While waiting for Beetlejuice 2, Michael Keaton remembers another important Tim Burton film in which he was the protagonist: Batman. To prepare for the role, the actor followed a completely unsuitable training regime, much to the perplexity of his co-star Jack Nicholson!
To step into the shoes ofBatman and being credible clearly requires a certain physicality. At the time of Batman (1989) by Tim Burtonthen, it was still relatively unusual to see a superhero on the big screen. A detail, the latter, which doubled the expectations and the pressure. Michael Keatonevidently eager to measure up, followed a strict training regime during filming but… he didn’t take the consequences into consideration!
Interviewed by GQthe actor admitted that it was brave of Burton to cast him Bruce Wayne. Before then, in fact, Keaton had mostly tried his hand at comic roles.
When they said, ‘We’re thinking about making Batman,’ I said, ‘Wait, are you thinking about making a Batman movie?’ The fact that Tim said, ‘That guy, I want that guy’… The fact that people cared that much, one way or another, is still baffling.
The director and the star had already established a good relationship on the set of Beetlejuice. Perhaps, Keaton argues, it was this that persuaded Tim Burton that Michael was the right choice for Batman: “But it was a brave move on his part. We created a nice working relationship with Beetlejuice, so he felt that he and I could get along and would work well together.”
The star of Birdmanto live up to the image that fans had then (like today) of dark Knight, intense training followed, aimed at increasing muscle mass. A choice that left the co-star perplexed Jack Nicholsoninterpreter of Joker. In particular, Keaton was struck by a surprising reaction from his colleague. The Oscar winner once, passing by him by chance on the set, saw him training and asked him why he was working so hard.
He asked me: ‘What do you do it for?’. I didn’t have an answer and he left. I approached the role in a totally wrong way. It’s better to be really small and skinny inside that costume. [In questo caso, ndr] You can move, you can breathe in it.
Nicholson had seen things through! Jokingly, the late Bruce Wayne commented that the mistake stemmed from inexperience. In fact, as mentioned, the actor didn’t have much confidence in action films: “I don’t know what I was thinking, I just said to myself: ‘I’m an actor, I’ll do all these things!'”. To make an easy irony, we could say that the Keaton’s Batman had the same priorities as those of the Bat Man told in LEGO Batman: the abs! Who knows if, at the time of shooting the sequels of 1992, Batman ReturnsMichael will have treasured this experience!
In September, the partnership between Tim Burton and Michael Keaton will give to the public Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice. In the sequel to the 1988 cult, the star will return to play the foul-mouthed bio-exorcist who gives the film its title. To find out more about the return of the franchise, we refer you to our dedicated article.
