After the backlash to Tim Burton’s Batman Returns, Warner Bros. decided they needed to take the Batman franchise in a different direction. They hired Joel Schumacher to take over, and he made Batman Forever starring Val Kilmer as the caped crusader.
The film was a massive success, so a sequel, the infamous Batman & Robin, was produced and released shortly after. However, Kilmer did not reprise his role. Batman was instead played by George Clooney. Kilmer has always cited scheduling conflicts for why he did not return, but he recently opened up in more detail.
Before Batman
Kilmer began his acting career in theater before moving to film. His big break was the 1984 comedy Top Secret. He played the lead in Real Genius before starring alongside Tom Cruise in Top Gun. In 1991, Kilmer played singer Jim Morrison in The Doors. Kilmer then played Doc Holiday in the western Tombstone.
Tim Burton’s Batman
In 1989, Warner Bros. released Batman. Directed by Burton, Michael Keaton played the caped crusader in the film alongside Jack Nicholson as the Joker. The film was a massive success grossing $411.35 million; it was the highest grossing movie based on a DC comic until The Dark Knight in 2008.
Burton and Keaton returned for a sequel, Batman Returns, in 1992. The movie also starred Danny DeVito and Michelle Pfeiffer as the Penguin and Catwoman respectively. The film was darker and more grotesque than the previous film. It grossed $266.83 million which, while still successful, was less than the studio hoped for.
There was also a backlash to the film from people who objected to the darker tone. McDonalds even refused to carry the toys for the film in their happy meals. Warner Bros. decided the series needed fresh blood.
Becoming The Dark Knight
The studio chose Schumacher to take over as director; at the time, he was most known for films such as The Lost Boys and Flatliners. While Keaton was originally supposed to return for a third film, he decided to leave the project over creative differences.
A recent profile of Kilmer written by Taffy Brodesser-Akner for the New York Times stated, “[Kilmer] was traveling in Africa in 1994 when he decided to spend a morning exploring a bat cave; later that day, literally seriously that day, he was inspired to call his agent, who had been trying to contact Kilmer for weeks to see if he was interested in playing the role of Batman…”
Schumacher wanted Kilmer for the role after seeing him in Tombstone. The cast was rounded out with Jim Carrey as the Riddler, Tommy Lee Jones as Two-Face, Chris O’Donnell as Robin and Nicole Kidman as the love interest Dr. Chase Meridian.
The resulting film, Batman Forever, was released in 1995. It had a far campier tone than the Burton films and paid more of a tribute to the 1960s Batman television show starring Adam West. The film infamously also featured nipples on the batsuit. Fans and critics were mixed on the film but it still managed to make $336.6 million. So Schumacher was hired to make a sequel.
Batman & Robin
Arnold Schwarzenegger and Uma Thurman were brought on to play the villains Mr. Freeze and Poison Ivy. O’Donnell reprized his role with Alicia Silverstone joining the cast as Batgirl, but Kilmer was replaced by Clooney. At the time, scheduling conflicts were cited, and part of that may be true.
Schumacher told the Hollywood Reporter in 2017, “Kilmer wanted to do Island of Doctor Moreau because Marlon Brando was going to be in it. So he dropped us at the eleventh hour.”
However, other factors appeared to be at play. It has been long reported that Schumacher and Kilmer did not get along. The director also said, “…when we did the world tour, it just really went to his head.”
Kilmer expressed dissatisfaction while recalling an encounter on set when Warren Buffett and his kids came to visit the set. Kilmer stayed in costume for the kids, but he said they had no interest in him, only the batmobile and gadgets. He told Brodesser-Akner, “That’s why it’s so easy to have five or six Batmans. It’s not about Batman. There is no Batman.”
Released in 1997, Batman & Robin only grossed $238.2 million and received a major backlash from fans and critics. It is still considered to be one of the worst superhero movies ever made. Plans for a third movie with Schumacher were scrapped and a new Batman film remained in development hell until Christopher Nolan revived the franchise with Batman Begins in 2005.
Kilmer was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2015 and underwent surgery that left him barely able to speak above a whisper. All of his line in The Snowman had to be dubbed. Kilmer recently appeared as the silent Batman parody Bluntman in Kevin Smith’s Jay and Silent Bob Reboot.