20 facts you might not know about 'Batman Forever'

Batman was a massive hit, which gave Burton a blank check to make Batman Returns. It was successful, but a drop off from Batman and perhaps too “Burton-y” for Warner Bros. They thought it was too dark, and having McDonald’s pull out of a Happy Meal toy deal did not help. Wanting to move in a different direction, Warner Bros. asked Burton to step down as director, which he did. However, Burton did remain a producer.

Eventually, Sam Raimi would help revitalize superhero movies with Spider-Man, but he almost got his chance to jump in on comic book movies sooner. He was considered for the third Batman film, as was John McTiernan. In the end, Joel Schumacher got the gig based off the success of his movie The Client.

While the idea was to lighten the tone of Batman from Burton’s movies, Schumacher was also interested in adapting “Batman: Year One," Frank Miller’s famed comic book series about the first year of Bruce Wayne as the Dark Knight. Michael Keaton, for one, was on board with that idea. However, the studio didn’t want a prequel, so they nixed it.

When Burton was thinking about making a third Batman movie, he had the idea of Scarecrow being the villain. There was also consideration of bringing back Catwoman. These ideas were eventually nixed from the script. Riddler was added into the mix as well, but he was a bit more unhinged early on, and also had a pet rat for some reason.

As a producer, Burton could only have so much say in the project. While he signed off on things like Schumacher directing, the title was out of his hands. Burton hated the title Batman Forever. In the man’s own words, from his Burton on Burton book: “That sounds like a tattoo that somebody would get when they're on drugs or something. Or something some kid would write in the yearbook.”

Without his guy Burton directing, and with the “Year One” idea kiboshed, Keaton was starting to dislike the way Batman Forever was trending. Keaton reportedly turned down $15 million for the role, later telling CBS Sunday Morning in 2014 that he did so because "it was just awful."

As soon as the role of Batman opened up, so did the floodgates of potential actors. Alec and William Baldwin, Ralph Fiennes, and Keanu Reeves were all considered. Dean Cain was in the mix, but he was dismissed because he was already known for playing Superman on TV. Ethan Hawke was offered the role but turned it down. He later said he regretted that decision. Ultimately, Val Kilmer won the role.

Schumacher had liked Kilmer’s turn as Doc Holliday in Tombstone, and so he was happy to gauge the actor’s enthusiasm for the part. Kilmer had actually visited the Batman ‘66 set as a kid and had also recently visited an actual bat cave in Africa. Maybe he considered the offer kismet. Kilmer reportedly signed on as soon as his agent mentioned it, having not read the script or even knowing who was directing the movie.

When Keaton was still signed on as Batman, Rene Russo was cast as Dr. Chase Meridian, Bruce Wayne’s love interest. After Keaton was out and Kilmer was in, they decided Russo was “too old” to work as Kilmer’s love interest. Sandra Bullock, Robin Wright, and Jeanne Tripplehorn were considered, but Nicole Kidman ended up in the role.

Billy Dee Williams played Harvey Dent, who becomes Two Face, in Batman. Meanwhile, Marlon Wayans had been considered to play Robin in Batman Returns before the character was removed from the script. However, by the time Batman Forever rolled around, Schumacher decided to recast both roles.

Jones doesn’t seem like the warmest guy, and he was not necessarily enthused to play Two Face. He was offered the role, but at first, he wasn’t sure he wanted to take it. Jones only ended up in the film at the insistence of his son.

Playing the cool, young sidekick of Batman? That’s something many a young actor was clamoring for. Leonardo DiCaprio was in consideration but turned it down. Matt Damon also auditioned for the role. Batman Forever came out in 1995, two years before both DiCaprio and Damon had their iconic breakout roles in Titanic and Good Will Hunting, respectively. Chris O’Donnell won the part.

Mitch Gaylord served as O’Donnell’s stunt double, and they decided to stick him in the movie as well. Gaylord also plays, fittingly, Mitch Grayson, Robin's older brother. The character was created for the movie.

Jim Carrey was absolutely on fire in 1994. The year belonged to him. He starred in Ace Ventura, The Mask, and Dumb and Dumber in that year alone. Carrey’s star was on the rise, so Schumacher was certainly happy to have him in his movie. Another comedy legend really wanted the role, though, and that was Robin Williams. Williams was in the mix, but apparently, he didn’t find out he hadn’t gotten the part until he read about the casting news. According to Schumacher, Michael Jackson also really wanted to play Riddler, but he was turned down.

Jon Favreau was vital to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In addition to his role as Happy Hogan, Favreau directed the first two Iron Man movies. Many years earlier, he played the lofty role of “Assistant #2” in Batman Forever. This was early in Favreau’s acting career, when he was trying to get something going for himself. In that process, he wrote himself a script. That was for Swingers, which came out in 1996 and changed the course of Favreau’s career.

Schumacher tried to find a way for Bono, of U2, to cameo. However, not as Bono, but as his weird “MacPhisto” character he had created for U2’s concert tours. Eventually, both men realized this was a bad idea, and it was scrapped.

Schumacher has said that Kilmer was “childish and impossible,” as relayed by Entertainment Weekly in 1996, and that he refused to speak to the director after Schumacher told him to stop being rude. Apparently, the director also despised working with Jones as well. Jones did not like Carrey at all. According to Carrey on Norm Macdonald Live, Jones once told him “I hate you” and then added the immortal words, “I cannot sanction your buffoonery.”

Problems on set aside, Batman Forever did everything Warner Bros. wanted. It opened to $52.8 million domestically in its opening weekend, breaking the box-office record. Ultimately, it would make $184 million domestically, making it the highest-grossing film of 1995 (worldwide, it was fourth). Also, justifying the lighter mood, it made more than Batman Returns.

Batman had a hit soundtrack thanks to Prince, while the Batman Forever soundtrack sold almost as many copies built on a collection of hit artists. Two singles from the soundtrack became straight-up hits themselves. There’s “Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me” from U2, and then there’s “Kiss from a Rose” by Seal. That song went to No. 1 in the United States.

With the success of Batman Forever, the studio decided to run it back with Schumacher for a fourth film. Much like Burton with Batman Returns, Schumacher got himself a bit of a blank check with Batman & Robin. The director let it all hang out, though he replaced Kilmer with George Clooney. Audiences weren’t really into it, though. Batman & Robin flopped, especially critically, ending plans for a fifth movie and putting the Caped Crusader on ice (Mr. Freeze style) until Batman Begins rebooted things in 2005.