Jack Nicholson Manipulated An Oscars Bigwig To Promote Tim Burton's Batman
"Jaws" might have been the first blockbuster in 1975, but nearly 15 years later, 1989's "Batman" changed the definition of the term. Tim Burton's third studio movie not only proved a financial success, bringing in $411 million worldwide on a $35 million budget, it kicked off a summer of so-called "Bat-mania," becoming a bonafide phenomenon as Warner Bros. bombarded every facet of popular culture with Bat-themed merchandise. The "Batman" breakfast cereal commercial remains a personal favorite for the grandiose introduction of the product as "Batman, the cereal."
"Batman" becoming such a mega-hit was somewhat surprising, if only because the production itself had faced its share of challenges. Listing everything that was working against the film would take an entire article in and of itself, suffice it to say that Burton described bringing his vision to life as "torture." But despite the various struggles the director had to overcome, the film did have a lot working in its favor. Fans may have been dismayed at Michael Keaton's casting in the lead role, but landing Jack Nicholson as the villainous Joker was nothing short of a coup for both Warner Bros. and Burton, who had to overcome his fear of horse riding, just to secure the legendary star.
Of course, Nicholson had some stipulations for putting on the purple suit. On top of the actor securing top billing ahead of Keaton, Nicholson's wildest achievement was ensuring he gained a share of the film's gross profits, which is likely why, despite being a box office smash, "Batman" didn't exactly make any money for the studio. But while Nicholson may have basically siphoned off most of the revenue from the film, he also helped the studio in numerous other ways, helping establish "Batman" as a new blueprint for superhero and blockbuster filmmaking in general.
Nicholson was integral to Batman's success
In 1990, production designer Anton Furst and set decorator Peter Young won the Academy Award for Best Art Direction for "Batman." Furst used his experience recreating war-torn Vietnam in London for Stanley Kubrick's "Full Metal Jacket" and created a new hellish vision of urban decay for Gotham City in Tim Burton's film. It remains one of the most impressively realized and transporting pieces of production design in film history, melding a kind of New York-gone-wrong aesthetic with an expressionistic sensibility that was right up Burton's street.
The design of "Batman" was just one of the elements that made the film the triumph it was. Within Furst's immersive metropolis, Michael Keaton, Kim Bassinger, and of course Jack Nicholson, were free to play out a darkly fanciful melodrama, propelled by Sam Hamm's writing, which melded noir-ish cynicism with moments of playful poeticism — "Have you ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight?" It helped that many of these lines were delivered impeccably by Nicholson, who, just by agreeing to play the Joker, lent Burton's film a level of prestige it might not have otherwise enjoyed.
But Nicholson's job wasn't done after filming wrapped. Not only had the veteran star helped legitimize "Batman" as a serious production and elevated the entire project with his effortlessly captivating performance, he also took it upon himself to sing the film's praises in public. That includes one such instance where, simply by taking a bathroom break, he may have helped Furst and Young secure their Oscar.
Guerilla promotion
Due to his gross-profit deal, Jack Nicholson basically had the last laugh when it came to "Batman." But the actor worked for it. In a making-of featurette, Nicholson recalled how he met the great Jack Valenti at the 1989 Oscar ceremony. Valenti, who passed away in 2007, was a political advisor turned president of the Motion Picture Association of America, and he was directly responsible for the film rating system we all know today. As Nicholson recalled, he ran into his hugely influential friend during a visit to the restroom, saying:
"I'm in the toilet catching a break downstairs, and Jack comes up and says, 'Well, you know...' he's a very enthusiastic man. And, '[mumbles] The Batman!' And into my head flew this: I looked him in the eye and said, 'Jack, let me tell you something serious. There isn't a single person in the movie industry qualified to estimate the top on Batman.' He said, 'What!? You guys, what!?' You know, the movie's not out yet, but this is my idea of street publicity, you know? I've got Jack Valenti, I know... And sure enough, that show was not over before the story was starting to come back to me from the people who were at the Oscars this year, so I knew I'd done a real good job of guerilla promotion with that one."
Aside from demonstrating why Tim Burton needed a Jack Nicholson translator on the "Batman" set, this story reveals that Nicholson was proud enough of his work on the film to talk it up to influential people. The actor could have easily taken the money and phoned in his performance, but he not only delivered one of the great villain portrayals of all time, he also seemed genuinely pleased with his work.
Batman owes the Joker one
It's obviously impossible to say whether Nicholson's "guerilla promotion" directly led to Anton Furst and Peter Young winning their Art Direction Oscar, but there's no doubt that in 1989 Jack Nicholson held serious sway in Hollywood. And Jack Valenti himself was one of the most powerful entertainment industry lobbyists in history. If Nicholson said the film was good, Valenti probably listened. If Valenti told his industry pals it was good, they probably took notice.
Regardless of whether this brief bathroom encounter actually led to an Oscar win, Nicholson had already legitimized Tim Burton's comic book movie simply by being a part of it, which no doubt went a long way to the Academy even recognizing it in any form. Furst and Young's win was also the first time a comic book movie won an Academy Award. Richard Donner's "Superman" had been nominated in several categories a decade prior, but "Batman" was the first to win, and it's likely Nicholson's involvement had a hand in that win. Hell, Nicholson is also partly responsible for giving us Danny DeVito's Penguin in the sequel, "Batman Returns." The man was basically one of the architects of the early Batman movies.
All of this only reinforces the point that "Batman" redefined what a blockbuster comic book movie could be. It might have taken giving all the film's profits to Jack Nicholson and bombarding popular culture with one of the biggest and likely most expensive marketing campaigns in film history. But it worked.