Why Michael Keaton Didn’t Have to Get Into Shape to Reprise His Role as Batman
Batman actor Michael Keaton reprised his role as the DC hero in the recent comic book film The Flash. Although it’s become a tradition for Batman actors to work out for the role, Keaton was able to skip the process.
Michael Keaton was already in shape for ‘The Flash’
Keaton’s Batman was officially canonized into DC’s expanding multiverse in The Flash. The movie would see the actor portraying his and Tim Burton’s Batman for the first time since 1992’s Batman Returns. When offered the part, Keaton seemed more than willing to don the cape and cowl again. He admitted he was mostly interested in how his character would be approached after so many years.
“I was curious what it would be like after this many years. Not so much me doing it — obviously, some of that — but I was just curious about it, weirdly, socially. This whole thing is gigantic. They have their entirely own world. So, I like to look at it as an outsider, thinking ‘Holy moly,'” Keaton told Variety.
But some things have changed since the days of Keaton being Batman. Keaton didn’t really go to the same lengths to embody the superhero’s physical features like future Batman actors did. Christian Bale famously gained 100 pounds to fill out the suit in Batman Begins. Ben Affleck would bulk up significantly to portray the character in Batman V. Superman. Robert Pattinson also went through an intense training regimen for The Batman.
However, Keaton didn’t have to go through a similar process. If only because he was already in decent shape for the costume.
“I have to say that I’m still the same measurements I was back in the day. I’m pretty happy about that,” he said according to New Indian Express. “I slipped right into the suit, although this one was a little better than the first. But I’m claustrophobic, so it’s still tough to wear. I actually use that feeling of being restricted as part of the character. It’s something Tim Burton and I had worked on––powerful movements, and using the stiffness for good.”
Why Michael Keaton was initially hesitant to play Batman when first offered the role
Keaton needed some convincing to portray what would become one of his most iconic roles. He knew next to nothing about the character, but it was Burton’s script that sold him the role.
“Yeah, because I wasn’t really familiar with superhero books. I didn’t know much about Batman. I remember reading Tim’s script and thinking how I couldn’t imagine anyone making it into a movie the way I saw the character. I told him and he just nodded,” Keaton said. “That’s when things got exciting.”
Although Keaton would research Batman’s lore, he felt Burton’s storytelling was what truly made Batman successful.
“He had asked me to read the Frank Miller’s Batman comics, which I knew nothing about at the time. But it was Tim who turned the whole movie around and made it what it is. Comic book movies are huge now. They are a cultural phenomenon, but it was Tim Burton’s Batman that kicked it all off,” he added.
Michael Keaton had no idea what was going on in ‘The Flash’
Keaton didn’t have the same reaction to the script for The Flash as he did for Burton’s Batman. Whereas he might’ve been impressed with Burton’s interpretation of the character, The Flash and its multiverse shenanigans left him lost.
“I had to read it more than three times to go, ‘Wait, how does this work?’ ” Keaton told The Hollywood Reporter. “They had to explain that to me several times. By the way, I’m not being arrogant, I hope, about this. I don’t say it like, ‘I’m too groovy.’ I’m stupid. There’s a lot of things I don’t know about. And so, I don’t know, I just kind of figured it out, but this was different.”
Ironically, after he grasped the script, Keaton felt he understood his character more in The Flash than he did in Batman.
“What’s really interesting is how much more I got [Batman] when I went back and did him. I get this on a whole other level now. I totally respect it. I respect what people are trying to make,” Keaton said.
