Michael Keaton Kicked Off His Time As Batman By Starting A Food Fight In The Studio
Although "The Flash" may have been a paltry send-off for Michael Keaton's Batman, nothing can undermine his first two appearances in the cape and cowl. When 1989's "Batman" arrived, not only was it a box office smash, but its dark and subversive tone was unlike anything anyone had seen, especially in the context of a comic book movie.
Often, you'll hear praise heaped on Tim Burton for this magic trick — and rightly so. Without the director's unique artistic vision and offbeat sensibility, "Batman" would not have been the unforgettable expressionist experience it was. You might also hear about the late Anton Furst's production design, which gave vivid life to the nightmare scape of urban decay that was his Gotham City. But there was a lesser-known presence that helped shape the 1989 blockbuster, and without which "Batman" may never have been made.
Michael E. Uslan was an Executive Producer on "Batman," but more importantly he was the driving force behind making the film in the first place. A comic book fan from a young age, the lawyer turned producer revealed in a making-of featurette how he had "always regretted that [his] favorite character in comics had not ever quite been portrayed the way [he] thought [Batman co-creator] Bob Kane and company really intended it to be." Thus, Uslan, who had purchased the rights to a Batman film in the 1970s, started pushing to make a movie that would feature a "creature of the night," so as to "let the world at large see that there is more to Batman than pow, zap, and wham." Naturally, when he was successful and "Batman" began production, Uslan was on-hand to see his vision come to life — and, as it happens, to see star Michael Keaton start a food fight.
Sarah vs. Batman
The "Batman" set remains one of the most impressively realized sets in cinema history. Built at England's Pinewood Studios, Anton Furst's Gotham City stood 600 feet high, combining, as Furst described to Bomb Magazine, "all the elements of Manhattan exaggerated" as if New York had been "run by a criminal organization for a long time." Stepping onto such an impressive production must have been exhilarating, especially if you were the guy who came up with the whole idea.
In his memoir, "The Boy Who Loved Batman," Michael E. Uslan recalls doing just that, visiting the UK set with his two children David and Sarah for what must have been the coolest day in those kids' lives. Not only did they get to ride in the Batmobile, but the whole family was also present for Michael Keaton's famous delivery of the immortal line, "I'm Batman."
You might think things couldn't get more amazing than that, but for Sarah, they absolutely did during one lunch break. As Uslan wrote:
"Sarah was in a foul mood. Nothing we could do would snap her out of it. And just then, Batman walked by. It was Michael Keaton in his costume but without the cape and cowl. He spied the sad-looking little girl and bent down and asked Sarah what was wrong. She wasn't even ready to be cooperative for Batman. So he sat her down in his lap and started flicking the green peas from her plate onto her forehead, one by one. Sarah started smiling and reached out and threw a small handful of peas at Batman. Soon, a full-blown food fight erupted. When Batman finally had to go, Sarah was as happy as could be, her curly hair dotted with green peas. David and Sarah didn't stop laughing for hours."
Keaton was a real life superhero
It's nice to hear that Michael Keaton was able to make a kid's day between shooting scenes, if only because the man was miserable in his Batman suit. The original design was famously uncomfortable, with Keaton recalling in Les Daniels' 1999 book "Batman: The Complete History":
"I could barely move in that suit. To this day, one hip has not been right because I practiced when I first kicked that guy on the roof, and it was very difficult to get my foot up that high. It was like fifty thousand rubber bands holding you down."
Designed by Bob Ringwood, the original Batsuit from "Batman" 1989 wouldn't even allow Keaton to turn his head, and, as he's spoken about in the years since, literally gave the actor a panic attack. On top of all that, Keaton had just weathered a significant backlash to his Batman casting, and was contending with all the pressure that comes with fronting a superhero blockbuster when you're most well-known for being "Mr. Mom."
So, to say it was nice of him to stop and share a moment with Michael Uslan's daughter is an understatement. And though it was a brief moment of levity, I'm sure it meant something to Keaton to not think about being trapped in his claustrophobia-inducing suit, or y'know bankrupting Warner Bros. for five minutes.