The Pen Is Truly Mightier Than The Sword: Screenwriter Sam Hamm Talks Batman ’89 [Interview]
Twenty five years ago, in 1989, there was nothing bigger than Tim Burton’s Batman. The movie was a box-office smash, and was accompanied by an unprecedented merchandising blitz. Bat-trading cards, Bat-shirts, Bat-soundtracks, Bat-toys, Bat-meals, Bat-hats, Bat-candy, Bat-books – the logo and likenesses were everywhere you looked. And the film’s impact is still being felt today. It was a big-budget production with proper movie stars that changed the way the world thought about comic book movies evermore.
Earlier this summer, ComicsAlliance published a series of pieces reflecting on the importance ofBatman ’89 – and now, as the summer of 2014 winds to a close, we spoke to screenwriter Sam Hammabout his work on the landmark film and his thoughts on its legacy, as a perfect postscript to our 25th anniversary Bat-celebration.
ComicsAlliance: Let’s start at the beginning – how did you end up getting the Batman gig?
Sam Hamm: I had an overall deal at Warner Bros., which had bid on a spec script I wrote in the mid-eighties. My patron at the studio was a young, up-and-coming executive named Bonni Lee, and one day when I was waiting in the anteroom to meet her I saw a copy of the Tom Mankiewicz draft ofBatman. Naturally I pulled it down and started reading it. By the time Bonni was ready to see me I had barely finished the first act, which was very much in the vein of Superman. But I’d been immersed in comics since I was a kid, I had them in my DNA, and in that twenty-minute stretch I had already come up with a totally different take on how to tell the sad story of Bruce Wayne and his peculiar hobby. So I spent the entire meeting, which was supposed to be about some other project, quizzing Bonni on the current status of Batman.
It turned out the property had been in development for some years and was considered to be “jinxed.” The studio couldn’t agree on an approach (Art-Deco period Batman? Comedy Batman, starring Bill Murray, with Eddie Murphy as Robin?), and several directors, including Ivan Reitman and Joe Dante, had come and gone. The latest to try his luck was Tim Burton, who had made only one feature, Pee Wee’s Big Adventure, and who turned out to be Bonni’s other protege.
For the next six months I pestered everyone I met at Warners –Tim, Peter Guber, Jon Peters, Roger Birnbaum, and of course any junior executive who was willing to sit across a desk from me. And finally one day I was back in Bonni’s office and she told me that Tim was hoping I might drop by before I left the lot. I popped in, asked what was up. He said, “I was wondering. Would you have any interest in working on this Batman thing?” and I let out what felt like a six-minute sigh of relief. Finally!
CA: So you were definitely familiar with Batman before taking the job.
SH: Never heard of him. Why do you ask? No, I’m being facetious. I had been reading Batman comics since age 4, when my uncle bought me a copy of Batman #133 at the drugstore. The lead story was “Batwoman’s Publicity Agent,” and the cover featured not only Batman and Robin, but Batwoman, Bat-Mite, and Ace the Bat-hound–the whole Bat-crew.
CA: Were there any particular Batman stories that influenced your take on the character?
SH: We wanted to do a “dark” Batman from the outset. Although we didn’t consciously model our version on a particular storyline from the comics, I would probably cite the Denny O’Neil stories from the early ’70s, like “The Joker’s Five-Way Revenge”, as an important tonal influence. Denny was plainly trying to reclaim the mystery of Batman and the homicidal insanity of the Joker, and he had lots of help from Neal Adams, Jim Aparo, et al.
I also have to mention Giant Batman Annual #3, featuring Batman and Robin’s Most Fantastic Foes, which made a huge impression on me as a kid. The older stories reprinted from the thirties and forties ran a bit more toward the lurid side than the relatively tame, post-Comics Code product I was used to. I loved Gorilla Boss, the crime lord who had his brain transplanted into the body of an ape, and of course Two-Face, the D.A. disfigured by an acid-throwing witness in mid-trial. There’s a lot of Two-Face in my version of the Joker.
We were excited by the “revisionist” stories such as Dark Knight Returns, which was just coming out as we began work on the movie, and The Killing Joke, which followed a bit later, although there were only stray bits and pieces we could borrow from them. At that particular moment there was a weird recrudescence of interest in Batman…we knew something was burbling under the surface, but of course we couldn’t foresee the cultural phenomenon we were about to become part of.
CA: Though it’s tough to remember now, Michael Keaton was known at the time as a comedic actor, and his casting was met with some controversy. What was your reaction to learning he’d taken on the lead role?
SH: My first reaction was “Whaaa-a-aa-aaaa???” Like everyone else, I had fallen into the trap of assuming you are casting the part of Batman — but in fact the part you’re casting is Bruce Wayne. Keaton was obviously best known for comedy, but he’d been terrific in Clean And Sober, a straight dramatic role, and that performance was one of the reasons Tim wanted to cast him. (That, and their obvious comfort level from working together on Beetlejuice.) So I calmed down, went back and rewatched Clean And Sober, and I immediately saw what Tim was hoping to get from him. He was terrific, by the way. Nicholson gives the more flamboyant performance, but Keaton anchors the picture emotionally.
CA: Were you kept in the loop as casting happened? Were you at least kept informed so you could keep the actors in mind as you wrote their characters?
SH: I heard casting speculation during the course of pre-production (for example, we knew the studio had always wanted Nicholson for the Joker, but we never thought for a minute that we could actually get him). But most of the casting was done after I had turned in my last draft–and, as a writer, I wouldn’t have had a vote anyway!
CA: How closely did you work with Tim Burton and the producers?
SH: Very closely. Tim and I got along extremely well from day one. The question that intrigued us both was, “Why would an incredibly rich guy want to put on a weird suit and beat up petty crooks?” I mean, he’d have to be crazy, right? We hashed out a loose storyline built around the notion that we would start with the Joker’s origin and treat Batman’s origin as a mystery to be solved (by Vicki) in the course of the story. What would happen to Batman if he met a girl and started to go . . . sane?
After that, I’d go off to work for a couple of weeks, and then Tim would fly up to hang out in San Francisco and we’d pace around cooking up new sequences, solving problems, etc.
CA: The Writer’s Guild of America went on strike just after you’d turned in a completed draft of the script, and other (non-guild) writers were brought on to do revisions. Were you able to jump back onto the project once the strike wrapped, or were you already on to the next project?
SH: Production started during the strike, so I was obviously unable to do production rewrites. A British writer, who was not bound by WGA rules, was hired over the summer. I would have been happy to rejoin the picture after the strike ended, but WB chose to go with Warren Skaaren, who had done production rewrites on Top Gun, among others.
CA: Did you have any hand in crafting that climactic sequence in the bell tower?
SH: Yeah, the belfry sequence was in every draft I ever wrote. Batman and the Joker square off, the Joker is about to make his escape via helicopter, the helicopter rouses a swarm of bats that have been sleeping in the rafters, and the bats engulf the Joker, who falls to his death, done in by Batman’s totemic “familiars.” Unfortunately the production was well over-budget by that point and could not afford a full flock of union bats. Vicki was a last-minute, on-set addition, perhaps to compensate.
CA: Were there any cut sequences that you wish had made it into the finished film?
SH: Several!
1) I had a highly ingenious third-act introduction for the Bat-signal that I still miss.
2) I had originally handled the murder of Bruce’s parents as a dream Vicki has after being spirited off to the Batcave and recognizing Bruce behind his cowl. The plotline of Vicki accidentally discovering Batman’s identity by digging into Bruce’s past was mostly lost in the finished picture.
3) The studio insisted on having Robin in the picture, and Tim and I couldn’t figure out how or where to squeeze him in. We spent a whole weekend pacing around in a sweat, but we couldn’t get anywhere, and we finally decided that we would have to call the WB brass and tell them there would be no Robin. Then, moments away from picking up the phone, we started spitballing again, and miraculously, we came up with a really cool Robin sequence. So a couple of years later, when production is underway, and the picture is running over budget, what does the studio decide to cut? You guessed it – Robin! And in the end, nobody missed him.
CA: Once the film was released, and met with massive success, were there things that particularly surprised you?
SH: The scale of it all. We got mixed critical reviews, but we made more money more quickly than any other movie up to that point (back in the days when a $40 million opening weekend actually meant something). Everybody went Batsh*t. The Zeitgeist Bar in San Francisco painted a bat-signal over the front door. A guy in my neighborhood, a few blocks away, painted an enormous bat-logo on the garage door of his house. That was the point at which I became a little embarrassed, and thought: perhaps this thing has gone a bit too far…
CA: Around the time of the film’s release, you wrote a well-received storyline, “Blind Justice,” for the comics. Was it difficult to switch gears and work in comic-book continuity after creating your own set of rules with the movie script?
SH: Whole different discipline, whole different toolbox, but that was the fun (and the challenge) of it. For DC, I wanted to do a story that would feel like a comic-book story, nothing definitive or revisionist, a narrative that would fit within the existing continuity of an ongoing character. I had a great mentor in Denny O’Neil and a great collaborator in Denys Cowan, who is still one of my best pals. And I will tell you a secret: writing comics is much harder than writing movies!
CA: And now, 25 years after the movie hit screens, how do you feel about its legacy?
SH: I’m actually pleased that the character continues to inspire new interpretations. The scale of the Nolan movies makes our humble effort seem small, personal, almost intimate in retrospect. And although I do secretly kinda wish you could occasionally see a big-budget studio picture that wasn’t based on a comic book, I cannot deny that Batman has been very, very good to me.
Batman 89: The most influential film of the last 25 years
Anghus Houvouras on Tim Burton’s Batman: The most influential film of the last 25 years….
The summer of 1989 was brimming with blockbusters. A number of high profile sequels were set to light up the box office. Massive franchises like Indiana Jones, Ghostbusters, and Lethal Weapon were debuting new installments guaranteed to rake in fat stacks of cash. But this summer would be ruled by another movie. A film that had been widely speculated about since it started production. A movie with an unproven dramatic leading man and a director seen as something of an anomaly in the studio system. This film would forever change the landscape of the summer blockbuster and serve as an influence for a generation of movies.
That movie: Weird Al Yankovic’s UHF.
Actually, I was talking about Tim Burton’s Batman.
It’s easy to see the impact of Batman 25 years later as comic book adaptations are commonplace and a pillar of the summer movie season. Back then, it was a movie that had polarized media analysts. Some people were smart enough to realize that Batman was going to be huge. Others were outspoken about their reluctance to endorse a dark and moody movie about a man dressed as a bat. There were those who still thought of Batman as a camp icon of the 1960’s and could never be taken seriously.
The casting of Michael Keaton inspired the first fits of incredulity. Up until then, he had been known for comedic roles in movies like Mr. Mom and Beetlejuice. This supported the naysayers who still thought of the caped crusader as Adam West dancing the batusi and using bat-shark repellent.
Batman would eventually go on to be the most iconic blockbusters released that year. A movie that quickly conquered the pop culture landscape in so many fronts. At one point it was a chart conquering monster not only topping the box office but the album chart thanks to it’s funky soundtrack by Prince. Even Danny Elfman’s score managed to rank impressively high on the Billboard top 100. Shirts featuring the bat symbol were flying off store shelves.
The first Batman film was a true event. Even the advertising leading up to the film’s release seemed revolutionary. The kind of appetite whetting campaign that took a minimalist approach. A stark black bat-symbol cast against a yellow oval was plastered in every theater lobby. It drew the attention of fans and helped stoke the interest of the uninitiated.
On June 23rd, 1989 Batman arrived and nothing has ever been the same since.
Tim Burton’s Batman was the perfect summer movie. The kind of film that didn’t really exist before then. Burton brought his dark, gothic aesthetic to the world of Batman. When the black clad, sculpted Dark Knight arrived on the scene, audiences were ushered into the modern era of comic book heroes.Superman had wowed audiences 10 years before with equal parts earnestness and spectacle, inspired by the golden and silver age comics that had launched the medium. Burton’s Batman was a glimpse into the darker tone that comics had embraced in the mid 1980’s. Tragic heroes, deadly villains, and a twisted psyche that linked them both.
Tim Burton’s Batman may very well be my favorite summer movie. A perfect blend of drama and design. The film is chock full of so many great little moments. Weird, wonderful imagery buoyed by some off-the-wall performances with a soundscape that bounces back and forth between the orchestral three ring circus of Danny Elfman’s score and the synth-rock sounds of Prince’s strangely inspired soundtrack. Keaton is a perfectly stoic Batman. Nicholson delightfully chews the scenery as the Joker. The script pops with a slew of memorable lines. The moment someone brings up Batman you can hear Nicholson asking “Have you ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight?” or declaring “The pen is truly mightier than the sword.”
What I find most fascinating about Batman 25 years later is how its influence has surpassed the film itself. Every subsequent superhero film has borrowed from Batman. You can see it in the design of movies like The Crow, Daredevil, Ghost Rider, and X-Men. You can hear it in movies like Spider-Man where Elfman’s comic book film compositions continue to sound like an echo of his most celebrated score. It inspired a highly successful animated series which took many cues from the tone of the film. The film was the first to launch the priced-to-sell initiative for VHS tapes and closed the gap between theatrical and home release. There was a day and age where VHS tapes cost $99.99 and were only purchased through rental shops, and most movies had a minimum of six months between the end of their theatrical run and the release to video. Batman changed all that.
Batman impacted the way movies are made as well as the way movies are marketed and distributed. It redefined the culture of comic book adaptations and big budget summer movies. We live in a time where comic book films are commonplace and a staple of the cinematic calendar. Every single one owes a debt to Batman:
The most influential film of the last 25 years.
Anghus Houvouras is a North Carolina based writer and filmmaker. His latest work, the novel My Career Suicide Note, is available from Amazon. Follow him on Twitter.
Tim Burton’s Batman 25th Anniversary: 13 things you may not know about the movie
It changed the landscape of comic book movies and also set a blue print for how to market a summer blockbuster. Today, Tim Burton’s Batman (or Batman 89) turns 25.
To mark this momentous occasion, we look at some of the things you may not know about this seminal piece of cinema.
1. People went to the cinema just to see the trailer
Warner Bros. were worried about the reaction to the movie so they hastily cut together a 90-second trailer to put in cinemas. On its first screening, it received a standing ovation. People would then go the cinema, pay to watch a movie, watch the Batman trailer and then leave.
2. Tim Burton had never read a Batman comic
Although he often claims that Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns was an inspiration, he has publically stated that he has never read a comic book. Many Batman fans consider this the reason why the movie has little connection to the comics.
3. David Bowie was considered to play The Joker
Along with Willem Dafoe, James Woods John Lithgow and Tim Curry.
4. Jack Nicholson earned nearly $60 million dollars
Nicholson had a clause in his contract that he would earn a percentage of the box office takings. Because the movie made so much money, so did Jack.
5. The original script featured Robin
He was set to appear in costume at the end of the movie. On DVD releases, you can watch the animated storyboard as a special feature which features the voice cast of Batman: The Animated Series. Robin was in the movie right up until the last minute where they decided to was too much to add.
6. Eddie Murphy was considered to play Robin
Batman started out life as a campy version of the character, akin to the Adam West TV show version from 1966. When the darker tone was brought in, Eddie Murphy was no longer in contention for the role.
7. Kiefer Sutherland was offered the role of Robin
But Kiefer Sutherland was offered the role. When the scenes were cut, so was the offer. The future Jack Bauer wasn’t offered the role when Robin would eventually appear in Batman Forever.
8. Warner Bros. received more than 50,000 complaints over the casting of Michael Keaton
Michael Keaton was known for being a comedy actor and Batman fans didn’t want this Batman movie to be like the 1966 TV show and so wrote letters of complaint about Keaton’s casting. In fact, Batman creator Bob Kane also showed concerns with Keaton. They were all proved wrong.
9. Robin Williams nearly played The Joker
Jack Nicholson nearly turned down the role so Warner Bros. offered it to Robin Williams as bait for Nicholson. Once he heard that Williams had been offered (and accepted) the role, he decided to take it. Williams was so furious they used him as bait he turned down the role of The Riddler in Batman Forever and wouldn’t star in any Warner Bros. productions until they apologised.
10. Two-Face is in the movie
Billy Dee Williams (known for playing Lando in Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back) plays Harvey Dent in the movie, who would later go on to become Batman villain Two Face. In fact, Williams had it written into his contract that he would play Two Face down the line. Warner Bros. had to buy him out of his contract so they could cast Tommy Lee Jones for the role in Batman Forever.
11. It played a large part in the BBFC introducing the 12 certificate
Prior to its release, the 12 certificate didn’t exist and wouldn’t exist on home video until 1994, meaning the VHS release of Batman had it at a 15.
12. Jack Nicholson was going to reprise the role in Batman Triumphant
Batman Triumphant was going to be the fifth movie in the franchise until Batman & Robin was a horrible flop. In the script, Scarecrow was to be the main villain and in one of Batman’s hallucinations, Jack Nicholson’s Joker would appear to frighten him.
13. It was the highest grossing Batman movie until The Dark Knight
It took nearly 20 years, but 2008’s The Dark Knight beat Batman for the highest grossing movie based not only on Batman, but any DC Comics character.
BATMAN Directed by TIM BURTON (1989 - Original Trailer)
I remember these days of BATMANIA with lots of joy though. Everybody was doing it. Everyone was talking about.
People were buying Cinema tickets of other movies just to watch this trailer before it's release. The way this BATMAN TRAILER was edited was not so good, kind in a hurry because apparently someone at the top of the studio wanted to include a trailer of this
BATMAN directed by Tim Burton back in 1989. A truly classic.
Looking back today at this trailermakes me smile and perhaps the because it doesn't glue so well making it really funny to watch these days. There's just something really special about it. Michael Keaton was the best Batman for me, and The Joker, well I'm not even sure if Jack Nicholson was acting at all. He is the Joker!!!
"Where does he get those wonderful toys?"
The Joker
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