Michael Keaton says suiting up as Batman once again felt “shockingly normal”
Keaton became the caped crusader once more for the upcoming The Flash movie
TV News Michael Keaton
Michael Keaton famously played Batman in Tim Burton’s take on the DC hero in Batman (1989) and Batman Returns (1992). Now, over 30 years later, he’s thrown on the cape and mask once more for Andy Muschietti’s The Flash and recently opened up about how it feel standing in Batman’s boots again.
“It was shockingly normal. It was weird,” the actor says in an interview with Jakes Takes. “And like I went, ‘Oh! Oh yeah. That’s right.’ But also, then you start to play the scenes and a lot of memories, a lot of really interesting sense memories [come back].”
In many ways, the Birdman actor says he was brought back three decades to his time working with Burton when filming his opening scene.
“Just a rush of memories,” he says in an interview with Collider. “Without giving anything away, which I can’t, basically the first shot, not of the entire movie but let’s say the introduction [of Batman], is so good that when we walked on and started talking about a couple of shots and the angles, I went, ‘Whoa, this is big. This is great.’ I don’t even mean for me. Just the imagery, it’s great. And reminiscent, to some degree, of Tim Burton.” Which makes sense, considering they’re bringing back Keaton’s original Batmobile and Batcave for The Flash.
The Flash finally began filming in April, bringing back numerous familiar faces for the multiverse feature based on the Flashpoint comics. Ben Affleck’s Batman will return, as well as Ezra Miller as Barry Allen, Kiersey Clemons as Iris West, and Ron Livingston will play Barry’s dad (replacing Billy Crudup from a small role in Justice League). Sasha Calle will also make her debut as the first Latinx Supergirl in the film.
In addition to The Flash, Keaton will also appear in the upcoming Hulu drama miniseries Dopesick, which tackles America’s opioid crisis, and stars in action-thriller The Protege, which hits theaters on August 20. The Flash is set to premiere sometime in November 2022.
122 Comments
I’ll repeat what I’ve said previously about Flashpoint: If the antagonist is The Batman Who Laughs I will refuse to watch this movie out of spite.
Buuuuuuuut what if he’s played by Jared Leto?
Then it’s used condoms for everyone!
Truly, Jared Leto is the Oprah of used condoms.
I really really don’t see that happening. Even though at first I liked the character but after a while I was like enough already.
It would be weird if that happens. It’ll probably be some sort of Reverse Flash situation.
That’s really out of nowhere. The villain of Flashpoint is Barry Allen. BWL’s debut is about half a decade removed from Flashpoint.
I just know in my gut that they’d probably use BWL at some point.
Not to mention the fact that you’re talking to a dead guy.
So, you’re saying he’s qualified to haunt the Dietz’s?
Never trust The Living.
Ha HA! Corporate synergy.
The real birdman! But Koke B Ware may differently.
Good reference, star for you.
Did you get that thing I sent you?
Ha-HA!…body inna woodchipper!
i wonder how much affleck’s batman is gonna be in this as well.
Just for the closeups of the BatDick.
Big Head Batman vs. Tiny Batman
Bring in the Clooney for the Prominent Nipples Batman.
My bet is the contractually obligated amount
How does it work that they are both in it? I’m confused.
DC is jumping on the multiverse wagon.
it won’t work very well, is my guess.(serious answer is that i presume the speed force will introduce some multiverse shenanigans)
DC movies jumping on the ol’ multiverse bandwagon. Is there anything they do that isn’t just doing what Marvel does, but not nearly as well? (Although I hear The Suicide Squad is quite good—I want to see it, but have been putting it off because I’ve developed a low tolerance for gore.)
I’m actually pretty sure this was announced before the title of Doctor Strange In the Multiverse of Madness. I actually believe DC had this cooking before Marvel did and they beat them to it with their D+ shows.
Also, The Suicide Squad is fucking awesome.
DC actually beat MCU to the punch in regards to the Multiverse. They already introduced it to live-action back in Smallville over a decade ago, then again in the Flash TV show back in the mid-2010s, then the full-blown crossovers back in 2017 then again in 2019. The Flash movie script that’s supposed to be a loose adaptation of “Flashpoint”, another Multiverse story, has been written before we even heard about MCU doing Multiverse, too.It’s one of the few things that Marvel was actually late to the party for. Not really surprising, since even in the comics it was more of DC’s thing. Marvel didn’t really get into it that much until modern day, after dabbling a bit in the 90s with some non-canon stories.
multiverse.
I hated Batman v Superman and I didn’t even bother to watch either version of Justice League, but I didn’t hate Affleck as Batman. The warehouse scene was the shit. That’s basically my favorite kind of Batman, the kind that makes a surprise attack on a warehouse full of heavily armed thugs and just beats holy hell out of ‘em. Yes, I enjoyed the Arkham games, how’d you guess?
Beats holy hell out of them whilst they all wait their turn. The choreography for that scene is some of the worst ever put on film, you can almost see the bad guys count in when they are meant to attack.
Based on the story they’re adapting, Affleck’s probably gonna be bookending the movie while Keaton is the main partner for Barry during the plot.
Just putting it out there, but it’s not too much of a stretch from this to a Batman Beyond movie.
I’m guessing we won’t get more than what we got with Kevin Conroy in the Arrowverse Crisis. Shame.
“Wait, what do I do when I want to pee? Oh, right, it’s all coming back to me now.”*Runs out of room, calls agent in a panic*
*Pees in suit, sloshes over to the set*
“Hey, at least I’m not Downey Junior. Tony Stark had to drink this stuff.”
Adult diaper technology has come a long way since he first donned the Batsuit.
There’s all those commercials showing that you can still be sexy in them now!
Agent who sounds like Michael Caine: “Why do we piss ourselves, Master Keaton?”
“You wanna gets nuts? *smash* LET’S GET NUTS!”
The Joker tries to kill me once…ONCE!
Is there an alternate universe where Joe Piscopo played the Joker?!
that was in the universe where Dead Heat was the #1 movie in Amerigo
“…and the Oscar for Best Picture goes to…”
*fumbles envelope*
”Jingle All The Way!”
“Jingle All the Way…ALSO starring Joe Piscopo”
“Wait’ll they get a load ‘a ME!”
I just appreciate any Johnny Dangerously reference. I’m pretty sure “Come on lucky shelf paper!” is the line of dialogue from any film I use more than anything else, and absolutely no one gets what the hell I’m talking about. Any time I need some good luck, “Come on lucky shelf paper!”
You bastage.
You fonkin’ icehole
Move dis wall, dis wall, and dis farrrgin wall.
“Dammit, I didn’t expect him to shoot me in the groin!”
Never rub another man’s rhubarb.
Watched the first half of the Val Kilmer memoir/documentary film Val last night. His take on playing Batman was really interesting. Basically found the Batsuit (do I need to capitalize that?) so uncomfortable and isolating that he didn’t want to come back for a second film. Instead, he did The Saint, which I recall being pretty good. I just got to the part about the gong show which was The Island of Doctor Moreau, which has been bananas.
I just watched it myself. Pretty cool documentary. Seems totally dedicated to “the craft.” No wonder he hated playing Batman. They didn’t want him to act. He was mostly a walking prop.
Right? Exactly. Haven’t finished it yet, but finding it an odd blend of melancholy to see him in such a reduced state career-wise, having to endure Comic-Con crowds trading on his films from 30 years ago, and uplifting, seeing what a rich family life he has and what health & spiritual resilience.
Finish it. The stuff about Island of Dr. Moreau gets more into it.
He did have that legendary “WOMEN.” scene right before lighting up the afterburner.
That’s a shame. As a kid, he was my favorite Batman before Christian Bale. He physically looked the part, but he also felt like he was putting on a persona of “billionaire socialite dilletante” when he was in public as Bruce Wayne. George Clooney did too – and he probably did that specific aspect better – but Val Kilmer was great at capturing the pain and trauma he was carrying inside when he was by himself.
I saw The Saint when I was about 12, so I can say with confidence that it included as much sideboob as a PG-13 rating would allow.
Val:
Have you checked out the documentary Lost Soul? It’s all about the making of IoDM. It’s fantastic. I’ll have to check out Val just to get some more stories.
I still say they should have brought back Adam West. Kids are gonna want to see the original Batman.
Might have to settle for Burt Ward.
Quick, get the penis shrinking injections!!!
Who needs injections? Evil Peter Graves does it for me.
something something Burt Ward.
You mean Lewis Wilson?
Well, if they ever do Blackest Night, you might get your chance…?What? Too soon?
“How come Batman doesn’t dance anymore?”
Bring back the Bat-tusi!
TWO BAKER’S DOZEN OF BATUSI GIRLS!
Young (“Good Lovin’”) Rascals?
The poster designed personally fucked everyone one of them.
“Cousin” Brucie Morrow is only MCing the first half of the show?I’m out.
Hell, go cheap and easy and throw in a “Detective Lookwell”
Do you believe Val Kilmer’s ghost haunts the bordello where his bullet riddled body was found?
I keep telling you, he is 93 years old and he’s dead.
Granted, but…
Granted, but—
He’s 93 years old. And dead.
he’s dead.
Just roll the spandex-covered urn onto the soundstage, as it were?
I have really high hopes for this Flash Movie. I’m setting myself up to be let down.
Don’t feel bad. It’s getting released the same time Half-Life 3 comes out so you’ll have something to keep your mind off it.
Have only watched a couple scenes from the previous JL films, but seeing Keaton as Batman would be a draw to see Flash.
Who knew that slapping on a pint of Vaseline and slithering into a rubber body suit would feel shockingly normal?
Honestly the only weird part was just using a pint. I am a two pint minimum sorta guy
Unless you’re Ham Hands Bill, in which case you measure out your Vaseline in chonks.
You know those apps that tell you when it’s OK to get up and go pee during a movie so you won’t miss anything important? I want one for this movie that does the opposite. Just tell me what parts of the movie have Keaton as Batman and I’ll run in to see that. The rest of it I couldn’t care less about.
It’s called physical media. Fast forwarding through a whole movie to get to the good parts is a lost art.
(You can do that with digital media too)
You have that app already, it’s called your bladder.
Lucky. Lucky old man.
Ten seconds later both the movie and I are still standing and exactly that much is right with the world.
Keaton’s old enough he needs to use his legs to climb a rope.
“This should be agony. I should be a mass of aching muscle—broken, spent, unable to move. And, were I an older man, I surely would. . .but I’m a man of thirty—of twenty again. The rain on my chest is a baptism—I’m born again. . .”—Michael Keaton
Sasha Calle is Latina
OK, I’m sure it’s the comic-book-collecting kid in me, but I am a total sucker for shit like this. I practically popped a chub at the Arrowverse Crisis on Infinite Earths event with all the appearances and cameos.
So DC and Marvel are both doing multiverse movies in 2022?
Marvel’s doing one in 2021 thanks to Spider-Man.
2018!
Is anyone else besides me happiest to hear that they’re bringing back the Keaton Batmobile? For all the praise of the Nolan/Bale Bat-films, they had by far the ugliest Batmobile and I won’t be sorry to never see it again.
I still think the Snydermobile was uglier.
Say what you will about the Nolan-verse Batmobile. It looked ugly because it was utilitarian. It was designed to get the job done, not look pretty. All of the previous Batmobiles, while they looked awesome (well, some of them), were solely designed for visual appeal and would have been completely useless for the job they were designed to do.
What the F is DC doing..? I feel like not even they know…
Making movies?
Ooh, close… We were looking for “making SHITTY, movies,” gotta have that “shitty” and remember, to have your responses in the form of a question, so we were looking for, “what is: making shitty movies.”
I didn’t think The Suicide Squad was shitty at all. But whatever.
Oh, that JUST came out—-and that’s ONE good movie out of a slew of shitty ones. 1.3, I’ll give you the first 27 minutes of Man of Steel. And I don’t count Christopher Nolans stuff either, because they were TOO good and DC has done the opposite of that for more than a decade…
I’ve liked many of the DCEU movies but I’m not going to argue with someone who asked a really weird question despite already having their mind made up. You do you bro.
Sounds good… uh… “Bro…” ✌🏾
It’s 2021. The hate-boner for DC is tiring at this point. It already drove me of certain Marvel-centric circles on the internet, all the toxicity and nerd rage. I’m so over arguing and just want them to perish.
Poor old Vicki, denied again.
His eyebrows have really flattened out as he gets older. Man those things were arched.
They’re just following the mathematically proven rule regarding Michael Keaton:https://www.theonion.com/study-87-percent-of-movies-would-be-better-with-michae-1819572301
LatinA
I’ve had a crush on Keaton forever. He has two other projects coming out this Fall, “Worth”, where he plays the attorney who negotiated settlements with the families of 9/11 victims, and “Dopesick”, he plays a doctor who takes on Purdue Pharma. He will always be my Batman.
Have we decided Ezra Miller is okay after punching a woman in the face? Did he repent and take responsibility like a good person would? What’s the fucking deal with this guy?