Michael Keaton IS Batman.
Doesn’t seem so far-fetched now, does it? Back in the day, though – whew!
When Warner Bros. announced Keaton would star as The Caped Crusader in Tim Burton’s Batman, the studio was bombarded with sacks of letters pleading and demanding that Keaton be replaced.
Imagine: People, lots of them, so incensed about Keaton playing Batman that they got paper and pens or pencils or a typewriter, sat down and wrote a letter stating their case. Then they had to find an envelope. And address it. And then they had to find a stamp. And then they had to get it to the post office.
Imagine how many pointless, nasty comments the internet could be rid of if trolls had to make an honest-to-God effort to let their unsolicited opinions be heard/read.
In the skeptics’ defense, Burton must have been one of a very few able to see Keaton in a dramatic role. Keaton had made his name as a comic actor, an exceptionally good one, particularly in Night Shift (1982) and Beetlejuice (1988). The manic energy that drove his performances in those films seemed a better fit for the campy, 1960s Batman TV series than the darker version from which Burton was drawing.
The comic book character was enjoying a 1980s resurgence, thanks to Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns series, as well as Alan Moore’s one-off, The Killing Joke. Both issues portrayed Batman as less a superhero and more a straight-up vigilante, a psychologically complex one at that.
Keaton silenced the criticism with a bar-setting performance only Christian Bale has come close to matching. His clenched jaw and menacing stares conveyed the character’s relentlessness as well as his bottled rage.
Batman (1989) in Concert will feature a live orchestra performing Danny Elfman’s score as the film plays on a giant screen in Morsani Hall. It takes place Saturday, Jan. 20 at 8 p.m.
Batman also reset casting directors’ view of Keaton, and he was soon racking up dramatic as well as comedic roles. His first post-Batman role was as the villain in the thriller Pacific Heights. He won a great deal of praise, including an Oscar® nomination, as the star of Birdman. In what might be called a “what if” role, Keaton played an actor best known for his role as a superhero who’s attempting a comeback.
Birdman’s fate is one Keaton has avoided, as his filmography suggests a versatile actor who has avoided becoming a “type.” He’s done action, comedy and drama. He’s played historical figures such as fast-food empire builder Ray Kroc in The Founder and former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark in The Trial of the Chicago 7.
Keaton appears in just two scenes in Trial but his role is pivotal to the film. He long ago established himself as a leading man who can carry a film, but he’s never shied away from smaller but intriguing roles. In fact, he holds the record for most ensemble wins from the Screen Actors Guild. His three awards were for Spotlight, Birdman and Trial. He’s also won accolades as part of the ensemble cast of Hulu series Dopesick.
He joined ensemble casts “contrary to advice I was given early on,” he said in an interview on Deadline. “I was advised early on, ‘You’re a movie star,’” Keaton said. “That’s nice, but to me it is about good material and I’m an actor who likes to be around good actors. When you’re around really good actors, everybody brings everybody up.”
