Batman Forever Trivia

Trivia about Batman Returns.

• Lee and Janet Scott Batchler were brought in by Tim Burton and Joel Schumacher to write the screenplay for Batman Forever where they were told that the heart of Batman is duality. Schumacher's intention was to have Michael Keaton returning as Batman, he cast Tommy Lee Jones as Two-Face already, and he asked Robin Williams to play The Riddler, before Val Kilmer and Jim Carrey join the film.
• In the movie, there is a scene where Two-Face keeps flipping his coin until he gets a result he wants. In the comics, a key element of his split personality is that he unquestioningly accepts the result of a single coin toss concerning any decision he makes.
• The Batmobile was usually driven by stunt drivers, but Chris O'Donnell insisted on driving it himself in the joyride scene - but he crashed it into a curb and dented a fender.
• It has been reported that personality clashes between Tommy Lee Jones and Jim Carrey during filming annoyed director Joel Schumacher to the extent that he stated he would never again work with either of them. However, he later worked with Carrey on The Number 23.
• In the original Batman, District Attorney Harvey Dent was played by Billy Dee Williams. Williams accepted the role with the knowledge and expectation that Dent would eventually become Two-Face: Sam Hamm tried to do Two-Face for the sequel to Batman 89, with The Joker scarring him, but Warner Bros. wanted The Penguin and Catwoman to be the villains instead. Harvey Dent was to come back for Batman Returns and Daniel Water wrote a scene of Harvey Dent gets injured by The Red Triangle Circus Gang, and he flips a coin at the end, but was later dropped. When Two-Face was chosen as the villain for Batman Forever, Joel Schumacher only wanted Tommy Lee Jones for the role, and that's already a done deal.
• While learning to twirl a cane, Jim Carrey reportedly broke around a dozen prop canes and some of his trailer furniture.
• Warner Bros. and Joel Schumacher offer Robin Williams the role of The Riddler in Batman Forever, since he's being used as "bait" to lure Jack Nicholson to commit to play the Joker in Batman. Lee and Janet Scott Batchler wrote The Riddler with Robin Williams in mind, since they already had Tommy Lee Jones as Two-Face. Williams read the script for Batman Forever and he loved it. Due to a salary dispute, the role went to Jim Carrey.
• Batman creator Bob Kane said in a Cinescape interview that of all the actors to have played Batman up to that point (before the franchise was rebooted with Batman Begins) he felt that Val Kilmer had given the best interpretation.
• William Baldwin was reported to be considered for the role of Batman. Other names considered for the part before Val Kilmer was cast included Daniel Day-Lewis, Kurt Russell, Alec Baldwin, Ethan Hawke, Ralph Fiennes, Tom Hanks and Johnny Depp.
• When left at Wayne Manor, Grayson informs Wayne that he is leaving. To this, Bruce replies that the circus would be halfway to Metropolis, which is the city of Superman.
• Joel Schumacher's decision to put nipples and enlarged codpieces on the Bat-costumes, which Tim Burton didn't like that idea, as well as an earring on Robin caused controversy - it even bothered Batman creator Bob Kane. Schumacher said he wanted the costumes to have an anatomic look, while the earring was supposed to make Robin more hip. He also claimed that the basis for the Batman and Robin suits came from statues of the gods of ancient Greece.
• Jim Carrey's original idea - to shave a question mark into his scalp - had to be scotched as he was due in court to finalize his divorce.
• So heavy was his Batsuit, Val Kilmer lost 5lbs filming the opening fight scene alone.
• Before Chris O'Donnell was ultimately cast, Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jude Law, Ewan McGregor, Corey Haim, Corey Feldman, Toby Stephens, and Scott Speedman had all been considered for the role of Robin at some point.
• Val Kilmer and Tommy Lee Jones appeared together again in The Missing, which also featured subsequent Two-Face Aaron Eckhart.
• Val Kilmer learned he was the new Batman while he was literally in a bat cave in Africa, doing research for The Ghost and the Darkness He accepted the role without reading the script.
• Will Shortz, "puzzlemaster" on National Public Radio and editor of the NY Times crossword puzzle, created the Riddler's riddles.
• Joel Schumacher wanted Michael Keaton come back as Batman/Bruce Wayne, since Lee and Janet Scott Batchler wrote the character with Keaton in mind. But Keaton left the role for two reasons: one was due to a salary dispute at the time, and the other was due to creative differences.
• This film marks the first appearance of Arkham Asylum in a live action Batman film.
• In early drafts of the film, Riddler's real name was Lyle Heckendorf instead of Edward Nigma and his rival company was called HeckTech instead of NygmaTech. A scene in the early drafts that didn't make it into the final film featured Lyle stalking Bruce at the circus and stealing the clothes of a performing circus leprechaun. The leprechaun suit then formed the basis for the Riddler outfit. That idea came from Joel Schumacher when he asked Robin Williams to play The Riddler, since Lee and Janet Scott Batchler wrote it for Williams' comedic delivery, before Jim Carrey was cast.
• Tommy Lee Jones was Joel Schumacher's first choice for the role of Two-Face after working with him in The Client (1994). Jones accepted the role because his son Austin, 11 at the time, said Two-Face was his favorite character.
• When The Riddler is in Two-Face's hideout demonstrating how "The Box" works, he says, "This is my brain on the box, does anyone else feel like a fried egg?". This is a spoof on an Anti-Drug commercial, which demonstrated what your brain would do when it is on drugs, by using an egg and a hot frying pan.
• Joel Schumacher cast Jim Carrey because Schumacher and Warner Bros. felt that he was perfect for the part following the success of Ace Ventura: Pet Detective.
• Mark Wahlberg was considered for the role of Robin.
• Nicole Kidman was actually naked and using the sheets to cover her body in the scene where Batman visits Chase on her balcony at night.
• Dick Grayson suggests "Nightwing" for a hero name. This was the name Dick Grayson took when he "grew up" in the comic books.
• Doctor Burton is named after Tim Burton, whom is credited as producer.
• Robin's costume is not the classic costume of the comics that Dick Grayson wore, but it is based on the costume worn by the third Robin, Tim Drake. This costume was introduced in 1990, and it is rumored that Tim Burton had a hand in designing it.
• Joel Schumacher asked Leonardo DiCaprio to play Robin in Batman Forever, but turned the role down, due to scheduling conflicts with The Basketball Diaries, and instead, cast Chris O'Donnell as Robin.
• Before appearing in this film, Nicole Kidman appeared in My Life (1993) opposite previous Batman Michael Keaton. She has since worked with all the subsequent live-action Batmans: George Clooney in The Peacemaker (1997), and Christian Bale in The Portrait of a Lady (1996). In Rabbit Hole (2010) she works with subsequent Two-Face actor Aaron Eckhart, and in Bewitched (2005) she works with Michael Caine, who also played Alfred the same year in Batman Begins.
• Prior to taking the name Riddler, one of the names Edward Nigma considered for his villain persona was The Puzzler. The Puzzler was the name of a Superman villain, who was also used in place of The Riddler in an episode of the Batman TV series.
• First appearance of Robin in the Warner Bros.' series of Batman films. He was featured in early drafts of the previous films Batman (1989), to be played by Kiefer Sutherland, and Batman Returns (1992) to be played by Marlon Wayans, which were directed by Tim Burton, but several rewrites to the script of those films led his inclusion to be dropped because Burton felt that Robin's presence didn't fit the dark tone of those films.
• Sandra Bullock and Cindy Crawford were considered for the role of Dr. Chase Meridian.
• When Warner Bros. wanted a love interest for Batman, Lee and Janet Scott Batchler created Dr. Chase Meridian for the film, and Joel Schumacher originally cast Rene Russo as Chase when Schumacher wanted Michael Keaton to come back as Batman. When Val Kilmer was cast, Schumacher chose Nicole Kidman as Chase.
• Dick Grayson/Robin and Edward Nygma/The Riddler never actually met during the film. The closest they get to meeting is when Batman sees Robin trapped with Chase Meridian in the Riddler's lair. Only Robin actually meets Two-Face, whereas Batman met with both villains through the film.
• Jim Carrey helped design a lot of his costumes.
• After seeing him in this film, record producer George Martin approached Jim Carrey about performing the song "I am the Walrus" for his The Beatles tribute album "In My Life". Carrey accepted.
• Director Joel Schumacher wanted Nicole Kidman to play Poison Ivy, but he decided that Ivy, Two-Face and The Riddler would be too many villains for Batman. Ivy (played by Uma Thurman) was saved for Batman & Robin (1997).
• First live action appearance of Harvey Dent/Two-Face in disfigured form. He was supposed to appear as a villain in the TV show Batman (1966), reimagined as a news anchor who was disfigured when a television set exploded in his face, but the character didn't appear in the series, and Clint Eastwood expressed an interest for the role. Early drafts of Batman Returns (1992) featured Harvey Dent in the film (with Billy Dee Williams reprising his role from Batman (1989)), and where he gets into an accident caused by The Red Triangle Circus, and at the end where he's in Gotham General Hospital, flipping a coin.
• More than 100 Batman and Robin costumes were created to allow for the range of stunts, from underwater scenes to scenes involving fire and extreme fighting.
• Unlike most characters on the film, Dr. Chase Meridian, played by Nicole Kidman doesn't exist in Batman or another DC Comics' series. She was created by story writers Lee Batchler and Janet Scott Batchler.
• According to Mark Hamill, Joel Schumacher watched the episode "Trial of the Trickster" from The Flash (1990) repeatedly for inspiration.
• Elizabeth Sanders, who plays Gossip Gerty, is the widow of Bob Kane, the man who created the Batman character.
• Olympic gymnast Mitchell Gaylord was a stunt double for Chris O'Donnell.
• The first part of the film was edited extensively to begin with an action sequence. The DVD features the original opening scene, Two-Face's escape from Arkham Asylum. This was to lead to Bruce Wayne's visit to his business offices, and the Bat-signal he saw there was meant to lead him to leave the office in order to suit up for the fight at the bank. This was followed by Nygma's experiment on Stickley. Batman's meeting with Chase at the Bat-signal was actually much later in the film, just before the scene where the Batmobile scales the side of the apartment building. Chase's reference to Two-Face's coin at the bank was originally a reference to the Circus. This original sequence of the first part of the film is featured in the comic book adaptation as well as in the tie-in novelization.
• In Canada, the French version of the Riddler's name is Le Sphinx.
• Tommy Lee Jones who plays Two-Face/Harvey Dent in this film, also later appeared as Colonel Phillips in Captain America: The First Avenger (2011). Both Captain America and Batman faced off in the Marvel vs. DC crossover in 1996.
• The scratches on the tails side of Two-Face's coin form the letters HD, the initials of Harvey Dent, Two-Face's former identity.
• Chris O'Donnell's sister can be seen directly behind him in the party scene where Robin is first introduced to the public.
• Rene Russo was originally cast to play Dr. Chase Meridian when Michael Keaton was still attached to the project as Batman. However, when Keaton dropped out of the project and was replaced by Val Kilmer, Russo was deemed too old to play his love interest and was replaced by Nicole Kidman.
• The exterior set for Two-Face's hideout is the same set used in the first disappearance of Max Schreck (Christopher Walken) in Batman Returns (1992).
• Actors Kimberly Scott (Bruce's assistant) and Michael Paul Chan (a worker at Wayne Enterprises) came back for Batman & Robin (1997), but in different roles, playing scientists at the Gotham Observatory. Joel Schumacher frequently uses them in his movies.
• Michael Keaton was asking for $15 million and a share in the profits to return to play Batman for the third time, but he never liked the idea of Batman with a bigger role at the time, and Joel Schumacher thought that he was making with Keaton before making it with Val Kilmer.
• First Batman film of the Warner Bros.' series not to be scored by Danny Elfman. In addition, the first film to feature original songs performed by multiple artists. The trailers for this film and Batman & Robin (1997) feature Elfman's score from Batman (1989) and Batman Returns (1992).
• In the comic books, the names of Dick Grayson's deceased parents were traditionally John and Mary Grayson. In this film, however, they are not identified by name.
• The first name of Dick Grayson's brother in the film is Mitchell, but in the original script it was Chris.
• The design of the Flying Graysons' costumes mirror the red, yellow and green spandex that Robin wore in the 1990s comic books.
• After the Batmobile rides up the wall to escape from Two-Face, there was going to be a car chase on the rooftops of Gotham. Due to time and money constraints, this idea was scrapped and used in the next film, Batman & Robin (1997).
• Early concepts of the final showdown on Claw Island had a huge, muscled, Riddler sitting on his throne when Batman finds him. The Riddler twists the two skulls on his armrests and the Riddler's muscled body is revealed to be a shell which splits in two, from which the real Riddler (wearing his white and green jumpsuit) steps out. This description made it into the junior novelization of the movie by Alan Grant, and was also featured in the video game based on the movie.
• Joel Schumacher had asked Bono of U2 to reprise his role of Macphisto that he played during the band's ZOOTV tour, but Bono denied, saying that when ZOOTV ended so did Macphisto, so instead U2 contributed the song "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me" to the soundtrack.
• Nicole Kidman was previously considered for the role of Catwoman in Batman Returns (1992) before Michelle Pfeiffer was cast.
• 25 minutes of the film were digitally color corrected at 2K resolution - a very early example of digital grading for motion pictures.
• Tommy Lee Jones's make-up took 4 hours to apply.
• The only movie in the series (Burton, Schumacher or Nolan) where Batman has to swim in his Batsuit.
• Exterior scenes of Wayne Manor were filmed at the Webb Institute of Naval Architecture on Long Island, NY. The production team had to change the school's "W" on the entrance gate because it had an anchor behind it.
• According to Entertainment Weekly, Jeanne Tripplehorn and Linda Hamilton were considered for the role of Dr. Chase Meridian. Robin Wright was also considered for the role.
• In the original script, Two-Face's female thugs Sugar and Spice were known as "Lace" and "Leather" respectively.
• Jenny McCarthy turned down the role of Sugar.
• The Robin costume weighed 41 lbs.Scott Shaw was offered the role of the Gang Leader.
• Cameo
  • En Vogue:  The legendary R&B group appear as street walkers who appear after Dick steals the Batmobile and takes it for a joyride.
• Robin's origin in the movie has elements of all three comic Robins' origins. The first Robin Dick Grayson's parents are acrobats and are murdered (though not by Two-Face). The second Robin, Jason Todd, is caught stealing the wheels off the Batmobile, much like in the movie when Robin takes the Batmobile for a joyride, and Jason Todd's father is killed by Two-Face. Tim Drake, the Third Robin, discovers Bruce Wayne's secret identity as does the movie Robin, but Tim Drake does it using his skills as a detective, unlike movie Robin.
• Batman only kills one character in this film (Two-Face). Also he doesn't have any major fight scenes with any of the villains in this film. Robin, however, is seen fighting Two-Face during the climax.
• The movie was going to be shot in Cincinnati, using the old subway tunnel. The exterior of the Gotham City Hippodrome (the arena where Dick Grayson's family is killed) is based on the exterior of Union Terminal, a famous 1930's Art Deco train station in Cincinnati.
• The Hippodome (which housed the circus where Robin's family was killed) was based on Cincinnati's Union Terminal. This same building also served as the model for the Hall of Justice in the Super Friends (1973) cartoon, which featured animated renditions of Batman and Robin.