The Dark Knight is perhaps the darkest of all popular superheroes, and that amuses directorTim Burton, who can recall when people were criticizing him in the late 80s and early 90s for going that route with hisBatmanmovies. In 1989, Burton released his firstBatmanfilm with Michael Keaton as Bruce Wayne. The two later collaborated on the sequel,Batman Returns, which was released in 1992. Burton walked away ahead of a planned third film due to some friction with the studio, and Keaton would soon after follow suit, leading to Joel Schumacher’sBatman Foreverwith Val Kilmer.
In a new interview withEmpire, Burton took some time to reflect on hisBatmanfilms. He has noticed the recent success ofThe Batman, which has fully embraced the idea of making Batman as dark as can possibly be. It’s ironic for Burton who remembers when there was criticism over hisBatmanmovies being “too dark,” which, at the time, was a stark contrast to the bright, cheekyBatmanseries with Adam West. It was seen as a gamble for Burton to go darker withBatmanandBatman Returns, but now the films are seen as very highly revered.
“It is funny to see this now, because all these memories come back of, ‘It’s too dark’, so, it makes me laugh a little bit.”
After Burton parted ways with the franchise, Warner Bros. indeed sought to bring the more cartoonish aspects of the comic books and original TV series to the new films. This was seen in Joel Schumacher’sBatman ForeverandBatman & Robin, neither of which seemed to achieve the same levels of popularity as the Burton movies. It’s amusing for Burton, who finds it odd that he was criticized for his movies just to see the Dark Knight be given nipples in the next one.
“[Back then] they went the other way. That’s the funny thing about it. But then I was like, ‘Wait a minute. Okay. Hold on a second here. You complain about me, I’m too weird, I’m too dark, and then you put nipples on the costume? Go f*** yourself.’ Seriously. So yeah, I think that’s why I didn’t end up [doing a third film]…”
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Tim Burton explained that he was not intentionally just looking to make hisBatmanmovies dark. That’s just what ended up happening as a result of the vision he had for these characters. Burton does say that it was experimental to take hisBatmanfilms in different directions, especially as compared to the Adam West series, but that he’s really happy with how the “experiment' has turned out.
“I’m not just overly dark. That represents me in the sense that… that’s how I see things. It’s not meant as pure darkness. There’s a mixture. I feel really fondly about it because of the weird experiment that it felt like.”
The print issue of Empire featuring Burton’s full interview goes on sale on June 9.
