‘Batman Returns’ Screenwriter Thinks Tim Burton’s Original “Sucks”

“Batman Returns” screenwriter, Daniel Waters, who regularly participates in our polls, is giving us some details about his scrapped “Catwoman” film, which Tim Burton was supposed to direct (via IndieWire).

The story goes that following the success of Burton’s Christmas classic, “Batman Returns,” Warner Bros. gave the go ahead to develop a spinoff featuring Michelle Pfeiffer’s Catwoman. It turns out that Burton wanted to make the film black and white, to pay tribute to Jacques Tourneur’s iconic 1942 film, “Cat People.”

Waters refers to developing “Catwoman” as a strange process where he and Burton differed in what kind of film they actually wanted to make.

“He wanted to do an $18 million black and white movie, like the original ‘Cat People,’ of Selina just lowkey living in a small town,” Waters said. “And I wanted to make a ‘Batman’ movie where the metaphor was about ‘Batman.’ So I had her move to a Los Angeles version of Gotham City, and it’s run by three asshole superheroes. It was ‘The Boys’ before ‘The Boys.’ But he got exhausted reading my script.”

Waters teaming up with Burton for “Batman Returns” was an unusual union of styles. The fact that it actually happened, and resulted in a good film, is some kind of miracle. “Batman Returns” remains one of the strangest, and darkest, superhero movies ever made.

However, don’t ask Waters about Burton’s original “Batman” (1989) — when asked about the film Waters wasn’t shy in his disapproval of the film, “it sucks.” Curiously, Waters implies that Burton wasn’t a fan either:

[Tim Burton] was not crazy about BATMAN. And I wasn't crazy about it either. It had great production design and all that, but I didn't like the movie.

This afternoon, I spoke to Waters, he elaborated further about his disdain for “Batman” …

That scene where Jack [Nicholson] going up the stairs to a shit Prince song, spray painting art is the height of anti-entertainment.

If anything, Burton’s “Batman” can now be seen as a piece of nostalgia, albeit one made with a unique vision. It helped that Jack Nicholson’s Joker was a hoot to behold, and, for many years, the mainstream consensus was that it was the superior Burton ‘Batman.’ However, the tide has turned and “Batman Returns” — with its acerbic wit and darkly comic tone — has aged wonderfully well.

Josh Olson, who wrote “A History of Violence”, has a line: “Batman Returns is a movie for people who hate Batman.” He’s not wrong.