15 Trivia Tidbits About 'Batman Returns'

Hello. I enjoy this list of interesting facts quite a lot, and I hope you do too. I was inspired to write it because I had been in an environment where the sheer amount of facts I was exposed to every day was rather overwhelming, and I needed a way to keep track of them. I also enjoy knowing more about the world we live in, so I figured this would be a good way of satisfying that urge, while at the same time having fun writing it. Now, I must admit, I am not very knowledgeable about some of the more obscure facts on this list, but I think the point is to entertain our brains and have fun, not necessarily to be historically or academically accurate. They are here because I enjoy this list of interesting facts and thought it would be fun to share it with you, but I can't take any responsibility for what they actually are.

15

Michelle Pfeiffer Mastered The Whip As Catwoman CRACKED.COM When Pfeiffer ultimately got the part, she became absolutely de- termined to master the art of that whip. I trained for months with the whip master. On our first day together, I caught his face with the whip and it drew blood. It completely shattered me. She did all her own stunts with that whip and freaking nailed it:

ATRightMovies

14

Animal Rights Groups Protested The Production Of Batman Returns GRAGKED.COM When word got out that some of the penguins would have rockets strapped onto their backs, PETA and the like said Nope and petitioned that there should be no moving and filming of penguins outside of Ant- arctica. The production, however, worked with the penguins' curator to make sure the animals were comfort- able at all times.

CS Monitor

13

Danny Elfman Wrote The Iconic Theme On A Plane ON SAN DIEGO CON NAL SAN DIES INTERNATIONAL COMIC SAR BY CO CO COMIC INTERNATIONA CO INTER SAN DIEGO CRACKED.COM ESCON Sure, Elfman wrote the theme for Burton's first Batman film, but it's still part of what makes Re- turn so dark and epic. That theme song came to Elfman on a plane, which is not the best place to start singing and writing down an epic, big saga tune. On the way home, the thing f**king hits me, said Elfman. And it was like, what do I do? I'm on

Cracked

12

Michelle Pfeiffer Initially Lost Her Part To Annette Bening CRACKED.COM Pfeiffer said she was obsessed with Catwoman when she was lit- tle and felt devastated when Ben- ing was cast over her. But then Bening became pregnant and the plans ultimately changed. Which is great, because we got to see Pfeiffer do this glorious scene: https://youtu.be/XcQIzNNRK10

Hollywood Reporter

11

Marlon Wayans Almost Played Robin (And Still Got Paid For It) CRACKED.COM On The Tonight Show, Wayans said he was cast as Robin for the sequel and got paid, even after they decided to scrap his part because there were too many characters in the movie. It seems the idea was to bring him in as Dick Grayson when Burton did his third Bat- man movie, Batman Forever, which we know ended up going to Joel Schum- acher, who cast Chris O'Donnell as Bat- man's sidekick.

CinemaBlend

10

The Movie Totally Hogged The Warner Bros. Burbank Lot CRACKED.COM More than half of the entire Studio Lot (a 62-acre com- pound) was turned into Gotham City and used to film the movie in which Mi- chelle Pfeiffer was more cat than anyone in CATS.

The Culture Trip

9

Cobblepot's Most Famous Clown CRACKED.COM Doug Jones played the Thin Clown, the menacing gang member of Penguin's posse. Jones would go on to play many iconic char- acters, including the Faun and The Pale Man in Pan's Labyrinth.

Wikipedia

8

Danny DeVito Was Responsible For Penguin's Black Mouth CRACKED.COM Penguin's black saliva really irritated McDonald's and their attempt at creat- ing toy tie-ins for the movie. And that was all on DeVito: The black saliva was a concoction that I came up with after working with the makeup and the spe- cial effects people. Basically, it's kind of like mild mouthwash with food coloring in it. We had it in a jar with a nozzle on it. Before every scene, I'd squirt it into my mouth. Luckily the taste wasn't that bad.

Hollywood Reporter

7

The Original Sequel Would've Had Penguin And Catwoman Go On A Treasure Hunt CRACKED.COM Yes, give us the one where Selina and Oswald murder rich Gotham men (and frame Batman for it) while secretly col- lecting Raven statues and ultimately breaking into Wayne Manor in search of buried treasure hidden in the Batcave (that even Bruce doesn't know about). Batman II, originally drafted by Hamm (who wrote Burton's first Batman mov- ie), would also have featured kid orphan Robin with some killer martial arts skills.

Den of Geek

6

That Was A Live Bird In Michelle Pfeiffer's Mouth CRACKED.COM And the bird wasn't even sedated or any- thing. Tim Burton said he'd never been so impressed by an actor. She had a live bird in her mouth while the camera was rolling. It was four or five seconds, and then she let it fly out. It was before CG, it was before digital. It was so quick, it seems like it was an effect. Pfeiffer said she didn't think at the time - she just did it. I look back and say, 'What was I thinking? I could've gotten a disease

Hollywood Reporter

5

The Real Penguins Had Their Own Dressing Room (And Dictated The Set) CRACKED.COM Danny DeVito explained: I'm the kind of guy that loves being on set, but it was cold as sh*t because we had real pen- guins and they had to keep the water re- ally cold. They had these massive air con- ditioners. I was the only one really com- fortable, because I had pounds and pounds of face prosthetics and the body padding, not to mention the heavy coat. The penguins had their own area in the Warner Bros. lot, all kit out with a swim- ming

Hollywood Reporter

4

Sean Young Really Wanted To Play Catwoman CRACKED.COM The Blade Runner actress was so set on playing Selina Kyle that she dressed up in her own idea of Catwoman's attire, barged into the filmmakers' office, and announced herself as the next feline villain. Said Warner Bros. executive Mark Canton: My office door flew open, which says a lot about how different security is these days, and Michael Keaton and I saw Sean Young dressed as Catwom- an leap over my sofa and say, 'I am Catwoman!' We looked at each other and went, 'Whoa.''' During the Shadows of the Bat

IMDB

3

Tim Burton Didn't Want To Do A Sequel CRACKED.COM Said Sam Hamm, screenwriter of Burton's Bat- man (1989): Tim was very adverse at the end of the day to the idea of coming in doing a se- quel. Не thought, 'I said what I have to say about Batman. I don't really know if I want to do this.' And he was very reluctant to get in- volved. And finally, the way that got to him was to say 'What if the second movie is really just a Tim Burton movie?' And that got his attention and got him thinking

CheatSheet

2

Christopher Walken's Character Was Originally Penguin's Brother CRACKED.COM Not only did Burton's Batman sequel boldly feature a total of three vil- lains, but Christopher Walken's Max Shreck was a completely original Go- tham villain. The character was origi- nally written as Penguin/Oswald Cobblepot's brother-the child kept by Penguin's parents and the broth- er that would've caused a classic movie sibling rivalry.

Amazon

1

Batman Was Almost An Angry Ranting Maniac CRACKED.COM Boy, talk about too dark. Screenwriter Daniel Waters said that if it wasn't for the legendary Michael Keaton, Bat- man/Bruce Wayne would've had a lot more Reply Guy energy. Said Waters about Keaton: He's the only actor I know who would go through my script and go, 'I should say less here. I should say less here.' I had so many angry Bat- man rant speeches and he was like, 'Eh, Batman would never say that... Batman should just say this line right here.' And, you know, usually he was right.

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