Michael Keaton: It took guts for Tim Burton to defend Batman casting amid uproar
Danny DeVito was among the star-studded audience members at the Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony for the director.
Hollywood star Michael Keaton has praised director Tim Burton for standing by the decision to cast him in 1989 film Batman, despite a huge backlash at the time.
US actor Keaton was reunited with Burton on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Tuesday, where the filmmaker received a star in recognition of his decades-long career in the film industry.
Burton’s directorial debut Pee-wee’s Big Adventure in 1985, starring the late Paul Reubens, was a hit and he went on to make comedy thriller Beetlejuice, starring Keaton in the title role alongside Winona Ryder and Catherine O’Hara.
The filmmaker next cast Keaton as superhero Batman, sparking controversy as Keaton was primarily known as a comedic actor at the time.
Addressing the Batman furore during the Walk of Fame ceremony, Keaton said: “He (Burton) hands me a script and says ‘Please read this and tell me what you think’. Now this is after Beetlejuice, after that performance, after that type of movie.
“And he says to the studio ‘I want that guy’ and I’ll never to this day understand why anyone even cared, but the uproar, you would have thought we were being invaded.
“It was unbelievable, the press went crazy, but he stuck by me, and the guts it took for him to make that decision will always be special to me.
“But also what that spawned. There are a lot of people making a lot of money out there with their superhero movies because of his choice and his vision of what those movies can be, because he changed everything.”
Keaton described Burton as a “genre unto himself” who has an “openness to ideas and creativity” while also having a “wonderful lack of pretension”.
The 72-year-old went on to star in Burton’s 1992 action blockbuster follow-up Batman Returns, with both films becoming a huge success at the box office.
Keaton will next star in the much-anticipated sequel to Burton’s 1988 hit film Beetlejuice, which opened the 81st edition of the Venice International Film Festival last week to a lengthy standing ovation.
It marks a reunion for Keaton, Ryder and O’Hara, who reprised their roles in the sequel, alongside new stars Jenna Ortega, Monica Bellucci and Willem Dafoe.
Bellucci was among the stars at the Walk of Fame ceremony, alongside Hollywood actor Danny DeVito and four-time Oscar-winning costume designer Colleen Atwood.
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice sees three generations of the Deetz family return home to Winter River, still haunted by the title character played by Keaton.
Lydia Deetz (Ryder) has her life turned upside down when her rebellious teenage daughter Astrid (Ortega) discovers the mysterious model of the town in the attic and the portal to the afterlife is accidentally opened.
During the ceremony, Ryder likened working with Burton to “being invited to wander through his heart and imagination”.
“It’s the ultimate cathedral and one of my most cherished and sacred places to be, and I am eternally grateful for the time that I’ve spent there,” the 52-year-old said.
“Tim has such a beautiful and unique understanding of the human heart. He knows the heartache of the misunderstood, the strange and unusual.
“He doesn’t just understand them, he celebrates them, whether outcasts, oddballs, terrifying or hilarious, he gives them depth, humour and always a certain gallantry, and he gives them their dignity.
“His heroes are the very outcasts that he loves.”
On a personal note, Ryder described Burton’s friendship as an “enormous gift”.
“When I met you, I was a weird kid,” she said, to which Burton joked: “And now you’re a weird adult.”
The actress continued: “You reinforced my confidence to be myself, to go against the tides of conformity, your creative inclusiveness showed me what true artistic collaboration looked like.
“In other words, you made being a weird girl not just OK, but something to celebrate and even kind of cool, and you’ve carried that torch for us weirdos everywhere, making us all feel seen and valued.”
It comes after Ryder revealed she had been sexually harassed as a young actress.
The US star told Esquire UK she had faced “a couple of difficult experiences” when she was younger with people “who were just blatantly sexually harassing me”, adding that in retrospect those experiences “really soured” making films.
After the Beetlejuice and Batman films were released, Burton co-wrote, directed and produced romantic fantasy Edward Scissorhands in 1990, starring Johnny Depp.
Depp later won a Golden Globe for his role in Burton’s Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street, which also won best motion picture – musical or comedy.
During his career, Burton has gained praise for helping to reinvigorate the stop motion industry, beginning with The Nightmare Before Christmas, followed by Corpse Bride and Frankenweenie – both of which were Oscar nominated.
Other notable credits from Burton include 1994’s biopic Ed Wood, Sleepy Hollow in 1999, 2003’s Big Fish, and Alice In Wonderland in 2010.
Most recently, Burton received acclaim for his work on the hit TV series Wednesday, starring Ortega in the title role.
In a short speech, Burton described receiving a star on the Walk of Fame as “emotional”, having often visited during his childhood.
