Batman & Robin's Lead Characters Were Played By An Army Of Lookalike Actors
No matter the personal opinions on the finished product, it's undeniable how integral "Batman & Robin" became to shaping the perceptions of its characters within the larger DC universe. No, not necessarily that DC Universe, but it's a very real possibility that without Joel Schumacher's second Batman film, the cinematic landscape of the character would be very different. Whether that is a good or a bad thing is entirely up to you, but at least we can directly correlate "Batman & Robin" to the other Batman movies that have been released since then.
What detractors often forget about "Batman & Robin" is that, no matter how much they hate the movie, a ton of craftsmanship and love went into the making of it. This is especially true about the dozens of stuntmen that worked on the film, donning the infamous Bat-nipple suits and kicking ass, er, ice while doing so. In an anniversary retrospective from The Hollywood Reporter, production supervisor Jacqueline George recalled just how many stuntmen were suited up as the titular duo (George Clooney, Chris O'Donnell) for key battle scenes. Believe her when she says there were a ton, each with a specific set of skills.
"We had to have people for the ice skating," said George, "we had to have drivers, we had to have all the guys that could do the acrobatics."
Ice to meet you
If you thought getting several different Batman and Robin stuntmen to shoot scenes was difficult, then here's something crazy — they used the same method for the infamous villain, Mr. Freeze (Arnold Schwarzenegger). While there weren't as many stunt people used for Mr. Freeze as there were for the more active heroes, the preparation needed to suit these performers up was fairly intensive. Schwarzenegger's makeup artist Jeff Dawn told The Hollywood Reporter that getting the actor ready was such an arduous process that they essentially only shot him for close-ups. This shouldn't be surprising, given the intricacies of Mr. Freeze's suit and makeup.
"We would have a couple of other Arnolds, standing around ready to get in their suits at any one time," Dawn recalled. "It was so easy to hide the real Arnold with all of that stuff on. It's really important to the close-ups, and that's about it. Everyone else could be a double or a stunt person."
Even if you don't like the final product, it's hard not to be impressed by the fact that the crew managed to have all these stuntmen and doubles flow in a somewhat seamless manner. It really does prove how important it is to recognize the achievements of stunt coordination in the industry because it's more than just achieving wild stunts in uncomfortable costumes. It's about making all the setpieces of an action movie, no matter the subjective quality, tie together in an entertaining way. And boy, is "Batman & Robin" entertaining.