BATMAN'S NEW ACT IF NO JOKER
Clean and sober proves how wasted Michael Keaton was as Batman. Overshadowed by Jack Nicholson's flamboyant joker, and all but unrecognisable behind mask and cloak, he made little impression. But he more than makes up for it in this study (made before batman, by the way) of a yuppie alcoholic and drug addict, who is redeemed almost in spite of himself. It is a painfully convincing performance. Daryl Poynter (Keaton) is on the edge of a personal abyss. Faced with possible embezzlement and murder charges, he is on the run with nowhere to go. Until he hears of a detoxification centre which promises discretion and privacy. Poynter, of course, has no use for the services of the clinic. As far as he is concerned he has his habits under complete control. But three people - his counsellor (Morgan Freeman) a fellow inmate (Kathy Baker) and his sponsor (M.Emmett Walsh) - convince him otherwise.
BAT FACTS
THE FILM
The film cost $35 million ($5 million over budget) to make and was in preparation for 10 years. Robin was to make a cameo appearance but was written out in the final draft of the script. The Batsuit was made out of latex foam, which Keaton had to be bolted into. "It makes you feel like your neck is in a vice," he said. 24 Batsuits were made. The scenes at Wayne Manor were shot a Knebworth, a stately home normally used to host rock concerts. Warners received 50,000 letters of protest at the choice of Keaton as Batman. Jack Nickolson had to wear rubber cheekbones to emphasise his manic grin. They took two hours to put on. In New York the craze has gone to people's heads. Barbers are offering to shave a bat insignia into fans' hair. Two fully functional Batmobiles were made at a cost of 160,000 each. They started out as American Chevrolets rescued from a scrapheap. A huge launch party in America was cancelled because the producers were worried the film might not live up to the hype. Sixty miles of scaffolding were used on set to hold up the false buildings of Gotham city, which covered 95 acres of Pinewood Studios. They've kept the set for Batman 2. Real bats were used in the Batcave scenes. The intense heat on set made them start bonking each other - while the actors were filming. Batman was Michael Keaton's 3rd film in 18 months. Special effects men had to make six of every bat gadget - like the batarang and speargun - to make sure that at least one of them worked when they were filming. When the film was first announced, it was reported that Mel Gibson was going to play Batman and Sean Penn one of the villains. The ears on Batman's mask were just a bit to long. Every time Keaton jumped into the Batmobile he got them shut in the sliding cockpit cover.
WHO'S WHO IN GOTHAM CITY
DIRECTOR - Tim Burton's past credits include Pee-Wee's Big Adventure and Beetlejuice. He used to work as a Walt Disney artist.
BATMAN - Michael Keaton was paid $1 million.
JOKER - Jack Nicholson was paid more than Keaton for appearing in the film. Estimates range from $2 - $6 million. He'll also receive a hefty percentage of the film's takings.
ALICIA - (joker's girlfriend) Jerry hall's role in batman was her first major role.
VICKI VALE - (batman's girlfriend) Kim Basinger was drafted in after Sean Young broke her arm during rehearsals.


GUNG HO
Michael Keaton has a recurring nightmare about his future after BATMAN: 'I do four or five of these movies, and it's gonna become my career. I'll have to keep expanding the cat suit, because I get fatter every year. I'll be bankrupt and I'll kind of turn into the King, into this bloated Elvis..' Fears about being typecast as the hero of the most successful film of 89 - takings of more than $400 million around the world to date - are unfounded, particularly as there are no definite plans for BATMAN 2 as yet. The multi-million dollar deals are a long way from the comic actor's early days in Hollywood, living hand-to-mouth and getting cast-off scripts that were first rejected by at least half a dozen top comedy stars. Born in Pittsburgh, the youngest of 7 children, Keaton began entertaining at the age of five by doing Elvis impersonations for his family. He learned the excitement of acting on a stage before a live audience at college, but took a break to teach. However, there was a natural performer in him trying to escape and so in 75 he headed for Los Angeles. He decided if he was going to a 'starving actor, I might as well be one in warm weather'. After making his mark alongside Bea Arthur in her weekly sitcom MAUDE, he landed the role of Blaze in NIGHTSHIFT, an undertaker who turns his workplace into a bordello, along the way stealing the film. Keaton says he likes to play the 'approachable everyman'. All my characters feel they don't really have to hold anything back from anyone; they have their own strength. Total winners are less interesting - other guys have more dimensions. I hope I'm putting out something good, positive and vital to people.' His versatility led to a clutch of distinctive portraits in a series of films that failed to ignite the box office - MR MOM, as a husband forced to stay at home while his wife worked; TOUCH AND GO, a light-hearted romance; JOHNNY DANGEROUSLY, as a Cagneyesque caricature of a 30s gangster; GUNG HO as a working-class hero, a factory foreman who lies to his workers to save the factory. 'I like characters with defects,' says Keaton. 'It's the difference between looking at a flat, dry, white wall as opposed to nice old stucco with cracks in it - it's a lot more interesting.' But it was as the bizarre ghostly exorcist in BEETLEJUICE that Keaton's Hollywood stock hit the stratosphere, leading its director, Tim Burton, to cast him in his next project as Batman. 'BEETLEJUICE was fun. I was given free rein with the character, giving him walks and mannerisms and clothes. And because it was such a small role in terms of time on screen, I had to kick off in fourth or fifth gear.' With his brooding, almost satanic good looks, acting in fourth gear has become Keaton's trademark. He hates to be known as a star and insists he's an actor first and foremost: 'I'm not a very good movie star. I don't know which restaurants I should be going to,' he laughs.