In a new interview with THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER, Michael Keaton talked about reprising the role of Batman/Bruce Wayne in the upcoming DC film, THE FLASH.
Keaton said even after we declined what ended up being director Joel Schumacher’s BATMAN FOREVER (Val Kilmer took over the role for that film), Keaton always thought about “What If?” when it came to playing Batman again. “Frankly, in the back of my head, I always thought, ‘I bet I could go back and nail that motherfucker.'”
And here’s what he said about finally getting that chance in THE FLASH…
And so I thought, ‘Well, now that they’re asking me, let me see if I can pull that off.’
I had to read it more than three times to go, ‘Wait, how does this [parallel universe] work?’ They had to explain that to me several times. By the way, I’m not being arrogant, I hope, about this. I don’t say it like, ‘I’m too groovy.’ I’m stupid. There’s a lot of things I don’t know about. And so, I don’t know, I just kind of figured it out, but this was different.
MK also talked about the fact that while he’s not a comic book fan — he’s never seen an entire Batman or comic book movie other than the first BATMAN — he feels that he “gets” Batman more than he did back in the day…
What’s really interesting is how much more I got [Batman] when I went back and did him [in THE FLASH]. I get this on a whole other level now. I totally respect it. I respect what people are trying to make. I never looked at it like, ‘Oh, this is just a silly thing.’ It was not a silly thing when I did Batman. But it has become a giant thing, culturally. It’s iconic. So I have even more respect for it because what do I know? This is a big deal in the world to people. You’ve got to honor that and be respectful of that. Even I go, ‘Jesus, this is huge.’
Yes indeed sir, Batman is HUGE…and I’m looking forward to seeing you nail that MF’er next year in THE FLASH.
For the full interview — which is great, so give it a read — CLICK HERE or any of the links provided. – Bill “Jett” Ramey
(Thanks to BOF’s Ryan Lower for the heads up!)