Happy 20th Anniversary, Tim Burton's BATMAN

Twenty years ago today, Batmania seized the nation as Tim Burton's Batman was released to an eager public. I saw the film the night before at a 10 pm screening with my father (who was a regular companion for sneak previews) and proceeded to see it an additional six times that opening week.

Understand that I love Batman. From the time that I first saw an episode of the Adam West series at three years old, I've been a fan. Now, everywhere I looked was the Bat Symbol.

Pure bliss.

What amazes me is that twenty years have flown by.

It shouldn't.


Batman came out just before my high school graduation and I'm headed to my 20th reunion in a few weeks.

Yet, here I am slightly nostalgic for both. Neither as good in reality as they are in my recollections, but both make me smile.

Celebrate the Caped Crusader after the jump.

Batman (1989) Trivia
Courtesy of imdb

• Sean Young was originally cast as Vicki Vale, but broke her collarbone while filming a horse-riding scene with Michael Keaton. The scene was subsequently written out of the script.
• Willem Dafoe, David Bowie, Dan Aykroyd, Danny DeVito, John Lithgow and James Woods were considered for the Joker.
• Set designer Anton Furst deliberately mixed clashing architectural styles to make Gotham City the ugliest and bleakest metropolis imaginable.
• The first draft of this movie was written in 1980 by Superman (1978) co-writer Tom Mankiewicz and told the story of Batman's and Robin's origins. The villains were The Joker and The Penguin, and Rupert Thorne and Barbara Gordon were also to appear. At the end Robin was to appear in costume (much like Batman Forever (1995)). It was going to be released in 1985 with a budget of $20 million, but with producers Michael E. Uslan and Benjamin Melniker booted off the production, the project was shelved until Jon Peters and Peter Guber picked it up. In 1985, after the surprise success of Pee-wee's Big Adventure (1985), the studio offered the job to Tim Burton. Unsatisfied with the Mankiewicz script, Burton and his then girlfriend Julie Hickson wrote a 30-page treatment of the project. This treatment was approved by both the producers and studio. In 1986 Burton met Sam Hamm, who had just received a two-year contract with Warner Brothers, and gave him the job of writing a screenplay based on Burton's and Hickson's treatment. However, the writing process stretched too long and Hamm couldn't write further drafts of the script because of the writers strike. In his place, Burton got Beetle Juice (1988) co-writer Warren Skaaren to continue writing. Nearly three years after working on the project Burton didn't get the film green-lit until the box-office result of Beetle Juice (1988). Batman (1989) began filming in October and it only took 12 weeks to shoot.
• It made an estimated additional $750 million in merchandising alone.
• The plastic surgeon's weird surgical tools are originally from another Warner Brothers production, Little Shop of Horrors (1986). They were the dentist tools owned by Orin Scrivello (Steve Martin).
• The Batman costume weighed 70 lbs.
• The Batman symbol on the costume in this film is slightly different than the version seen in the comic books. It has two extra "points" on the bottom of the black bat emblem. However, the teaser poster and other such promotional materials for the film depict the logo just as it appears in the comics. The Batman costume was slightly modified for Batman Returns (1992) and sported the comic version of the symbol.
• Corto Maltese (where Vicki had been taking pictures) is the name of a popular European comic character, starring in the adventure comic books of Italian Hugo Pratt.
• Robin Williams was considered for the role of The Joker; he would later be considered for The Riddler as well. Jack Nicholson got the role of The Joker but demanded top-billing and a lucrative deal that gave him royalties on all merchandise.
• Billy Dee Williams appears as Harvey Dent, who in the comics became Two-Face. Williams took the role with the expectation that he would be brought back to play Two-Face and reportedly had a contract clause added reserving the role for him. During casting for Batman Forever (1995) Warner Bros. decided they would prefer Tommy Lee Jones and bought out Williams' contract.
• Kim Basinger is only a few inches shorter than Michael Keaton. To make Keaton appear taller, she wears flat heels or is in stocking feet in all the scenes in which they are standing next to each other.
• Alec Baldwin, Emilio Estevez, Matthew Broderick, Tom Cruise, Michael J. Fox, Robert Downey Jr., Kevin Spacey, Patrick Swayze, Dennis Quaid, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Charlie Sheen, Bill Murray, Pierce Brosnan and Tom Selleck were considered for the role of Bruce Wayne/Batman.
• Mel Gibson was the original choice for Bruce Wayne/Batman but was forced to turn down the role due to his commitment with Lethal Weapon 2 (1989).
• Alfred's story of how Bruce sprained his ankle while horseback-riding is a reference to Sean Young's accident when she was preparing for the film. It also refers to a deleted scene from the script which had Bruce on horseback chasing the Joker.
• Michael Jackson was asked to write and perform the songs for the movie, but he had to turn it down due to his concert commitments.
• Jack Nicholson received a percentage of the gross on the film, and due to its massive box-office took home around $60 million. As of 2003 it is still the single-movie record for actor's salary.
• When the Tom Mankiewicz script was in development, the directors associated with the project included Joe Dante and Ivan Reitman. Producers wanted an unknown to play Batman and the cast wish-list included William Holden as Commissioner Gordon and David Niven as Alfred, Bruce Wayne's faithful butler.
• In the original script with Robin included, the Flying Graysons (John, Mary, and Dick) are introduced at the parade scene. The Joker shoots the trapeze artists sending John and Mary to their deaths and leaving Dick to survive. Dick later becomes Robin in full costume at the end. The special edition version of the DVD release of Batman (1989) features an animated storyboard sequence of this scene, where Dick Grayson was voiced by Jason Hillhouse, and Batman and the Joker were voiced by Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill respectively.
• For its first video release, the film was graded slightly lighter as cinema audiences had complained that it was filmed so darkly that they could hardly see what was going on.
• The design of Gotham City is based on the work of architects Antoni Gaudi, Otto Wagner, Shia Takamatsu and Louis H. Sullivan.
• The handwriting on the note that accompanies the gas mask in the museum is that of director Tim Burton.
• At one point, Warner Bros. considered doing the film as a big-budget comedy in the vein of the popular television series, with Bill Murray considered to play Batman, and Eddie Murphy considered to play Robin.
• According to Variety, Daniel Day-Lewis was considered for Batman/Bruce Wayne.
• In Sam Hamm's original script, the first time we see Smylex's effect (called Smylenol in the script) is on the two female models, who are only represented as cardboard cut-outs in Joker's commercial. The original scene has them in a bikini photo session with a photographer who is urging them to smile more as he snaps away. The girls begin to giggle, which at first pleases the photographer, then their giggles become laughter, then uncontrollable helpless hysterics, which has the photographer going from mild annoyance to complete horror as the exhausted girls expire from forced hilarity, with the ghastly Joker-like grins frozen on their faces. As it was originally intended, the death scene is much more protracted than the one with the female newscaster, depicting death by Smylex as a particularly agonizing, if mirthful, way to go.
• David Cronenberg was offered a chance to direct but declined.
• Rosanna Arquette, Ellen Barkin, Robin Duke, Kate Capshaw, Glenn Close, Joan Cusack, Geena Davis, Judy Davis, Denny Dillon, Christine Ebersole, Mia Farrow, Carrie Fisher, Bridget Fonda, Jodie Foster, Teri Garr, Melanie Griffith, Linda Hamilton, Daryl Hannah, Goldie Hawn, Barbara Hershey, Holly Hunter, Anjelica Huston, Amy Irving, Diane Keaton, Diane Lane, Kay Lenz, Jessica Lange, Lori Loughlin, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Kelly McGillis, Bette Midler, Catherine O'Hara, Tatum O'Neal, Sarah Jessica Parker, Michelle Pfeiffer, Dana Plato, Molly Ringwald, Meg Ryan, Susan Sarandon, Jane Seymour, Cybill Shepherd, Brooke Shields, Sissy Spacek, Sharon Stone, Meryl Streep, Lea Thompson, Kathleen Turner, Sela Ward, Sigourney Weaver and Debra Winger were all considered for the role of Vicki Vale after Sean Young, the original choice, departed.

Prince - Batdance (1989) sélectionné dans Musique et Clips