The Next Batman by George Clooney

By Jack September 7, 2000 10:44 AM

For the cover of the October issue of Movieline magazine, Michael Fleming caught up with George Clooney to discuss his stellar summer with The Perfect Storm, his upcoming role in the Coen Bros.' O Brother, Where Art Thou?, and how even his experiences with "failures"--namely Batman & Robin--have helped him as an actor. Clooney also shared with Fleming his pitch for the next installment in the Warner Bros. Batman franchise.

I actually wrote a treatment for the next Batman. I woke up in the middle of the night and it came to me. You do the movie cheap, in film noir style. Make Batman the dark knight, something Tim Burton didn't even do.

You start at Alfred's burial, with a Sam Spade film noir narrator, talking to this death figure standing there that only he sees. Go into the first big action set with Robin and he gets killed. Now you're sitting there with Batman in this chair. He's like [he is] in the original cartoon, a guy who, everyday, has to decide whether to do right or [do] wrong. Now he's operating not out of [a sense of] justice, but out of hatred. Hatred for evil, but hatred enough for himself.

The bat signal goes off and he pulls the shade; he won't go in. Slowly, a kid brings him out of it. He ends up not only fighting the Mad Hatter, or whoever, but he ends up fighting death. He fights this death character in order to save this kid. And he beats him. The two of them end up going off this cliff, and they die. Both of them. Go black.

Come up and you see a bright white ceiling. All of the sudden you see Kim Basinger in a nurse's outfit, looking right into the camera, down on top of the gurney. She comes back with Jack Nicholson in a doctor's outfit. He's going, "Well, hello. How are you?" On TV there's Jim Carrey as a gameshow host, Chris ODonnell as the patient next to him.

What you have is that since he was eight years old and his parents were killed, he's been comatose. He has lived his entire life--all of this hatred--in this room. He hasn't been able to face life until he faced death and beat it. But even then, he's in absolute denial. You still have that Sam Spade dialogue and he's saying, "Am I to believe that my life, everything, all these people, lived in my imagination, in this room? No. I will not accept it." The camera slowly pans the room, it comes around and you hear him saying, "I am Batman. I am Batman. I am Batman." Then you see him, Michael Keaton, whoever you want. White hair, sitting up, just totally crazy, out of his fucking mind.

Do it for $30 million. You reinvent the franchise. What they want to do instead is this Batman Beyond, and just like with Anthony Hopkins in Mask of Zorro, you have this guy create the whole thing all over again with someone new. I think they are going to do Batman Beyond but they should use my ending to start the movie.

Look for the complete interview with George Clooney in the October issue of Movieline magazine.

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RE: The Next Batman by George Clooney   reply

Posted by A random shemp (No Email) on September 7, 2000 8:36 PM

My god. 
First of all, anyone who makes trash pic after trash pic (Perfect Storm? More Like "Two Hours Of My Life I Want Back") and then completely KILLS the franchise he was supposed to saveed has no room to talk, let alone talk like he's a genius who could have save everything. George Clooney was the final spike in the coffin that buried Batman. He played him like Adam West played him, a campy guy in a cape who hangs out with boys. West got aways with it because it was a kids show. Clooney has probably never read a Batman comic in his life. It's a standard case of "It's better to be silent and be thought a fool, rather than open your mouth and relieve all doubt." No doubt here. 

RE: RE: The Next Batman by George Clooney   reply

Posted by A random shemp (No Email) on September 7, 2000 9:45 PM

F*ckin' A

RE: The Next Batman by George Clooney   reply

Posted by A random shemp (No Email) on September 8, 2000 5:27 PM

... He doesn't get it. at all. some giant latino done up on drugs should snap his back. and then stop him from healing.

RE: The Next Batman by George Clooney   reply

Posted by A random shemp (No Email) on September 21, 2000 11:20 AM

Except for the Wizard of Oz "and you were there, and you, and you" ending, I think it's a pretty cool idea. 

I'd also make the kid the younger version of him, so he's essentially fighting Death to save himself. 

Let's face it, the story is about a guy who dresses up in tights to fight crime - how silly is this? Add to the fact that none of the Batman films have been very good and this approach feels like a breath of fresh air. Yes, Batman is silly, but we see now it's because these are the nightmares of a comatose 8-year-old. Now all the silliness makes sense. 

Doug

RE: The Next Batman by George Clooney   reply

Posted by superdupersi (duped@aircom.ie) on September 29, 2000 10:07 AM

If Herr Clooney actually came up with this all on his lonesome, then well done that man with the slightly more than greying temples and fuck the begrudgers that are slating him because he?s playing `hide the hot dog? with Charlize Theron and he could buy a Lamborghini Diablo on a whim!

RE: The Next Batman by George Clooney   reply

Posted by Bunny (No Email) on August 21, 2001 10:50 AM

Trash pic after trash pic? Oh reaaaaaally?

Thank god I get into this site late; POST Golden Globe win and multiple deals upcoming.

George did not bury the franchise - the naff writers on Batman and Robin did. He was given little to do, and he made the best of a bad deal. It's not the best in the series, but it's certainly not the worst either (Batman Returns anyone? - now that IS crap.)

Let's not forget that writing scripts is not George's main deal, and taking that into account, he made a pretty damn good effort. It's an idea... a treatment that he did, nothing more. He didn't set out to write the whole damn new movie - he just wanted his opinions out in the open - as we are doing here.

So lay off the guy unless YOU can do better. :)