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Holy batcapers! Director lures big names to sinister roles

June 21, 1997
Web posted at: 4:03 p.m. EDT (2003 GMT)
Batman/Robin scenes

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From Correspondent Dennis Michael

HOLLYWOOD (CNN) -- Man the battle stations, Wonder Boy! As the dark knight returns to the big screen this weekend for "Batman & Robin," the fourth in a series starring the caped crusader, Batman is a changed man: no longer quite the tortured vigilante he was.

Although Batman clearly still has his problems, director Joel Schumacher says it was time for the character to get a life, so to speak.

"We've had almost 60 years of the dark, brooding, narcissistic, woe is me, my parents are dead, self-obsessed Batman," he said. "And that was fine, and it served everyone very well.

"But I felt -- especially with such huge audiences of young people seeing it, it would be much more progressive, much more enlightened to have more humanity to Batman."

Clooney: 'You learn to act in a cowl'

George Clooney is the new, human Batman, picking up the mask where Val Kilmer left off. Clooney says playing Bruce Wayne isn't a big problem, but playing Batman calls for a new acting technique because, as he says, "You can't hear."

"You wait until their lips stop moving and you go, 'Yeah, all right, anyway,'" he said. "Early on, you learn how to act in a cowl."

Man of muscles is man of the hour

And early on you learn that the title character doesn't necessarily get top billing. The top dog in this flick is Arnold Schwarzenegger, who plays the villainous Mr. Freeze. Schumacher, Arnold says, told him early on that the director's involvement in the movie depended entirely on him.


movie icon (629 K/16 sec. Scenes from 'Batman & Robin' -- QuickTime movie)

"I asked him, explain Mr. Freeze. Who is this character?" Schwarzenegger said. "He said, here's the short version. It's the Terminator meets the Refrigerator."

No damsel-in-distress role for Uma

Schumacher also persuaded Uma Thurman to sign on to the role of Poison Ivy. She says she would have refused a damsel-in-distress role. "But if it's a villainess, please, let's talk!" she said. "Because I love any kind of extreme characterization I can get my hands on, and I've never had a chance to do anything like this."

Needless to say, Mr. Freeze will wind up on ice at the end of "Batman & Robin," along with co-villain Poison Ivy. But this probably won't be the last night on the prowl, or on the screen, for Batman.

"If the audience likes this and is pleased with what we've done," Schumacher says, "Yes, I'll do one more."

Although nothing is firm, Batman may next find himself in battle with the sinister Scarecrow.


Dennis Michael chats with the "Batman & Robin" team

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