Michael Keaton says director Tim Burton is to thank for the proliferation and success of superhero movies.
In an interview with THR, Keaton admitted he's stunned by the growth of the superhero genre in Hollywood. He credits much of that success to Tim Burton, who set a lot of trends with 1989's Batman. "What Tim did changed everything," Keaton explained. "Everything you see now started with him. If you really think about what happened between 1989 and now, on a cultural, corporate, economic level, it’s unbelievable."
Batman, in which Keaton starred as the Caped Crusader, was a hit with critics and audiences upon its release. Its success not only inspired three sequels across the 1990s but a wave of similar adaptations of pulp characters like Dick Tracy and The Shadow. It also helped pave the way for more modern superhero features like X-Men in 2000 and Spider-Man in 2002.
As for Keaton, he's currently set to return to the role of Batman after three decades in Warner Bros. and DC Films' The Flash. However, despite having roles as both Batman and the supervillain Vulture in Spider-Man: Homecoming (and satirizing his status as a superhero actor in Birdman), Keaton admitted he doesn't totally get the craze. "After the first Batman, I’m not sure I’ve ever seen an entire [comic book] movie," he said. "I just never got around to it. So you’re talking to a guy who wasn’t in the zeitgeist of that whole world. When I went down to do the Marvel things in Atlanta … It’s an entire city dedicated to Marvel … They’ll be doing Marvel movies forever. I’ll be dead, and they’ll still be doing Marvel movies."
Regardless of his own feelings on superhero movies, Keaton said he's prepared to give his next outing as Batman his all. "Frankly, in the back of my head, I always thought, 'I bet I could go back and nail that motherfucker,'" he said. "And so I thought, 'Well, now that they’re asking me, let me see if I can pull that off.'"
The Flash is set to race into theaters on Nov. 4, 2022. Joining Keaton will be Ezra Miller as Barry Allen, Ben Affleck as Batman and Sasha Calle as Supergirl.
Source: THR