got honest about why he didn’t return as Bruce Wayne in 1995’s Batman Forever.

While Michael Keaton was the OG Bruce Wayne from the ‘90s franchise, he was followed by Val Kilmer in Batman Returns, and George Clooney in Batman & Robin. Those latter projects were directed by Joel Schumacher, after Tim Burton left the franchise. Keaton recently spoke to his approach to Gotham’s Protector, saying:

He’s not wrong. While Batman does all the cool superhero action on the page and screen, the character’s true identity is Bruce Wayne. And Michael Keaton seems to think that focusing on Bruce’s backstory and struggles are ultimately more important than throwing batarangs and kicking ass. But how does this relate to his departure ahead of Batman Forever?

Michael Keaton opened up about his original tenure as Bruce Wayne while appearing on Backstage’s official podcast. The conversation covered this long and successful career, eventually touching on his time collaborating with Tim Burton in the first two Batman films. But the franchise changed quite a bit when Joel Schumacher was tapped to helm Batman Forever, ultimately resulting in the actor’s departure.

In that same conversation, Michael Keaton discussed the disconnect between his vision and that of the late Joel Schumacher. The Birdman actor didn’t mention Schumacher by name, but spoke plainly by saying:

But what exactly were these conversations about? Luckily Michael Keaton also shared those details. It turns out it was largely about tone, with Joel Schumacher’s pair of Batman movies being a bit lighter and more family-friendly. This seemingly didn’t sit right with Keaton, as he put it:

Well, there you have it. And Michael Keaton’s assessment of Batman is one that future filmmakers like Zack Snyder and Christopher Nolan would likely agree with. The last few version of Bruce Wayne have been gritty and dark, showing what a tortured soul the beloved hero is. But Joel Schumacher seemingly wanted to have more fun with projects like Batman Returns.

Luckily for fans of Michael Keaton’s Batman, he’s going to be back under the cowl before we know it. The Oscar nominated actor will appear in Ezra Miller’s The Flash movie, which will seemingly open the multiverse while also including Ben Affleck’s version of Bruce Wayne. Additionally, it was just announced that Keaton will once again play the Dark Knight in HBO Max’s Batgirl.

The Flash will hit theaters November 4th, 2022. In the meantime, check out the 2022 movie release dates to plan your next movie experience. 

To people of a certain age, there are no vampire movies more iconic than Joel Schumacher’s 1987 horror classic The Lost Boys. With remarkable performances by Kiefer Sutherland, Jason Patric, and “The Two Coreys,” as well as a great story and setting, there are multiple reasons the movie has a soft spot in so many hearts nearly 35 years after its release. And with a remake on the way, now seems like the perfect time to go back to the small beach town of Santa Carla, California, and take a trip down the boardwalk of memories and awesome behind-the-scenes facts. Who knows, there might be stories involving The Sexy Sax Guy…

Richard Donner Was Originally Attached To Direct A More Kid Friendly Version Of The Lost Boys

The version of The Lost Boys we all know and love is quite different from what was originally pitched during the film’s development. Instead of being a moody and angsty movie with motorcycle-riding vampires directed by Joel Schumacher, The Lost Boys was initially going to be geared more towards a younger audience with the late Richard Donner at the helm. In 2008, Schumacher told The Hollywood Interview that Donner (who stayed on as executive producer) was in the director’s chair and wanted to make a “cutesy, ‘G’-rated movie” with no wild teenagers or motorcycles. But, after Donner got a chance to direct Lethal Weapon he handed the reins over to Schumacher to do his magic.

Joel Schumacher Spent Six Weeks Trying To Convince Jason Patric To Join The Lost Boys Cast

A lot of the weight of The Lost Boys lies on the shoulders of Jason Patric and his performance as the tormented Michael Emerson as he comes to terms with becoming a vampire, and director Joel Schumacher immediately saw something in the young and relatively unknown actor when casting. Getting Patric to sign on would prove to be no easy task for Schumacher, as Patric continually turned down his offer. In the 2004 documentary The Lost Boys: A Retrospective, Schumacher revealed that he met with Patric pretty much every day for six weeks and tried to convince him that the movie wouldn’t be like other exploitation horror movies. Patric finally relented and agreed to sign on, which was good news for Schumacher, because he didn’t have a second choice lined up.

The Lost Boys Included Unused B-Roll Footage From Top Gun Due To Budget Cuts

There seems to be a trend with classic ‘80s horror movies experiencing budget cuts just before the start of production, and it’s no different for The Lost Boys. Shortly before his passing in June 2020, director Joel Schumacher told Empire that Warner Bros. got “cold feet” just before shooting was about to start and slashed the budget by $2 million. The art department was affected the most, and production designer Bo Welch had to come up with some ingenious ways of doing more with less. One of these ways was taking unused B-roll footage from Top Gun that was then used for the POV shot of a vampire flying through the clouds.

Kiefer Sutherland’s Look In Lost Boys Was Inspired By Billy Idol

Kiefer Sutherland’s David Powers may be one of main antagonists in The Lost Boys but he has remained a fan favorite and heartthrob over the years due to his iconic look (that platinum blonde mullet). Initially, David was supposed to have a different look, as Sutherland told Yahoo Entertainment in 2019. According to the actor, Schumacher wanted David to have long blonde hair, but this made Sutherland look like a wrestler and he wasn’t really fond of the appearance. So, on his first day on set, Sutherland had the makeup team trim his hair short on the top and sides to make him look more like Billy Idol, who he said was really cool at the time. And, even though Schumacher wasn’t pleased at first, Sutherland said he and the director laughed about it for years.

Corey Feldman Based His Portrayal Of Edgar Frog On ‘80s Action Movie Heroes

Corey Feldman’s Edgar Frog is another iconic character from The Lost Boys, and part of the reason for that is the way in which he portrayed a teenage vampire hunter alongside his on-screen brother, Alan Frog (Jamison Newlander). In the above mentioned 2004 documentary, the Stand By Me star revealed that when he was doing a reading of the script, Joel Schumacher approached him and said he needed to “butch it up a little bit.” What he meant by this was to go home and watch various Sylvester Stallone, Chuck Norris, and other action movies of the time, and meld those characters together to create something. What we got was Edgar Frog, fearless teenage vampire hunter.

Alex Winter’s First Day On Set Was The Famous Beach Party And He Had No Idea What He Was Getting Himself Into

There is one scene in particular in The Lost Boys that has become a monster of its own in the decades since the film’s 1987 release, and that is the beach party scene that features Tim Cappello, a.k.a. Sexy Sax Guy, all oiled up and singing “I Still Believe” as hundreds of party-goers dance on the beach. Well, as ridiculous (and ridiculously awesome) as this scene is for those watching the movie, it was even more so for the cast, as Alex Winter revealed during a 2021 interview with CinemaBlend:

Tim Cappello and “I Still Believe” have each gone on to become two of most memorable parts of The Lost Boys, and the song was even used in a pivotal scene in the 2018 Paramount Network limited series Waco with Taylor Kitsch’s David Koresh playing the song as federal agents wait outside the Branch Davidian compound.

Kiefer Sutherland Broke His Wrist While Trying To Impress A Girl On Set

Kiefer Sutherland and the actors who played the other motorcycle-riding vampires in The Lost Boys did their own stunt work during production. And, though this makes all the classic motorcycle scenes look even more badass, there were some drawbacks, like the time Sutherland broke his wrist while trying to impress a girl walking along the Santa Cruz boardwalk.

During the 2019 Dallas FanExpo, Kiefer Sutherland shared the story and explained that he performed a wheelie in an attempt to show off, but by doing so he failed to notice a train track. Upon hitting the obstacle, the actor was thrown off the bike and broke his right wrist in three places. After that a special cast had to be created for Sutherland, who also had to start riding a bike with the brake and clutch on the left side because of the injured wrist.

‘The Two Coreys’ Became Fast Friends On The Set Of The Lost Boys

In the late ‘80s and early ‘90s there were few duos of young actors more recognizable than Corey Feldman and Corey Haim, a.k.a. “The Two Coreys.” All in all, the co-stars and friends would go on to make a total of nine movies together before Haim died of an overdose in March 2010. But, all stories have to start somewhere, and for The Two Coreys that was the set of The Lost Boys where they met and became fast friends. During a 2007 joint interview on Larry King Live, Haim revealed that he and Feldman “just clicked” when they met each other more than 20 years earlier. Whether it was in front of the camera or behind the scenes, the pair were inseparable for a time and would even complete each other’s sentences.

The Lost Boys Almost Had A Different Ending

The Lost Boys has one of the all-time great horror movie endings with Grandpa (Bernard Hughes) crashing his jeep into the house and impaling Max (Edward Hermmann) in the process before saying the famous line:

However, this wasn’t the original ending of Joel Schumacher’s 1987 horror film. According to Paul Davis’ 2017 book Lost in the Shadows: The Story of The Lost Boys (via Gizmodo), there was originally going to be an additional scene that displayed a mural of Max in the early 1900s, wearing a straw hat and with a smile on his face, talking to a group of young boys. This scene was moved to the end credits before being removed entirely when the aforementioned slashed budget resulted in the mural never being created and the scene never being shot.

Joel Schumacher Wanted To Make A Spinoff Called Lost Girls

There would eventually be two direct-to-DVD sequels — 2008’s Lost Boys: The Tribe and 2010’s Lost Boys: The Thirst — but Joel Schumacher wanted nothing to do with continuing the stories of any of the characters from the original because, as he told Rotten Tomatoes in 2007, all the “lost boys” were dead and there wasn’t really a story there. Instead, Schumacher suggested making a female-centered spinoff called Lost Girls:

Unfortunately, Lost Girls never came to be, but maybe parts of that idea will make their way to the upcoming remake of The Lost Boys.

Hopefully these fascinating behind-the-scenes stories from the making of The Lost Boys give you a greater appreciation of Joel Schumacher’s iconic vampire movie. If you are in the mood for more thrills and chills, check out all the upcoming horror movies coming to theaters and streaming services in the near future.

Last year, Batman Forever celebrated its 25th anniversary, but it wasn’t just the theatrical cut of the movie that drew attention. Director Joel Schumacher’s original vision for the Caped Crusader’s 1995 cinematic outing, a.k.a. the Schumacher Cut, drove the more passionate fans into a frenzy after it was revealed this longer and darker take truly existed. One year later, said fans have come out in droves on social media calling for Warner Bros to release the Schumacher Cut, and Val Kilmer has joined in on the fun.

Head over to Twitter today and you’ll see that #ReleaseTheSchumacherCut is trending. Whether that persuades the Warner Bros bigwigs to release the Schumacher Cut someday, akin to when Zack Snyder’s Justice League eventually debuted on HBO Max, remains to be seen, but Val Kilmer took the opportunity to reflect on Batman Forever:

Following Michael Keaton’s exit from the Batman film series after doing 1989’s Batman and 1992’s Batman Returns, Val Kilmer, well known from movies like Top Gun and Tombstone, stepped in to don the cape and cowl. His tenure as Bruce Wayne ended up being a one-and-done affair, with George Clooney succeeding him in Batman & Robin (and has been apologizing for the 1997 movie ever since). Last year, Kilmer said that the reason he didn’t play Batman a second time was due to both scheduling issues and growing bored with the role, but evidently he still holds a soft spot for Gotham City’s Dark Knight if he’s eager to learn new things about the character.

But Val Kilmer didn’t just bring up Batman Forever today to take a stroll down memory lane. He also channeled the movie to indirectly comment on a certain controversy that’s been taking the internet by storm.

Finally, we have a Batman actor who’s willing to address the wild topic of whether Batman is a… generous lover to Catwoman or any of the women he’s bedded over the years. I suspect Val Kilmer’s tweet will now lead to some new fanfics about his Batman and Nicole Kidman’s Chase Meridian, who spent a sizable chunk of Batman Forever having the hots for the superhero.

Batman Forever also starred Jim Carrey as The Riddler, Tommy Lee Jones as Two-Face and Chris O’Donnell as Dick Grayson/Robin, while Michael Gough and Pat Hingle reprised their respective roles of Alfred Pennyworth and Commissioner James Gordon. Although Forever was met with mixed critical reception, it performed solidly at the box office, making over $336 million worldwide and surpassing Batman Returns’ haul. While Kilmer’s time as Batman has come and gone, the DC Comics superhero is more popular than ever, as not only is Robert Pattinson leading Matt Reeves’ The Batman, but Ben Affleck and Michael Keaton will reprise their versions of the character in The Flash.

Should Warner Bros decide to release Batman Forever’s Schumacher Cut to the masses, we’ll let you now. In the meantime, keep checking back with CinemaBlend for all the latest and greatest news about upcoming DC Comics movies.

George Clooney is a man so successful that he can give his closest friends million dollars and not break a sweat. Clooney has been in so many great movies, has been nominated for and won Academy Awards, and has generally been one of the biggest stars on the planet for the past 25 years. Batman and Robin is one of his most notorious films, maligned by fans, critics, and Clooney himself. But the actor recently recalled how the movie's failure indirectly led him into becoming a movie star.

Believe it or not, the fallout from Batman and Robin actually played a part in George Clooney’s rise to movie stardom. It’s fascinating to think that a flop could actually be the thing that helped Clooney’s career the most. Flops usually make things much harder, especially when you are trying to establish yourself in the movie world like Clooney was. While speaking on BAFTA's Life in Pictures, he described his experience after Batman and Robin and what he learned from it, saying:

George Clooney talked about his experience in the aftermath of Batman and Robin and how he realized that he would bear the brunt of the criticism because he was the star of the film. At that point in his career, he was just an actor that got a role, and he quickly realized that his choices could make or break him. Clooney says he shifted his focus to finding better scripts to try and better carve out his career in movies. He continued by saying that if your script is bad, then your movie doesn't have a chance, meaning that the quality of the scripts would guide his choices.

George Clooney was a major television star off the back of one of the most popular shows of its era, ER, but his jump to movies didn’t go as smoothly as he had hoped. Clooney says he came across the script for Out of Sight, thought it was great, and ultimately became attached to the project. Clooney and the film’s producers, which included Danny DeVito, met with Steven Soderbergh to gauge his interest in directing Out of Sight. Clooney says that both he and Soderbergh were coming off projects that didn’t turn out the way they wanted and that they both needed a win, as he further explained:

George Clooney and Steven Soderbergh ended up making Out of Sight, which provided for a great showcase for Clooney and would result in the pair collaborating many times throughout their careers. Out of Sight didn’t do well at the box office, but it was a hit with critics and became a beloved movie that is still one of the best of his career. Out of Sight established George Clooney as a true movie star, and the lessons he learned from Batman and Robin played a big part in molding the decision-making approach that led to him take on the project. Clooney says the cache he built up with Out of Sight proved he belonged in the movie world and that he could cast aside the implications of his TV stardom.

George Clooney is currently spending his time getting real about turning 60 and making commercials where he buys Batman toys and obsesses over Brad Pitt. Clooney is also directing The Tender Bar, which stars Ben Affleck and, during the shoot, he even popped up a few times to meet with eager onlookers. Needless to say, a flop really did turn George Clooney into one of our biggest stars.

Even if you are not a fan of Batman Forever, you may find some of its behind-the-scenes secrets fascinating. In fact, while it is not remembered as one of the most beloved live action Batman movies, director Joel Schumacher's 1995 DC movie debut is still one of the more fascinating films featuring the Dark Knight, played here by Val Kilmer, who may not be the best live-action Batman actor, but is at the center of some interesting stories from the set.

There are also some intriguing facts involving Nicole Kidman's Chase Meridian, Jim Carrey's Riddler, Tommy Lee Jones' Two-Face, and Chris O’Donnell's Robin. Read on to learn some details that may change how you see Batman Forever forever.

Michael Keaton Thought The Batman Forever Script Sucked

Michael Keaton actually would wear the cape and cowl a third time, and for the first time since 1992's Batman Returns, in 2023's The Flash. However, that third outing in Gotham could have been in Batman Forever, but after Schumacher replaced Tim Burton as director, the Academy Award nominee told The Hollywood Reporter that he decided to leave for the following reason:

I think I would be also pretty apprehensive to do a live-action Batman movie with a director who wants to make the Dark Knight lighter. Yet, I wonder if Keaton was involved in conversations about how his costume would change.

Joel Schumacher Wanted The Batsuit To Look Anatomical, Hence The Bat Nipples

While Batman Forever still has its fans to this day, and for various reasons, the one thing that most would deem a mistake in the production was adding artificial rubber nipples to the hero’s costume -- something that would reappear for one final time in the fourth installment, Batman & Robin, in 1997. In following years, fans would question why the late Joel Schumacher opted for such an unusual and unnecessary alteration to the Batsuit and in 2017, when speaking to Vice, he would give his answer.

By the time Schumacher was hired to direct Batman Forever, the rubber molding process used to make the suits from the first two movies had advanced, which gave him the idea to make the suit appear anatomically correct. With images of Greek statues and medical illustrations as his visual aids, he pitched the concept to the lead designer Jose Fernandez, who personally added the Bat Nipples which the director thought was “cool.”

Gotham City Was Created Using A Mix Of Miniatures And Digital Effects

You know what I actually think is kind of cool about Batman Forever? It may be an unpopular opinion, and I fully understand why, but the production design, which reinterprets Gotham City as the eccentric love child of New York and Las Vegas, is pretty intriguing, if not slightly out of place. What I find especially interesting is how the unique urban landscape was created for the film, combining classic methods, which were slowly on their way out, with new tricks considered cutting edge for the time.

In a bonus featurette included on the 2005 Batman Forever DVD release titled Beyond Batman - Imagining Forever: The Visual FX for Batman Forever, visual effects supervisor John Dykstra explains how the crew used small-scale sculptures to stand in for Gotham’s buildings with computer animated effects to enhance their surroundings. Little did fans know that, lurking beyond the bright, neon signs was a certain darkness that audiences did not get to see.

Batman Forever Intended To Have A Darker, More Complex Take On Bruce Wayne’s Psychology

In another DVD featurette, screenwriter Akiva Goldsman talks about the version of Batman Forever that audiences never got to see, due to Warner Bros. and its fear of repeating the Batman Returns Happy Meal debacle. Hearing him say the following about scrapped material regarding the red diary that belonged to Bruce Wayne’s father, Thomas, actually makes the film sound even more interesting and, especially, darker:

Goldsman goes on to describe a deleted scene in which Wayne returns to the place where he first found the Batcave as a child and has a vision of a giant bat that, essentially, inspires him to accept his destiny as a vigilante. Some people may have already seen this version in the Schumacher Cut.

Robin Williams Turned Down The Chance To Play The Riddler In Batman Forever

Now, do not get me wrong: I think Jim Carrey gives one of the most iconic Riddler portrayals, even if his uproarious performance makes Ace Venture look pretty damn tame at times. However, I cannot help but imagine how the film would have turned out if one of their first choices to play the Edward Nygma had said yes.

According to a retrospective by ScreenRant published in January 2021, the late Robin Williams was reportedly considered for the villain role but turned it down because he was still sore from learning he was really offered the Joker in Tim Burton’s Batman as “bait” to get Jack Nicholson. While that is a perfectly legitimate reason to turn down such an offer, seeing the Oscar winner as the Riddler is something I almost wish we could have seen. Not to mention, it could have saved Carrey a lot of trouble on set.

Jim Carrey Claimed Tommy Lee Jones Hated Working on Batman Forever With Him

The pairing of Two-Face and the Riddler proves to be a little dysfunctional at times in Batman Forever, which is nothing compared to the tension that was apparently going on between Tommy Lee Jones and Jim Carrey behind the scenes. The comedic actor, who was just coming off a several-year stint in the In Living Color cast at the time, was on Norm MacDonald Live when he recalled how his Academy Award-winning co-star told him to his face that he hated him and couldn’t “sanction [his] buffoonery.” Director Joel Schumacher would later confirm this on-set tension as true to Vulture in 2019.

I honestly find it ironic that Jones found Carrey irritating when his take on Harvey Dent often feels like a competition to out-crazy The Riddler. That being said, I think his roles in later comic book movies like 1997’s Men in Black and Captain America: The First Avenger were far better suited for him, anyway.

Leonard DiCaprio Was Offered To Play Robin In Batman Forever

There are a few interesting stories behind the process of casting Robin in the original Batman movies franchise. My personal favorite is how the Boy Wonder was almost introduced in Batman Returns as played by Marlon Wayans before his storyline was scrapped. However, can you imagine Batman Forever with Leonardo DiCaprio as Dick Grayson?

According to a 2015 interview with IndieWire, the future Oscar winner (before hitting it big in the Titanic cast) had a meeting with Schumacher about the potential to play Robin. Of course, the role, instead, went to Chris O’Donnell, who turned out to be a bit of a troublemaker behind the scenes, too.

Chris O’Donnell Crashed The Batmobile On The Batman Forever Set

Remember the scene from Batman Forever when, after discovering his guardian is the Caped Crusader, Dick Grayson takes the Batmobile for a cruise? Well, apparently, life imitated art pretty closely for O’Donnell on set that day.

During an interview with Groucho Reviews in 2008 to promote his role in the family film Kit Kitteridge: An American Girl, the NCIS: Los Angeles star revealed that he has been known to crash a few cars on sets, including the Batmobile, which he “never heard the end of.” If only he had another cinematic Batmobile like the Tumbler from Batman Begins, a fender bender might not have been such a problem.

Say what you want about Batman Forever, or any of the upcoming Batman movies for that matter, there will always be something intriguing and truly batty to learn from the set.

George Clooney has had a number of successes over the years, having starred in a number of hit films and TV shows, though there is one particular credit in his filmography that still has some superhero fans feeling a way. This is, of course, 1997’s Batman & Robin, which saw Clooney play the Dark Knight under the direction of the late, great Joel Schumacher. Although the movie has arguably become the bane of some Batman fans’ existence, Clooney’s ER co-star Juliana Margulies has revealed that his work in the film allowed her to thank Schumacher for a gesture he made early in the actress’ career.

Before Julianna Margulies became an entertainment mainstay through her role as Nurse Carol Hathaway on ER, she was a waitress at a Hollywood hotspot where she’d encounter some of the industry’s biggest stars. During a recent appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Margulies recalled a particularly challenging night that saw Joel Schumacher and the cast of Flatliners pay a visit:

If waiting on the cast of a film sounds exhausting to you, then you have the right idea. Julianna Margulies went on to say that the night was “rough” and that there were a lot of demands. However, she explained that Joel Schumacher ended up making her night with a sweet gesture:

Such a generous tip was an incredibly classy gesture on Joel Schumacher’s part, and it’s clear to see that the moment has definitely stayed with Julianna Margulies. And thankfully, she would get the chance to thank the filmmaker down the road:

This is definitely a major positive to come out of George Clooney’s Batman & Robin collaboration with Joel Schumacher. Reuniting with Schumacher on the set of ER must have been an auspicious moment for Julianna Margulies, especially considering that she was meeting with him as a working actress that time around.

Fans will likely continue to disagree on the merits of Batman & Robin and its place within the genre. Yet the late Joel Schumacher will continue to be revered for his contributions to cinema and, now, fans can remember him for his immense kindness as well. You can stream Batman & Robin now on HBO Max.

When you look at Joel Schumacher's Batman Forever in comparison to Tim Burton's Batman and Batman Returns, it's not exactly a challenge to see a glaring difference in tone. While the Caped Crusaders' late '80s/early 90s big screen adventures were darker and edgier, Schumacher's 1995 blockbuster famously went in a more goofy, campy direction – embracing the legacy created by the Adam West Batman series from the 1960s. It's an odd transition in the character's pop culture legacy, but what makes the whole thing even stranger is that there is apparently a much different version more in line with Burton's features.

There have been many conversations had in Hollywood circles about the life and work of Joel Schumacher in the weeks since he passed away, but this development in particular originates from a Tweet by Castle Rock/Picard writer Marc Bernardin. The filmmaker posted that he has it on "good authority" that a 170-minute version of Batman Forever exists that Warner Bros. has been keeping under lock and key because it is "much darker, more serious" than the theatrical version. That's pretty wild – and making it even wilder is that Variety has now confirmed a source of their own telling them the same thing.

So what is included in this alternate version? According to the trade, there are a number of notable extra sequences that were left on the cutting room floor in the assembly of the theatrical cut, including an opening featuring Tommy Lee Jones' Two-Face executing an escape from Arkham Asylum, and more from the sequence where Jim Carrey's The Riddler successfully infiltrates the Batcave (and apparently it features more of him using his signature question mark cane as a weapon).

Obviously that's not enough material to fill the 40-minute time difference between this early version and the familiar one, but the new report adds that there is also an entire Bruce Wayne subplot that got excised. Per the source, it did a deeper dive into the trauma that led the billionaire to become the Dark Knight (presumably it would have done more to utilize Nicole Kidman's psychologist character, Dr. Chase Meridian), and the production shot "a sequence of Wayne facing down a giant, human-sized bat." Whether or not that is a fantasy sequence or not is not made clear (could it also have been the movie's attempt at including Man-Bat?)

That just leaves us with the question of whether or not this version of Batman Forever will ever be made available for public consumption... and unfortunately it's one without any firm answers at this point. As of right now the studio has no plans to do any kind of special release, and it's also unclear if the unused footage even managed to survive in storage the last 25 years. The trade adds that some of the material from the 170-minute version is featured on home video releases, and some of it has made its way online.

If it were possible to actually put an extended version of Batman Forever together, is this something that you'd be interested in seeing? Answer our poll below, and hit us with your thoughts in the comments section.

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For anyone who grew up in the 1980s, St. Elmo's Fire was peak Brat Pack. The drama about young adults trying to figure out their lives after college starred an ensemble of hot, young actors who were considered to be the next big things in Hollywood. And, with a cast that featured Rob Lowe, Demi Moore, Emilio Estevez, Andrew McCarthy, Ally Sheedy, Mare Winningham, and Judd Nelson, you really couldn't go wrong if you wanted one film where you could see said Brat Packers shine. But, it turns out that there's one aspect of the movie which has always driven Lowe nuts, and now the screenwriter has apologized for it.

Writer Carl Kurlander recently looked back on his experiences developing and filming the movie with the late director Joel Schumacher for Deadline, and noted that he just found out that there's one well-known part of 1985's St. Elmo's Fire that's been bugging Rob Lowe since it came out. As Kurlander explains it, he and Schumacher had gotten a lot of pushback on the title (which Kurlander had chosen because the screenplay was based on a short story he'd written while working at Chautauqua, New York's St. Elmo Hotel in college), and Schumacher wanted a scene written into the movie to make the title harder to change.

Apparently, though, that resulting scene, which included a speech from Rob Lowe's character (Billy) to Demi Moore's (Jules) about the scientific phenomenon of St. Elmo's Fire, has led to much annoyance from fans, and this has really driven Lowe nuts over the years. As Kurlander explained:

Alright, everyone calm down! I know what all you St. Elmo's Fire stans are thinking: What's the big deal, and why is this even an issue? Well, why don't we take a look at the scene in question first, just in case you've forgotten the glory that is mid-80s Rob Lowe and Demi Moore, and then we can get into this a bit more.

So, here's the thing. Billy has clearly brought up St. Elmo's Fire to try and help Jules out of a very real slump, and he's definitely made it sound like the phenomenon isn't real as a way to tell her that the current shitty time she's having will pass before long. The problem seems to come from the fact that while what Billy says about St. Elmo's Fire is true (there is no real St. Elmo, and there is no real fire) the phenomenon itself is actually a real thing that sailors saw as a good omen that they would make it through storms at sea.

So, Carl Kurlander was left with no choice, but to offer a sincere apologize for how he worded Billy's speech in the film:

OK, so there is a bit of an exception in that Carl Kurlander doesn't seem to think that most people have even noticed the incorrect info that Rob Lowe was used to impart, seeing as how he created aerosol fire during the scene, but I think this is just as good of an apology as any. After all, we are talking about a tiny part of the whole movie, and who hasn't latched onto something in a film which seems incorrect / stupid / poorly done and proceeded to be bugged by it for way too long?

To help you get over all of this St. Elmo's Fire business, be sure to check out what you can watch right now and in the coming months with our 2020 movie release schedule!

Years before the DC Extended Universe was born, The Dark Knight was occupying theaters with the '90s Batman franchise. While the first two installment were helmed by Tim Burton, the pair of movies were lighter fare that came from the mind of late filmmaker Joel Schumacher. Starting with Batman Forever, the movies are known for their strong casts and mixture of drama and camp. Batman Forever's soundtrack also featured Seal's iconic song "Kiss from a Rose", and the singer recently revealed how Schumacher stopped the track from being a failure.

"Kiss From A Rose" is one of Seal's most iconic songs, and was featured in Batman Forever's credits, even getting a music video with footage from the movie. Joel Schumacher died this week at the age of 80, with plenty of fans and colleagues posting their own tributes to the late filmmaker. Seal recently did the same, sharing how the late filmmaker stopped it from becoming a flop. In his words,

It's hard to believe now, but it looks like "Kiss from a Rose" wasn't always the guarantee success that we know it now as. In fact, it wasn't one of the first singles from Seal's self-titled second album. But that would eventually change thanks to one important call from Joel Shumacher himself. He was looking for the perfect song for a scene between Bruce Wayne and Chase meridian, which inspired Seal to submit the now- famous track. Seal's Instagram video went on to explain how things got even more surprising after that

And that, ladies and gentleman, shows just how visionary Joel Schumacher's work was. The music was as integral to Batman Forever as the action and laughs, creating one vision of Gotham City. And when "Kiss from a Rose" was re-released for the movie's soundtrack, it ultimately resulted in wild success for Seal. You can watch Seal's full video below, including him singing a few bars of the song on acoustic guitar.

Seal's fascinating story is just one of many reasons why Joel Schumacher's legacy will continue to have. While the Phantom of the Opera director may have passed away at the age of 80, his work continues to pierce the pop culture landscape. Seal is one of many collaborators who have taken to share their stories about Shumacher, and celebrate the man who made such iconic movies into a reality.

CinemaBlend will keep you updated on all things Batman as details about the Dark Knight come to the light. In the meantime, check out our 2020 release list to plan your next trip to the movies.

Joel Schumacher will forever be known as the man behind a pair of 1990s Batman movies, but the writer and director did so much more than that. The announcement of his death yesterday took so many by surprise, but it has all resulted in a massive outpouring of admiration and thanks for the accomplished filmmaker that has run the gamut from Jim Carrey to Matthew McConaughey.

Jim Carrey was cast as Edward Nygma in Batman Forever and the comedian and actor took to Twitter to call his former director a friend as well as heroic.

The pair of Jim Carrey and Joel Scumacher would reunite once again many years later for Carrey's dark turn in The Number 23.

The latter two Batman films from the '90s get a lot of flack but limiting one's perspective of Joel Schumacher to those films alone would be a mistake. He also directed '80s classics St. Elmo's Fire, and The Lost Boys as well as other popular films like Flatliners and Falling Down.

He's also the man who can be credited with launching the career of Matthew McConaughey, and that's not just this writer's opinion. The actor himself spoke to Variety following the news of Joel Schumacher's death, and said that he owes his career to the director.

Joel Schumacher directed Matthew McConaughey in A Time to Kill, and cast the relative unknown in the lead alongside the likes of Sandra Bullock and Samuel L. Jackson. McConaughey credits Joel Schumacher for taking a chance on him, even going so far as to screen test the actor in secret, in an attempt to protect McConaughey's young career. According to the actor...

The secrecy would not be necessary. Matthew McConaughey did get the role in A Time to Kill and that decision turned the actor into the leading man that he is today. It's difficult to imagine how things would have been different if the studio had ultimately decided not to go with the actor who at that moment was best known for a comedic turn in Dazed and Confused. McConaughey himself can't imagine his life and career turning out the same way without the support of Schumacher.

Joel Schumacher will certainly be missed by those that knew him and loved to work with him.

For nearly 50 years, Joel Schumacher had quite the diverse lineup of directorial credits, including his, shall we say, unique contributions to the superhero film genre with Batman Forever and Batman & Robin. Sadly, it’s been announced that the filmmaker has passed away at the age of 80.

According to Variety, Joel Schumacher died this morning after a year-long battle with cancer. Schumacher joined the Hollywood business as a costume designer in the mid-1970s following some time spent in the fashion industry, but it was as a writer and director where he really left a memorable impact on the worlds of film.

Joel Schumacher’s first screenplay was 1976’s Sparkle (which was directed by Sam O’Steen), and he made his directorial debut with 1981’s The Incredible Shrinking Woman. However, it was 1985’s St. Elmo’s Fire, which he both wrote and directed, that really put Schumacher on the map. The movie chronicling a group of post-graduates getting used to the responsibilities of adult life was met with mixed critical reception, but it was a commercial success and was one of the defining entries of the Brat Pack era.

Following St. Elmo’s Fire, Joel Schumacher churned out The Lost Boys in 1987, Flatliners in 1990 and The Client in 1994, all of which were commercial successes. The Lost Boys and The Client did reasonably well for themselves on the critical front, and while Flatliners was a more mixed affair, it remained well known enough to earn the standalone sequel/remake treatment in 2017, with that movie also simply being called Flatliners.

Then came Joel Schumacher’s time on the Batman film series, inheriting the directorial reins on the third Batman movie after Tim Burton departed. In sharp contrast with the darker, gothic tone of Batman and Batman Returns, Batman Forever was a significantly more campy affair, and aside from Michael Gough and Pat Hingle reprising Alfred Pennyworth and Commissioner Gordon, respectively, the cast was an entirely new lineup that included Val Kilmer, Nicole Kidman, Chris O’Donnell, Jim Carrey and Tommy Lee Jones.

While not nearly as critically successful as its predecessors, Batman Forever was a box office hit, making over $336 million worldwide. As such, Schumacher was brought back for Batman & Robin, which also did commercially well, but was a critical bomb. This resulted in Schumacher’s third Batman movie, a.k.a. Batman Unchained, being scrapped, and the Caped Crusader’s franchise being put on ice for over half a decade, with Christopher Nolan rebooting the whole affair with 2005’s Batman Begins.

In between Batman Forever and Batman & Robin, Joel Schumacher directed A Time to Kill, which received a solid amount of positive reception and netted Samuel L. Jackson a Golden Globe nomination. In the years after Batman & Robin’s release, Schumacher’s film credits included Flawless, Phone Booth, The Phantom of the Opera, The Number 23 and Trespass, with the latter being his final movie. He also directed two episodes of the Netflix series House of Cards in 2013.

We here at CinemaBlend offer our condolences to Joel Schumacher’s family and friends. If you were a fan of the filmmaker, feel free to share what you liked from his body of work in the comments below.

Batman Forever is a Batman movie that largely gets overlooked. It's not lambasted the way Batman & Robin is, but it's not beloved the way so many of the others are. However, there is one story about the production of the movie that's been repeated more than once, which is that Tommy Lee Jones and Jim Carrey, who played the two villains of the film, really did not get along. Now, director Joel Schumacher has confirmed that the story is very true. It seems Jones really didn't like Carrey.

Batman Forever was the second movie that Tommy Lee Jones worked on with Joel Schumacher, and the director tells Vulture that while working with Jones the first time was wonderful, the actor was really mean to his co-star on the second film. According to Schumacher...

Jim Carrey has spoken before that the situation between himself and Jones on the set of Batman Forever was heated. According to Carrey, Tommy Lee Jones called what the Ace Ventura actor did "buffoonery" and did it to his face.

Jim Carrey has suggested the reason Tommy Lee Jones didn't like him was simply that Jones had a problem with the film, and the more comic way the comic book property was handled under Schumacher. The feeling was that maybe Jones wasn't comfortable with that sort of work. The director suggests the animosity may have come from somewhere else, saying that Tommy Lee Jones likes to be the center of a scene, and being the center of attention is tough when you're standing next to Jim Carrey...

It's not entirely uncommon for actors who work together to discover they don't necessarily love each other personally. Usually, however, everybody involved is a professional, and the work gets done with a minimum of drama and people move on. The reason Joel Schumacher seems to be calling out Tommy Lee Jones here is that he felt Jones' place in Hollywood gave him a responsibility to be more professional, that the actor did not live up to...

While Joel Schumacher apparently is willing to talk about Tommy Lee Jones general conduct, he'll be leaving the specifics out.

Needless to say, Jim Carrey and Tommy Lee Jones have never worked together since, and based on this information, it seems unlikely to ever happen again.

Wonder Woman may be the dominant DC hero of the moment, courtesy of Patty Jenkins' blockbuster origin film, but Batman enjoyed an impressive run for several years between the early Superman days and now. There was a period where the Dark Knight was played in screen by an army of A-list talents -- from Michael Keaton and Val Kilmer to George Clooney and Christian Bale -- in an array of good (and bad) Batman films. With each new year comes another anniversary of a classic Batman film... and a not-so-classic film, like Joel Schumacher's final stab at the Caped Crusader, Batman & Robin.

Several people behind the neon-drenched Day Glo nightmare sat down with The Hollywood Reporter recently to talk about what went right, and what went wrong, as Batman & Robin turns 20 years old. And in the process, they put to rest a few longstanding rumors that have swirled around the project for years. Let's run through the most interesting ones that, officially, can be laid to rest.

Patrick Stewart Was Never Supposed To Play Freeze

Nabbing Patrick Stewart for the villainous role of Victor Freeze could have been a coup for Joel Schumacher's Batman & Robin. The esteemed thespian was already winning fans as Picard in the Star Trek universe. There have been rumors that Stewart and Anthony Hopkins (currently seen in a Transformers sequel) were considered for the role that eventually went to Arnold Schwarzenegger, but Joel Schumacher tells THR that isn't the case. The director confirms:

I'm not sure if it has ever been confirmed that Patrick Stewart was the inspiration for the Mr. Freeze that turned up on the Batman: The Animated Series program, which ran on TV through the 1990s. But because Stewart never got in the conversation for Batman & Robin, Freeze will be frozen in our minds as a cigar-chomping, pun-spitting supervillain. That's a shame.

Julia Roberts Was Never Set To Play Poison Ivy

This is another bit of fan casting, as Julia Roberts had worked with Joel Schumacher on Flatliners and Dying Young, so many connected her to the role of Poison Ivy in the director's second Batman movie. Not the case, however, as Schumacher explains to the trade publication:

That wasn't destined to be the case. Schumacher confirms that he decided to cast Uma Thurman in the role after seeing her in a Vanity Fair cover shoot. Thurman's star was red hot at the time, thanks to her winning turn in Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction. But the high-profile flops of Batman & Robin and The Avengers (not THAT Avengers) likely scared Thurman off blockbusters, sending her back to QT for the two Kill Bill films.

Joel Schumacher Never Had An Arkham Asylum Script

There have been rumors over the years that between Batman Forever and Batman & Robin, Joel Schumacher had a script that would feature numerous Batman villains in an Arkham Asylum setting, but was swayed into doing Batman & Robin so that the studio could sell more toys. The Arkham idea is very popular among Batman fans -- there's currently a rumor going around that Matt Reeves and Ben Affleck may do the Asylum setting for their eventual solo Batman movie. But Schumacher shoot that rumor down in the THR piece, saying:

That version never got off the ground. And Batman & Robin killed Joel Schumacher's future in the Dark Knight realm, leading to the Christopher Nolan reboot. That's a win, in our column.

Arnold Schwarzenegger Didn't Shave His Head

It looks like he did. And he ALMOST did. But Arnold Schwarzenegger actually backed down at the last minute and opted not to shave his head to play Mr. Freeze on screen... leading to the creation of a very expensive bald cap at the last minute. Jeff Dawn, Arnold long-time makeup artist, recalls that he originally had convinced the massive action star to shave his head. But, when the razors came out, Dawn clarifies:

Instead, the bald cap became part of Schwarzenegger's daily makeup process, and added an extra one hour and 45 minutes to the cycle, just to put it on. The THR article also details the rig they created so that the inside of Freeze's mouth would light up. Naturally, it came with a whole host of problems, not the least of which being that it leaked battery acid into the star's mouth. No wonder he spit out all of those bad puns!

Isn't it time to let Joel Schumacher out of Bat jail? I mean, we have had two iterations of the Dark Knight since Schumacher attempted a neon Day-Glo interpretation of Gotham City. And yet, the poor guy is still apologizing for the visual tweaks and flairs he made to the classic DC Comics icon. Hasn't enough time passed? Must this man still make penance for his Bat decisions? The nipples on the Bat suit are top of mind for Schumacher once again, as he explains in a recent interview WHY he added them to Bruce Wayne's crimefighting costume. Schumacher says:

Fans disagreed. The Bat Nipples have become the go-to argument of what NOT to do in a Batman movie, even though Joel Schumacher explains to Vice exactly why they made sense (in his mind, at the time). Forget the incessant Bat puns that dominated Batman & Robin, or the comical exaggeration that became the supervillains of Poison Ivy, Mr. Freeze, Two-Face and Bane. Dear Lord, this is what passed for a Batman villain in the Schumacher movies, and we complained about nipples on the Bat suit?

The nipples, eventually, set the Batman franchise free. In a direct response to the over-the-top grandeur of the Joel Schumacher Batman movies, Christopher Nolan went the opposite direction with Batman Begins. He broke Gotham's protector down to his most basic elements, and grounded every aspect of Batman's crimefighting repertoire. He explained the Batmobile. He dissected the costume. He filled in backstory on the Bat cave, and the hero's weapons. He created the on-screen hero we still love to this day.

But it's time to let Joel Schumacher move on. Let him live his life. Don't ever make him say "Bat Nipples" again. There's so much going on the DCEU now, with so much to look forward to. Let's look to the future, and leave the past in the past.

The Caped Crusader has gone through an impressive evolution over the course of his life on the silver screen. We've seen versions of Batman that range from gripping and gothic, to grounded, gritty, and realistic. However, most fans generally accept the fact that the character experienced a significant low point during the Joel Schumacher years with Batman Forever and Batman & Robin. It's a well-known fact that Michael Keaton left the series when Joel Schumacher came on board for those two films, and his departure primarily had to do with the director's insistence on lightening things up. The actor explained:

God forbid a character called The Dark Knight receive a dark story befitting his name. In a recent interview with THR, Michael Keaton opened up about the end of his tenure as The Caped Crusader and held nothing back regarding his distaste for the Joel Schumacher years. Keaton was a holdover from the Burton era, and couldn't wrap his head around the fact that Schumacher wanted to take a noticeably weak script and lighten up the hero. In the end, Keaton dropped out of the project, and Val Kilmer came in as his replacement.

In hindsight, one can plainly see how the lightness adversely affected both of Joel Schumacher's Batman movies. There are actually some strong scenes in both of those films, but they occur when they downplay campiness in favor of dark, deeply psychological storytelling. Those were the moments that we wanted to see from these movies, but Schumacher spent far too much time falling into the trap of letting actors like Tommy Lee Jones, Jim Carrey, and Arnold Schwarzenegger chew the scenery.

Seriously, can we all just forget about Tommy Lee Jones' Two-Face?

Ultimately, this seems to cut straight to the idea of finding a proper director for the right superhero project. Joel Schumacher is not a bad filmmaker. Many of his films -- such as The Lost Boys, or Falling Down -- are actually quite enjoyable. That said, he was very clearly not the right filmmaker to follow the endlessly dark Tim Burton in the mid-1990s. That is why it's so important for DC and Warner Bros. to take their time and get the DCEU's solo Batman movie right; Ben Affleck is the right man for the job, and as such they need to give him room to breathe without rushing the project.

Despite the fact that the 1990s represent a weak period for our favorite billionaire ninja, the character has unquestionably risen from the ashes of the Schumacher years. Batman is as popular as ever, and we cannot wait to see what Ben Affleck does with the character when Justice League debuts on November 17 of this year.

Directors are like fingerprints; no two are completely alike. Whenever a filmmaker takes the reins on a superhero film, you can almost always guarantee that they will leave their own unique mark on that universe. In fact, from Christopher Nolan to James Gunn, some directors seem tailor-made to work with certain superheroes. That being said, time and time again we have seen franchises run into trouble whenever they swap directors midstream. For all of the filmmakers who have improved franchises by signing on to sequels (the Russos Brothers come to mind) there are plenty of others who have driven other series into the ground.

With that in mind, Deadpool 2's director, Tim Miller, recently dropped out of the highly anticipated project, and 20th Century Fox has started to look for his replacement. This has us incredibly worried. We've compiled a list of replacement directors who botched their shots at superhero franchises. Take a look at our entries and let us know what you think. Now let's get the ball rolling with one of the most famous fumbles in superhero movie history...

Batman Forever/Batman & Robin - Joel Schumacher

It's hard to argue against the importance of Tim Burton's Batman movies. Even if certain elements seem dated, the fact remains that the legendary filmmaker completely captured the gothic spirit of The Caped Crusader's city, mission, and overall aesthetic. However, that went down the drain when the franchise brought Joel Schumacher on board. Instead of dark, rich storytelling, Schumacher went full camp and embraced an interpretation of the Batman mythos that felt more interested in selling toys and marketing to kids than getting the universe right. Deadpool will unquestionably be a more popular character by the time Deadpool 2 hits theaters, but the upcoming sequel cannot forget the tone, spirit and overall style that made the first film so beloved. Play to the fans, not the masses.

X-Men: The Last Stand - Brett Ratner

Bryan Singer pretty much started the modern age of superhero movies when he painstakingly directed X-Men and X2: X-Men United. He brought a sense of passion and nerdy enthusiasm to the material that has really become the standard for comic book movies as the years have gone by. That all changed in 2006 when Brett Ratner took the reins for X-Men: The Last Stand. Compared to Singer, Ratner clearly felt much less reverence for the Dark Phoenix source material, and it showed through his shallow handling of the characters. The entire X-Men universe would subsequently remain on shaky ground for almost a decade until Bryan Singer returned for X-Men: Days of Future Past. The folks behind Deadpool 2 must heed this example, because it perfectly encapsulates one of the first rules of comic book adaptations: get someone who knows, loves, and respects the source material.

Thor: The Dark World - Alan Taylor

When Kenneth Branagh directed the first installment in the Thor series, he brought an incredibly distinct Shakespearean sensibility and off-kilter visual style to the table. It was an astonishing feat for such an obscure character, and Thor proved to be the most theatrical Phase 1 Marvel film. Sadly, when Game of Thrones alum, Alan Taylor, took over for Thor: The Dark World, all of that went out the window. Lacking a truly distinctive personal style, Taylor more or less hobbled The Dark World together using lessons clearly picked up from his time on the HBO fantasy series, as well as ample input from Marvel Studios. The resulting product was the blandest Marvel movie to date. Deadpool 2 cannot make this mistake, whoever fills in for Tim Miller needs to share the daring and risky attitude that Miller brought to Wade Wilson's original movie. To play it safe would be to miss the point of Deadpool entirely.

The Amazing Spider-Man - Marc Webb

When Marc Webb took the Spider-Man franchise off of Sam Raimi's hands for The Amazing Spider-Man series in 2012, there was quite a bit of excitement around what the director could do. Not known for blockbuster material (let alone a superhero movie), Webb's most notable credit came in the form of (500) Days of Summer. Sadly, Summer turned out to be the perfect indicator for what to expect from the film, as The Amazing Spider-Man films only really worked during Peter Parker and Gwen Stacey's romantic scenes -- helped in large part by the chemistry between Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone. Despite being a competent filmmaker, Webb proved almost immediately that he was a cursory fan of the source material by comparison to his predecessor. With Deadpool 2 on the horizon, 20th Century Fox needs to make sure they bring someone on board who can capture the style necessary for a Deadpool movie, and who also has an intimate knowledge of the comics -- not just someone who can rehash the Deadpool greatest hits.

Superman III - Richard Lester

There's a strong case to be made that Richard Donner's Superman films are the most important superhero movies of all time. They treated the source material with love, and proved that men in capes could have mainstream appeal. That being said, the legacy of the Donner-era Superman films was almost immediately tarnished when the franchise was handed to Richard Lester for Superman III. Primarily known for comedies, Lester's influence on the film led to some of the most jarring tonal shifts ever seen in a superhero franchise, often relying on slapstick humor and the unbearable presence of Richard Pryor's Gus Gorman to generate "laughs." Even Superman actor, Christopher Reeve, vocally spoke out against Lester's influence on the franchise after the film's release, citing that the filmmaker was "always looking for a gag." Deadpool is obviously quite different than Superman, but that doesn't change the fact that Tim Miller established a certain tone and style that worked for this universe. That needs to be respected by whoever takes over.

Without question, Batman is the most thoroughly explored cinematic superhero of all time. He's been portrayed a number of different ways, by a number of different actors, under the direction of a number of different filmmakers. Considering that long and storied history, The Dark Knight has clearly had his ups and downs, with most people generally agreeing that he hit his lowest under the guidance of Joel Schumacher in 1995 and 1997.

However, while we agree that Batman Forever and Batman & Robin don't represent The Caped Crusader's finest hours, we think there's plenty of good stuff to be found in those particular films. With that in mind, we have gone through the details and pulled out six very specific reasons why Batman Forever, and Batman & Robin are far better than they get credit before. Check out our list and let us know what you think in the comments section below. Let's get the ball rolling with one of the more underrated villainous performances of all time.

Jim Carrey's Riddler

Opinions towards Jim Carrey's take on Edward Nygma a.k.a The Riddler have definitely softened in recent years. Although his performance is objectively absurd on a number of levels, it actually fits perfectly within the confines of Batman Forever's tone and story; context is key. It's pretty clear that he spends the entire film channeling the energy of the late, great Frank Gorshin from Batman '66, and much of his outlandish persona definitely feels rooted in the history of the character. Even when he goes full Ace Ventura, it still really works. Remember, this version of The Riddler was always intended to be a psychotic stalker with a manic, unquenchable obsession for all things related to Bruce Wayne. In that regard, Carrey nailed it.

The Fun Tone

Although you can make an incredibly valid argument that the Schumacher-era Batman movies veered a little too heavily into the realm of Adam West-esque camp (particularly Batman & Robin) they cannot be faulted for attempting to try and bring some levity to The Dark Knight mythos. Modern Batman legend, Scott Snyder, recently came out and explained that the beauty of Batman is that the character is malleable enough to fit into a variety of tones and styles; not everything has to be doom and gloom. There's absolutely nothing wrong with a more lighthearted take on the Caped Crusader, and it's clear that the folks at Warner Bros. have even started to take notice, considering the direction that Justice League will take. Camp isn't a dirty word, and it's time for us to recognize that fact.

Michael Gough's Alfred

Despite the fact that Michael Caine made a serious impression as Alfred Pennyworth in Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy, and Jeremy Irons has shown early promise with his limited exposure in the DCEU, there's still a large segment of the audience that will always consider Michael Gough to be the quintessential Alfred. As a holdover from the Keaton era, Gough brought his characteristic gravitas to the iconic butler, and an almost Yoda-like wisdom that helped ground the Schumacher Batman movies. As these films aimed for a much lighter tone that the Burton films, Alfred always scored solid laughs, and his sage like presence helped guide the new members of the Bat Family that signed on during the events of Batman Forever as well as Batman & Robin.

Elliot Goldenthal's Score

There really is no definitive Batman theme song. Certain fans tend to gravitate towards Danny Elfman's score for the original 1989 Batman, while plenty of other fans have an affinity for the work done by Shirley Walker on Batman: The Animated Series, or Hans Zimmer in The Dark Knight trilogy. However, nobody ever seems to give Elliot Goldenthal the credit he deserves for coming up with a near-perfect sound for The Caped Crusader. Combining the frenetic energy of Elfman with the weighty power that Zimmer would eventually bring to the DC universe, Goldenthal's themes for Batman Forever and Batman & Robin are far better than the movies they accompanied. In fact, I would even go so far as to say that his work is far superior to Junkie XL's Batman theme from Batman V Superman.

Val Kilmer

We've shared this sentiment on CinemaBlend before, but it definitely bears repeating: Val Kilmer is to Batman as Timothy Dalton is to James Bond. He's underrated, underappreciated, and far ahead of his time. Although Christian Bale is often credited with bringing never before seen levels of depth to the character's psyche, Kilmer's take on Batman and Bruce Wayne explored those ideas a full decade earlier. His Dark Knight wasn't just the damaged loner of the Michael Keaton era, and he wasn't simply the swashbuckling playboy of the Adam West era; there was real psychology to his pain, and room for exploration. Beyond that, Kilmer was the first Batman to truly possess a physicality that convinced us he could take on a room full of thugs, which would become the standard for silver screen superheroes in later years.

Batman & Robin Is The Only Movie To Follow Batman's "One Rule"

The debate continues to rage regarding whether or not it's acceptable for Batman to kill in the movies, but it's abundantly clear that it didn't sit well with many fans when Batfleck blatantly blew bad guys away in Batman V Superman. However, the odd thing to note is the fact that George Clooney's Batman from Batman & Robin is the only post-Adam West incarnation of The Dark Knight to not kill a single one of his enemies on screen. From Keaton and Kilmer to Bale and Affleck, all of them either directly or indirectly took lives during their films. For all of his faults, Clooney holds the distinction of being the one Batman to remain true to Batman's "One Rule" over the years, and that counts for something.

It’s safe to say that Joel Schumacher forever ruined his legacy with the Batman franchise because of Batman & Robin. However, despite the Bat-nipples and Arnie’s campy Mr. Freeze, it turns out that a third Batman film that Scumacher had planned actually sounded rather incredible.

Joel Schumacher originally took to the Batman franchise with 1995’s Batman Forever, which had Val Kilmer as the titular caped crusader and was an enjoyable, family-friendly take on the character. It was forgettable fun. That all changed with Batman & Robin, which is widely regarded as one of the worst superhero films ever made, and proved to be such a colossal failure that it took Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins to rejuvenate the hero.

Joel Schumacher would have gone some way toward salvaging his reputation if he’d been given the chance to create his third Batman film, though. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Schumacher ambitiously wanted to cast Nicolas Cage as the Scarecrow, the villain who would later be portrayed throughout the Dark Knight saga by Cillian Murphy, in a sequel titled Batman Unchained.

Straight off the bat, that’s a pretty appealing casting choice. A maniacal Nicholas Cage, who in the late 90s would be at the peak of his powers (having recently been presented with the Best Actor Academy Award for his performance in Leaving Las Vegas, before then appearing in The Rock, Face/Off and Bringing Out The Dead), given free reign as a Batman villain would certainly have been intriguing to see. Especially if George Clooney, minus his diabolical cheesy approach, was still Batman.

But that’s not all, because Schumacher also wanted to include a cameo from every single Batman villain from the movie franchise, as well. Yes, that would have included Jack Nicholson’s Joker, while Jim Carrey’s The Riddler, Tommy Lee Jones’ Two-Face, Michelle Pfeiffer’s Catwoman, and Danny DeVito’s Penguin would have also been featured.

Why would this gaggle of villainy have been needed? The report says Schumacher wanted to end the blockbuster with an all-star sequence, which would have featured Batman hallucinating and then facing the demons from his past. Each of these villains would then put Batman on trial. This news also comes just a few days after it was teased that Batman Unchained’s Harley Quinn was almost played by Courtney Love. All of which suggests that Batman Unchained could have possessed a terrific coagulation of iconic villains from the comic’s illustrious past.

Now, of course, it’s all good that Joel Schumacher envisioned this conclusion, but actually getting each of these actors to sign up for the scene would have been a huge stretch.

Anyway, in the end, it was all a pipe dream – because Schumacher’s diabolical Batman & Robin immediately brought an end to these ambitious plans. We’ll get to see the latest incarnation of Harley Quinn and The Joker in Suicide Squad on August 5, 2016, where they’ll be played by Margot Robbie and Jared Leto, respectively. Meanwhile Catwoman, Penguin, Two-Face and The Riddler are each on Gotham too. If you want to see them all in one scene, you’re just going to have to wait for a nifty YouTube editor to slice a clip together.

As often bemoaned, the series of Batman films started by Tim Burton's 1989 effort went out in the late 1990's as a kitschy pastel calamity. 1995’s Batman Forever was the beginning of this downhill slide for the once-magnificent movie series. Now, closing in on the 20th anniversary of the film’s release, Cinema Sins gives you 167 reasons why.

Giving Batman Forever a thorough comb-through, Cinema Sins surprisingly gives star Val Kilmer a bit of a pass. However, they not only point out the obvious flaws of the film, like its vacuous vixen of a leading lady played by Nicole Kidman, and the unnecessary, lackluster levity, but they also point out some interesting minor plot holes and anachronisms, giving you even more excuses to hate the film. The video properly grills the ludicrous flick that gave us Bat butt implants and took the brilliant cityscape designs of Burton’s Gotham City and turned it into a dark, psychedelic carnival ride.

However, the brunt of the video’s ire focuses on Tommy Lee Jones’ disappointing performance as Harvey Dent/Two-Face. Certainly, one would think that the grizzled gravitas of Jones would have overcome not only the film’s quirky nature, but the fact that, flying in the face of continuity, he took over a role originated in the first film by Billy Dee Williams. The uber-animated ineptitude of the character seemed to overshadow the attention-grabbing insanity of Jim Carrey’s Riddler. This was highlighted in the video ever so clearly and, as they rightly observe, "He’s out Jim Carrey-ing Jim Carrey."

The series of superhero films that began with Tim Burton’s 1989 Batman was game-changing on so many levels, starting as a dark, daring reinvention of the comic book property whose last live-action rendition had Adam West in a kitschy jumpsuit beating on thugs in a groovy grind. Burton’s follow-up, 1992’s Batman Returns, may have carried a rogues gallery that crowded the crux of the drama, but it still managed to be a worthy sequel in the sense of spirit and atmosphere.

As far as superhero films with the name Joel Schumacher attached, Batman Forever is often defended as the one that "wasn’t good, but not too bad." However, discerning dissers of the Schumacher Batman films will remember that Batman Forever set into motion the ignominious abortion of a movie that followed. It accomplished that feat by becoming a success at the box-office with $336.5 million in 1995, even out-grossing its 1992 predecessor. Just two short years later, the abysmal Batman and Robin, clearly misinterpreting the financial success of Batman Forever as approval of its style, would take that formula, mutating the film into an unwatchable mishmash of random imagery and a star-studded cast lost under its weight.

Was Batman Forever really THAT bad of a film? Yes, in the sense that it set a horrific precedence for a cinematic moment from which the comic book movie genre would take years to recover. No, in the sense that it dared to be stylistically different and showcased a memorable villain in Jim Carrey’s Riddler. That’s about as far as I’d go with the accolades.

You have to look far and wide to find Batman fans who’ll defend Joel Schumacher’s contributions to the hero’s cinematic legacy. Normally, when Bat-fans speak of pre-Nolan times, it’s "Tim Burton This" and "Tim Burton That," while conversation drops to a whisper if anyone brings up Batman Forever or – gasp! -- Batman & Robin. Except now, a new theory has been floated that helps explain WHY Schumacher’s Batman movies are so different than any other Dark Knight story… and it’s worth exploring.

The folks over at Crave have analyzed Joel Schumacher’s two Batman films, and drew strong comparisons to the ways that Gotham is portrayed in the Burton films to the Schumacher efforts. Mainly, the city is dark and somber in Batman and Batman Returns, but lit up like a neon Christmas tree in Forever and Robin. Schumacher has said in the past that he always approached the Batman franchise as a series aimed at kids – with a nod toward selling more toys – but the Crave writers have a different suggestion.

They think that gambling has been legalized in Gotham, leading to prosperous times for the city’s citizens.

They point to tacky décor, the upswing of gaudy lighting... basically, between Batman Returns and Batman Forever, they suggest that Gotham becomes the equivalent of Las Vegas, and legalized gambling is the reason. They mention a gambling scene in Batman Returns that takes place at a charity function. In Forever, though, people are gambling out in the open – and the casino is the victim of a heist.

The site goes one step further to explain that these changes to Gotham even affected The Bat, saying that the hero has become the equivalent of the city’s "mascot," turning him into a look-at-me "public spectacle, a tourist attraction." And yes, this gets away from what we think we know about Batman, and the choices that he would make as Gotham’s protector. But often in the comics, Batman went with the changes that Gotham needed him to make in order to ultimately protect the city and its citizens. Is this a drastic shift? Indeed, but it isn’t out of the realm of possibility.

Look, this theory doesn’t make Joel Schumacher’s Batman movies any better. In fact, when it comes to Batman & Robin, Crave suggests you switch over to the Spanish-language audio track and pretend the whole thing is a bad luchador movie.

But I dig that someone went deep to try and figure out why Gotham changes so drastically from one film to the next, and this theory’s pretty cool.

Remember that time Nicole Kidman played the brainy but beautiful love interest in a Batman movie? Neither do I, really, though Kidman has a pretty good idea why her character – Dr. Chase Meridian, from Joel Schumacher’s Batman Forever -- ranks pretty low on the grand scale of Caped Crusader squeezes.

The Oscar-winning actress was sprinting through her career with Yahoo Movies as part of the site’s Role Recall series. And when they got to 1995’s Batman Forever, Nicole Kidman didn’t have a ton of disdain for the experience, though she does admit:

It’s rare that the women in the Batman movies got to do much beyond "be rescued" or "die horribly to anger our hero." Yes, Michelle Pfeiffer and Anne Hathaway donned the Catwoman suit for alternate Batman films from Tim Burton and Christopher Nolan. But those are the exceptions that prove the rule carried out by the likes of Katie Holmes, Maggie Gyllenhaal or Kim Basinger in the initial Batman movie. Despite the fact that Nicole Kidman was asked to play a doctor in Joel Schumacher’s first Batman movie, she still had to deal with being dangled like bait as part of The Riddler’s grand trap… like any normal, campy Batman sequence. For real, this is atrocious:

Not surprisingly, almost everyone bailed on Batman after Forever. Kidman ran for the hills. Val Kilmer hung up the suit, passing the cape and cowl to George Clooney. Alicia Silverstone and Uma Thurman stepped into the key female roles for Batman & Robin, and they were humiliated by Schumacher’s excess.

I’m more intrigued by Nicole Kidman’s statement that she’d like to do something else in the realm of superhero movies. At age 47, she might be a little too old to step into the Ms. Marvel role over at Marvel Studios. But DC/Warner is setting up a massive cinematic universe, and there have to be multiple female roles outside of Wonder Woman that Kidman could fill. It could be payback for making her endure the layers of cheese in Batman Forever. Get her on the phone, Zack Snyder. Nicole Kidman’s ready to listen.

Matthew McConaughey has now blossomed into one of Hollywood’s most desired actors, despite a few bumps in the road courtesy of the romantic-comedy genre. It was Joel Schumacher, though, who was one of the first directors to spot the prestigious talents of the Texas native, and he gambled on giving him his first leading role in 1996’s A Time To Kill. But it turns out, it all had to be done in a rather covert manner.

During an in-depth talk with Joel Schumacher, the Batman & Robin and St. Elmo’s Fire filmmaker told Variety that he always wanted McConaughey to be a part of his adaptation of John Grisham’s novel, but he just wasn’t sure which role he was right for. Schumacher soon deciphered that he’d be perfect as Jake Brigance, the lawyer who defends Samuel L. Jackson’s Carl Lee Hailey after he murders the men who raped his 10-year-old daughter. But he knew that Grisham had final approval over the lead character, and he didn’t want to inadvertently ruin McConaughey’s career by putting him forward for a part that he was then rejected for. So they filmed a secret audition tape and sent it off to the author. I’ll let Joel Schumacher tell the rest in his own words:

Joel Schumacher admitted that he was first drawn to Matthew McConaughey thanks to his intoxicating performance in Richard Linklater’s1993 classic coming of age drama, Dazed and Confused. "Everyone knew when they saw Dazed and Confused that he leapt off the screen," the filmmaker declared, but it still took the actor three years to truly find his footing in Hollywood. After bit parts in Angels in the Outfield, Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation, and Boys On The Side, it was his effort as Brigance that truly showed how captivating he could be on the big screen in a leading role.

Of course, you could say that he actually wasted these talents by then going on to appear in a number of lucrative but despicably woeful slices of mainstream cinema, which included the likes of The Wedding Planner, How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days, Sahara, Failure To Launch and Fool’s Good. However he has since shown that he still has the passion and desire for more complex roles with his Oscar winning performance in Dallas Buyers Club, joined by sterling work in True Detective and Mud too. With Interstellar just around the corner, you can’t help but feel that McConaughey’s best is yet to come.

Joel Schumacher's Batman & Robin is a terrible film. The performances are weak, the Day-Glo splattered Gotham is ugly as sin, and the script is incredibly stupid. There are many people whom fans like to blame for this cinematic catastrophe, from the executives at Warner Bros. who gave the project the green light to the people at DC Comics who let Batman be treated so horrifically on the big screen, but there is really only one person whom the movie's director blames for its failings: himself.

Variety had the chance to interview Schumacher at the Hamptons Film Festival, and when the topic turned to the filmmaker's most notorious movie, he pointed a finger only at himself as the man responsible person for Batman & Robin's failings. Specifically citing the fact that he had never made a sequel before, Schumacher said that he simply should have never said "yes" to the project, which was demanded quickly after the blockbuster success of Batman Forever. At this point, his only hopes for the project is that it doesn't go down as one of the worst in history. Said the director,

While Schumacher clearly doesn't like to be reminded of Batman & Robin's failings, he is also aware that one particular element of it is going to follow him for the rest of his life: the Bat-nipples. The director says that he was completely surprised by the negative reaction to the costume feature, but feels that it will be what he is ultimately remembered for. "I think that will be on my gravestone," he said.

Unlike Batman & Robin, though, it also seems that Schumacher still has fond memories making Batman Forever - which made $336 million worldwide when it was released in 1995. The movie was made for less than $100 million and wound up being the biggest film of the year, and Schumacher says it was his "total passion." He added,

Batman's on-screen presence has obviously changed quite a bit since Joel Schumacher's day, and certainly for the better. Christopher Nolan wowed audiences with his Dark Knight trilogy - completely reinventing the Caped Crusader's Hollywood image - and now the superhero is set to return to the big screen in Zack Snyder's Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, which will be out in 2016. As Schumacher knows, however, we will never forget.

Joel Schumacher should not be allowed to make movies anymore. It's not only that I'm still mad at him for what he did to Batman, but also that he has proven time and time again that he is just a lousy filmmaker. His last two films, Trespass and Twelve, were nothing but crap that wasted both the time of critics and audiences. Lucky for us, the director has been replaced on a project that he was supposed to make by a much more competent filmmaker.

According to Variety, Brad Anderson, best known for directing Session 9 and The Machinist, has replaced Schumacher at the helm of The Hive. The film is about a 9-1-1 operator who works to save a girl from a serial killer and must face her own fears in the process. Screenwriter Rich D'Ovidio, whose previous work includes Thir13en Ghosts and Exit Wounds, wrote the script and while Halle Berry was originally attached to star, she was forced to drop out due to scheduling conflicts. The trade says that other "top actresses" have been interested in the part, though no names are given. Production on the film is scheduled to begin this spring.

It's a shame that Terrence Malick's decision to cast Christian Bale in both Lawless and Knight of Cups is probably getting in the way of Anderson making Concrete Island, which he's been attached to for almost year, but we can hope that this will be just as good. Anderson's greatest strength has always been his ability to create dense, creepy atmosphere (even in the less than stellar Vanishing on 7th Street) and this project sounds like it could be a great outlet for that.

Regardless of what you think of Joel Schumacher and his long, incredibly varied career, which includes the likes of St. Elmo's Fire and Tigerland along with Batman & Robin and 8 MM, he is a fascinating person to talk to. He's not just candid, like a lot of directors with long careers behind them are, but he's talkative and a little rambling, willing to talk about just about anything and even bringing up subjects you didn't even think to ask. I got on the phone with him while he was walking along the High Line in Manhattan, and though he was about to meet friends at the club on the top of the Standard Hotel, he stayed on the phone with me for 45 minutes until I finally told him I had to cut him loose.

The occasion for our interview was Trespass, the new home invasion thriller he has out in theaters this weekend and soon to hit DVD and VOD. But as you can tell, we talked about a lot of other stuff, including his respect for German auteur Michael Haneke, the poor critical reception of St. Elmo's Fire back in the day, the fact that the movies he makes our products, and just what it will take to keep him from stepping behind the camera. For his equally frank thoughts on what he did with the Batman franchise and where it went after him, check out this article. For everything else, take a look at the interview below.

How do you make a home invasion movie these days, when the genre has been skewered in movies like Michael Haneke's Funny Games?

Well, Michael Haneke is one of my favorite directors, and I loved the German version very much. A lot of his films deal with ultimate nihilism. And this doesn't. I also felt this was at a particular time when there are too many rich and too many poor in this country, and the middle is shrinking. There's a class warfare going on here. Eventually, when a civilization creates too many have-nots, they will eventually rise up and take what the haves have.

I looked at it as two families that are on two sides of the same coin. Both Ben Mendelsohn and Nic Cage are two men who have overreached for the American dream, one legally, one illegally. They've reached too far, and they now have to face the music. I also thought the family was very representative of what's happened through our technology and through our times. When the movie begins there are three people living totally separate lives in that house and not connecting at all. Of course when life and death gets on the line, everything changes.

You're reuniting with Nicolas Cage, and you're casting him in a role we're not used to seeing him in, where he's not exactly a man of action. Did you want to play with his reputation in that way?

We did that in 8 MM. He plays a very on the surface average guy who gets spun into a world of horror, and he becomes someone that he never felt he would be. I felt the father in this piece was also spun into a world of horror. Nothing more horrific than thinking your wife and child will be murdered. He becomes someone he never thought he would be. Everyone in the film does. We all like to think that when the boat is sinking we will help all the senior citizens and children and pregnant women off before we help ourselves. But we don't know who we will be in that situation.

Schumacher has a tendency for tangents, but fascinating ones. Here are two of them, and no, they don't really have anything to do with my questions.

I love movies with big effects, I love movies that are fantasies-- I am a pop culture sponge, I love all kinds of movies from the tiniest French arthouse brooding film and Michael Haneke films to a lot of great directors. But I also love popcorn movies. I'm the guy who wrote Car Wash. Pop culture is, for me, the culture. I know all about history and art and all that stuff, which is great to know. But it was the, and this is now. And pop culture is always the culture of now.

St. Elmo's Fire & Lost Boys, which really kicked off my career, deal with dark circumstances sometimes. St. Elmo's Fire didn't get one good review in the United States. Nobody believes that. Even critics now who call it a watershed movie and talk about it glowingly and even interview me about it. But the audience got it. And I never planned to make movies for critics. I don't know how it happened. the odds are impossible! They're totally and completely impossible. I'm the luckiest guy in the world. It's much better to be underestimated than overestimated. I don't know what you get from that, because you can only disappoint. When you start a career and you're not a critic's darling, you don't depend on that. I know people who, the first movie they made out of the box, they were geniuses. And then they made a second film and perhaps they disappointed someone, and then they're crucified. It happens with second novels sometimes too.

So what is your measure of success for a film?

When you make mass entertainment it's millions and millions of people, and you get used to hearing every opinion in the world. And that's what it's there for. Making a movie is like raising someone else's child. It's only my movie when I'm making it. It's a product for someone else, and you have to give ti away. And ultimately you give it up to the audience, and the audience decides what happens.

A lot of filmmakers hesitate to talk about movies as products.

Well anybody that's going to write a check for me to make a movie, I honor them and admire them but do not pander to them for one second. I believe in what I believe in, and I fight for what I like. But you learn this early on as a director, you have to give it up at some point, you have to give it away. Ultimately you give it up to an audience, but before that you have to give it to the people who paid for it. And they have an expectation of making some kind of profit for whatever money they put up. It's show business, it wasn't show art, although you can have an artistic film that's successful.

I don't want to feel my best work is behind me. Hopefully I haven't made my best film yet. That's the dream. And I'm lucky to just have jobs. There are so many people from my peer group who can't get work. Leaving Warner Bros. and making small films and not worrying about how much money I was going to make paid off for me big time. People know I can make a small budget film and make some money and get an interesting script. I' going to keep working until my agent calls me and says no one on the planet will ever make a movie with you as long as you live.

(Image via lev radin / Shutterstock.com)

Even though Joel Schumacher became famous for making the silly, garish, nipples-on-the-batsuit Batman & Robin, it's easy to forget that was the second Batman film he made for Warner Bros., after taking over the franchise from Tim Burton and making 1995's Batman Forever. And when it came time for the studio to make another Batman movie without Schumacher as it turns out, he had a hand in that too, though not in any movie we ever saw. Before Christopher Nolan took over with Batman Begins the studio was figuring out a lot of ways to move on with Batman, and at one point had Darren Aronofsky working on an adaptation called Batman: Year One. At some point during that development back in 2001, Aronofsky turned to the person he knew who'd made a Batman movie and asked for some advice. Here's how Schumacher told it to me today:

When Schumacher says it was "my goal to get a family friendly movie," he of course means it was the studio's goal. According to Schumacher the studio fielded many, many complaints about Batman Returns, to the point that he had to travel to some foreign exhibitors and convince them to show Batman Forever. That's a movie Schumacher clearly feels proud of-- he calls it "a really young, sexy movie, which was probably the most inexpensive of all the Batman movies, and it just took off as a surprise to everyone." But with Batman & Robin, he admits, "I failed," though he argues that there were a lot of external factors that made that failure inevitable.

It's clear that Schumacher has spent 15 years answering for Batman & Robin, even when, as he's said in other interviews, he wanted to make a darker film inspired by Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns. And the films he's made since then have been considerably darker indeed, from the thriller 8 MM with Nic Cage to the micro-scaled indie Tigerland that introduced Colin Farrell to the world, to even the upcoming Trespass, which was the occasion for our interview. I'll have much more about the film and lots, lots more about Schumacher's career when I post the full interview later on-- say what you will about his films, but the man is a fascinating and incredibly gracious person to interview. And apparently, a font of wisdom for Darren Aronofsky in times of need. Who knew?

Last year's Rabbit Hole proved that Nicole Kidman can still impress when given the right script and director. In that film she plays a mother whose son is killed in a car accident, and her performance is absolutely phenomenal. It was an emotionally complex part that reminded us why she has been nominated for Academy Awards twice and won once. So what she's doing in Joel Schumacher's Trespass is an absolutely mystery.

Just Jared is hosting a new clip from the film, which you can see below.

Also starring Nicolas Cage and Cam Gigandet, the film is about an outwardly happy married couple in the suburbs whose lives are disrupted when they are taken hostage by a group of masked criminals. But as pressures mount, secrets about the couple's relationship come out that could change everything. Distributed by Millennium Entertainment, the movie played at the Toronto International Film Festival earlier this month and will have a limited run in theaters starting on October 14th. For more about Trespass, be sure to head over to our Blend Film Datatabase.

Just a few minutes ago I wrote a story about Russell Crowe joining The Man With The Iron Fist and said it would be the weirdest story you heard today. It didn't take long for me to be proven wrong and I have Joel Schumacher to thank. Pajiba's reliable inside source, The Hollywood Cog, has gotten word that the Batman and Robin director wants to do a movie called The Barry White Story. Don't be fooled, however, as this is not a biopic about the legendary singer. No, this is a movie about the ghost of Barry White returning to Earth to help a loser teenager get the girl of his dreams. I shit you not, that is the idea.

You have to travel way back in the movie time machine, but Schumacher actually used to be a respected filmmaker. Back in the 1980s and early 90s he was making quality flicks like St. Elmo's Fire, Falling Down and The Lost Boys. This man needs to have his career taken behind the shed and shot until dead. Why are people still giving him money?

Of the 25 reviews that our own Katey Rich did at this year's Sundance Film Festival, the one she wrote for Joel Schumacher's Twelve was probably the most intriguing. It's fairly easy to make a groan-worthy suckfest, but making a movie that's laughably bad is another story entirely. One of the most high-profile films at the festival, she called the picture a "hilarious and melodramatic mess" and went as far as to say that the screenwriter, Jordan Melamed, had trouble wrapping his head around the idea that film is a visual medium. Awfulness of that magnitude needs to be experienced and now we have our first official taste.

MTV has posted the first official trailer for the film and...what can really be said? It's a bunch of pretty people doing dumb things; going for a Rules of Attraction meets Requiem For A Dream vibe and falling short of both. You may remember back in April that a trailer was released, but it turns out that it was unauthorized. This one is the real deal, but perhaps we were better off without it.

Check out the video here:

Joel Schumacher's Twelve is a truly, hilariously bad movie, but it's one I'm incredibly grateful I caught at Sundance because of the amazing atmosphere of the press screening-- one person decided it was OK to laugh, and the walls fell down entirely. Because none of you will likely wind up seeing this movie in a crowd of amused critics, I can't recommend the movie whatsoever (read my Sundance review here)-- and since it's opening against The Twilight Saga: Eclipse on July 2, I'm not that worried about you guys seeing it anyway.

But! If you happen to be a giant fan of Chace Crawford or Emma Roberts and want to see how they got into this mess, check out the trailer for Twelve below, released on YouTube by distributor Hannover House and picked up by Movieline. It's three minutes long and spoils nearly everything about the movie, including Kiefer Sutherland's incessant and unnecessary voiceover narration and the disappointing lack of a samurai sword slaughter near the end. But if you've been wondering what every critic has been laughing about his Sundance, this gives a pretty solid idea. Watch the carnage below.

UPDATE: We've been asked to remove the trailer since it was not, in fact, official or authorized for release. Hopefully we'll have a real one to show you soon.

Yesterday's press screening of Twelve was probably my favorite screening experience of Sundance so far-- and that's not just because Roger Ebert was sitting behind me and I got to shake his hand. A fairly large crowd of journalists had gathered at the Yarrow to catch Twelve, given that it was one of the few high-profile premieres remaining, and everyone entered without much clue what Joel Schumacher had planned for his adaptation of the seminal teen novel.

And then, when a character purchased a samurai sword, or maybe it was when another took refuge in a church by pulling a stool up to the altar, the assorted press decided together that it was OK to laugh out loud-- and Twelve became one of the best comedies I've seen at the festival. Stone-serious about the boilerplate rich-kid antics it depicts, and perhaps completely unaware that Gossip Girl is already mining this territory pretty well (even with the presence of Chace Crawford in the lead role), Twelve is a hilarious and melodramatic mess. If you are also seeing it with a crowd of slap-happy journalists, you may even find yourself loving it. Since you probably won't, I'd recommend staying away.

Centered around a drug dealer named White Mike (Crawford), Twelve is about a tangled web of rich Upper East Side New York kids, all with ambitions of moving on to Ivy League colleges but equally committed to fostering drug habits and having irresponsible sex. Sara Ludlow (Esti Ginzburg) is the pretty and manipulative girl, Jessica (Emily Meade) the good girl trying to go bad, Chris (Rory Culkin) the dweeb taken advantage of for his party-throwing skills, Claude (Billy Magnussen) the psycho, steroid-abusing older brother, etc. etc. White Mike has dropped out of school and spends his days wandering the streets and dealing to his former classmates, while starting a maybe-romance with childhood friend Molly (Emma Roberts), who represents everything pure with her blue-collar background and complete disinterest in drugs.

Things move along convincingly, if uninterestingly, for a while, as various kids hook up, do drugs, get into trouble and do everything you figure kids with unlimited money and privilege might do. But the movie slowly gets sillier-- the older brother buys a samurai swords, White Mike stares contemplatively off rooftops-- until culminating in a giant party that we know will inevitably end in tragedy. Caring about a single one of the characters might have made the scene more suspenseful ,but by then it's hard to think who you want to see killed off first.

Topping it all off is the narration from Kiefer Sutherland, which is lifted so directly from the book that he's constantly explaining what the characters think and describing to us precisely what we're seeing onscreen. Jordan Melamed, who wrote the screenplay, seems to have so little clue of how to adapt the novel, and such little knowledge of how film can work as a visual medium, that he just added in some scenery changes and called it a day. Schumacher at least tries to give the movie a visual style, but the saturated colors and quick cuts to approximate the feeling of a drug rush feel tired if not outright cliched. And that's even before the stuffed animals start talking.

The silly incompetence is really best represented by that samurai sword, which Claude purchases and wields constantly toward the other characters while pumping iron and doing situps. Just as you know that all these stories must end in tragedy, you know that Claude's samurai sword will play a role-- you can't show a metaphorical loaded gun and not let it go off. But when the movie ends without a single one of the annoying characters getting sliced in half with a blade, it's almost unbelievably disappointing. We've earned the right to see these characters dispatched with in the most violent way possible, and Schumacher denies us. It is a royal waste of time.

For more of our Sundance 2010 coverage, click here.