“Look, I apologize. I want to apologize to every fan that was disappointed because I think I owe them that.”
So Joel Schumacher told VICE recently in an interview just ahead of the 20th anniversary of the release of ‘Batman & Robin, ‘ a film lauded as the downfall of the ‘Batman’ franchise in the 90s, which was not resurrected until Christopher Nolan took the helm of the series with ‘Batman Begins’ in the early 2000s. He seems to be a good sport about the whole thing though, taking full responsibility for the mistakes made on the film, and not making up excuses or trying to defend himself. He did go into some detail about his personal experience and how it ruined his career at that point, stating:
“My batting average was good to that point. And then after Batman & Robin, I was scum. It was like I had murdered a baby.”
In his opinion, one of his primary sins was those damn Bat-nipples, which he still remembers making the decision about, not realizing the consequences:
“Such a sophisticated world we live in where two pieces of rubber the size of erasers on old pencils, those little nubs, can be an issue. It’s going to be on my tombstone, I know it…By the time Batman Forever came around, rubber molding had become so much more advanced. So I said, let’s make it anatomical and gave photos of those Greek status and those incredible anatomical drawings you see in medical books [to lead sculptor Jose Fernandez]. He did the nipples and when I looked at them, I thought, that’s cool.”
Schumacher also comments on the how much audiences have changed over the years, especially in regards to comic book movies:
“It’s really interesting to me, because if you see Tim’s and my [films], you’d understand how innocent the audience was back then when it demanded to have more of a family-friendly Batman. Then when you see Christopher Nolan’s trilogy, the last one especially where he’s dealing with real class and economic problems, you see how the audience has changed in the fact that they can accept and want darker and darker subject matter.”
I mean, I don’t have any new sympathy for Schumacher after this interview, after all ‘Batman & Robin’ was simply awful, and after some of the good movies he has made, he really should have known better. But at least he has the guts to admit it was awful and apologize for it.
What do you think here? Is there anyone out there that actually liked ‘Batman & Robin?’ Any pro Bat-nipples fans? Feel free to share your thoughts and opinions in the comments below!
Nick is a freelance writer based in Los Angeles, who belongs to the privileged few who enjoyed the ending to ‘Lost.’ For more of Nick’s thoughts and articles, follow him on Twitter.
