WHY I GAVE BATMAN THE BOOT
HE'S HUNG UP HIS MASK AND CAPE, BUT WHAT WAS A PUNY, BALDING SLIGHTLY-BUILT CHAP LIKE MICHAEL KEATON DOING PLAYING A SUPERHERO IN THE FIRST PLACE?
Michael Keaton's never one to play the Hollywood game, though he has the movie capital to thank for his lifestyle. You won't see him at starry parties or playing the social smoothie with the in-set. He much prefers his art collection, fly fishing, playing cowboy on his Montana ranch, hanging out with his family - and speaking his mind. It's tempting to wonder what path his stardom might have taken if he'd fitted more readily into the Tinseltown mould. But after all he hasn't done badly, even if his approach to his career left Hollywood stunned when he rejected the third of the Batman movies, BATMAN FOREVER. He takes a typically critical view of the movies that made him a superstar. 'I really liked the first BATMAN,' he says. 'Nobody expected it to be so artful and powerful. The second one, BATMAN RETURNS, I didn't like so much. It was unsatisfying. 'The third one would have been fun to do, but I wasn't very inspired when I read the script. I didn't think it was something that children could appreciate.' To be honest, looking at the men who took over the cape and mask, Val Kilmer and, in next summer's Batman movie, ER's George Clooney, it's tempting to wonder why 5ft 10in Michael was picked as the Caped Crusader in the first place, with his receding hairline, lumpy jaw and slight build. There are the eyes of grey-blue and haunting - definitely movie star quality. 'My eyes look a lot more serious than they actually are.' says Michael, 45, almost apologetically. 'I've got this heavy eyebrow thing and look demonic.' He's a friendly man and amusing to talk to, but is hard to pin down. He never sits still, scratching his head, scratching his stomach, picking up bits of paper, and uses humour to deflect questions he doesn't want to answer. Ask 'How's your love life?' and he'll answer: 'Fine, how's yours?' His, in fact, seems to have gone very quiet since the end, earlier this year, of his five-year romance with FRIENDS star Courteney Cox. He was also linked with BATMAN RETURNS co-star Michelle Pfeiffer. Michael was divorced in 90 from his wife of seven years, TV actress Caroline McWilliams, and the couple share custody of their 13-year old son Sean.
Right now there aren't even any rumours of a fresh romance, which should please him. He guards his privacy - a family trait. 'We're a family that keeps things to ourselves.' He's the youngest of 7 children raised outside Pittsburgh. 'My dad wasn't making a lot of money, but he was hustling, working one or two jobs,' says Michael. 'My parents also raised chickens for extra money. We were like hillbillies. I ran around in my bare feet and underwear until I was about six years old. 'They're a really nice family, really good folks. We've gone through changes, tough times, and they've always stayed really nice to one another. It's very easy for the other members of the family to become envious or competitive of frustrated in a situation like mine. I've seem it happen a lot and they haven't done that. They're very supportive. I'm still their brother. I can still talk to them about things, in fact more so. We are much more open with each other than when we were younger.' Michael made it to college but dropped out after a year to take a variety of jobs. Working as a stand-up comedian led to his first movie break as a wacky morgue attendant in NIGHT SHIFT in 82. Director Ron Howard picked him out from 200 other actors, drawn to his quirky humour. His horror comedy hit BEETLEJUICE in 88 followed a run of flops GUNG HO, THE SQUEEZE until BATMAN established his star status. Turning down the third one hasn't harmed his job prospects. He's made a string of films since, including MULTIPLICITY and SPEECHLESS, and is working on two more. In PET PEOPLE, which is about pets turning into humans, he plays a dog, and in DESPERATE MEASURES he's a prisoner who agrees to donate bone marrow to a dying child - a story that comes home to Michael. 'Being a father is the best thing in my life,' he says. 'Divorce was the worst. But I couldn't have picked a better mother for Sean. 'My boy lives with me for half the week. I pick him up from school, then there's homework and on to basketball practice. 'Becoming a father took me out of myself. I've had some great relationships and now I find myself alone. But that's not such a bad thing.'