Michael Keaton is regarded as one of the better Batman actors to portray the DC Comics character in live action.
What many fans might not know however, is the exact reason why the actor wasn’t in 1995’s Batman Forever. In a new interview with The Guardian, Keaton shed some light on just why that was:
“[The film] just wasn’t any good, man,” Keaton said. “I tried to be patient, but after a certain point, I was like, I can’t take this any more, this is going to be horrible. But, look, there was some really horrible taste in the ’90s, and I probably contributed to that, unfortunately,” Keaton admitted. “It was a time of nouveau riche excess – everyone was known for their jets and their stuff. And I thought, I’m in this job for the long run, I don’t want this. And the truth is, I’m not boasting, but I was correct.”
Keaton has spoke about leaving the Batman role before, even as early as this past January:
“Yeah, I was glad. Are you kidding? I mean, who gets to play Batman? It was awesome! It goes down in film lore, film history. What Tim Burton did really reinvented how those modern day superheroes are done. He started a whole thing, and I was part of his pioneering venture.”
Before adding:
“I knew it was in trouble when he [Schumacher] said, ‘Why does everything have to be so dark?”
Hearing that doesn’t exactly make it a surprise that Keaton wasn’t on board for the film.