Michael Keaton says he will ‘never understand’ the backlash when he was cast as Batman

When it was announced that michelle keaton would play Bruce Wayne/Batman in Tim Burton’s World’S Batmanthere was a strong reaction from fans.

I remember the first thing my dad said was, “They cast Mr. Mom as Batman! This is going to suck! Mr. Mom can’t be Batman!” It’s so funny that that comment stuck with me. I remember reading in the paper about the backlash from fans!

Even though there was no internet for fans to vent on at the time, it is said that 50,000 fanboys wrote letters to Warner Bros. protesting Keaton’s casting, which is hilarious when you think about it now. Can you imagine the craziness that would have spread if there had been social media in the 80s!?

Despite the complaints, Burton stood by his choice to cast Keaton in the role and ended up making a fantastic Batman film; Keaton is now considered one of the best live-action versions of Batman.

Director Tim Burton was recently awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame following the release of Beetlejuice: The Curse of the Curse, and Keaton was on hand to introduce his longtime collaborator and reflect on his experience with Batman.

Keaton has said he will never understand the backlash to his casting, saying, “He hands me a script and says, ‘Tell me what you think.’ That’s after Beetle Juice. After that performance. After that kind of movie. He says to the studio, ‘I want that guy.’ I’ll never understand why anyone cared.”

She continued: “The uproar…you would have thought we were being invaded. It was unbelievable. The press was going crazy. But he stood by me. The courage it took to stand by that decision will always be appreciated by me.”

He then credited Burton with proving that superhero films could be incredibly successful, saying, “What… [movie] generated…there are a lot of people who are making a lot of money with their superhero movies because of his choice and his vision of what those movies could be, because he changed everything.”

He later added, “I can’t necessarily say, but there’s a strong possibility that there’s no Marvel Universe, there’s no DC Universe, without Tim Burton. It’s been questioned and questioned.”

Ultimately Burton made the perfect casting choice and Keaton delivered an incredible performance as Batman!