Director Tim Burton is opening up about his rift with Warner Bros. in the midst of the 30th anniversary of ‘Batman Returns’.
During a recent interview with Empire magazine, the fantasy and gothic visionary slammed the entertainment company, which had replaced him for a third film after declaring “Batman Returns” as “too dark”.
Despite the popularity of the 1992 film, Warner Bros. decided to stop Burton from directing any further films about the Caped Crusader and swapped him with Joel Schumacher for “Batman Forever” and “Batman & Robin”. .
“They went the other way,” Burton said. “That’s the funny thing about it. But then I was like, ‘Wait a minute. Okay. Wait a second here. You complain about me, I’m so weird, I’m so black, and then you dress up Nipples? Go to hell. Seriously. So, yeah, I guess that’s why I didn’t do the third film.
Pointing to the franchise’s latest installment, this year’s edgy rendition of Matt Reeves’ protector of Gotham, “The Batman” showed just how neurotic the character can be.
Burton pointed to the irony of the latest film, telling Empire: “It’s funny to watch now, because all these memories come back, ‘It’s too dark,’ so, it makes me laugh a little bit.”
Even though “Batman Returns” has some great moments (exploding penguins and latex galore), Burton said he appreciates the film beyond the darkness for which it has been popularized.
“I am not just overly dark. It represents me in the sense that… I see things that way. It does not mean pure darkness. There is a mixture,” he said.
“I have a really great feeling about it because of the weird experimentation.”
Re-watch the “Batman Returns” trailer below.
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