was on all of us , anyway , to see if we could pull it off ” ( Briggs ).
The ferocity of reaction did not go unnoticed by producers ; in fact , the November 29 , 1988 , issue of The Wall Street Journal reported , “ there were financial jitters concerning the Batman feature film because of the vociferous fan backlash to the casting of Michael Keaton ” ( Brooker 285 ). Jon Peters , the film ’ s co-producer , remembers , “ It just deflated everybody . . . . Nobody wanted Keaton . . . we were ostracized by the Bat-community . They booed us at the Bat-convention ” ( Pearson and Urricchio 184 ).
Despite the infuriated response to casting news , which also included concerns to a much lesser degree about Jack Nicholson ’ s take on playing the Joker , the film went on to be a massive success and one of the top movies during the summer of 1989 . Keaton went on to star again in Batman Returns in 1992 , but when Burton dropped out as director for the third film , Keaton followed suit , and Val Kilmer was hired to fill the Batsuit while Joel Schumacher was tapped to direct . For many fans , especially those who had come around to embrace Keaton ’ s version of Batman , Schumacher ’ s 1995 film , Batman Forever , was an unfortunate return to the camp and silliness of the 1960 ’ s television series . While Kilmer ’ s casting went generally without protest , the film ’ s sensibility , which was a radical departure from Burton ’ s dark and atmospheric Gotham City , embraced absurdities such as the Batmobile ’ s new ability to drive up the side of a building ; its most notorious legacy is perhaps the addition of “ bat-nipples ” on the costumes , a feature that is still easily evoked and ridiculed today among online commenters of all things Bat . Schumacher ’ s next attempt , 1997 ’ s Batman and Robin , this time starring George Clooney in the title role , exhibited
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