Joel Schumacher Apologizes for ‘Batman and Robin’

Twenty years after the release of Batman and Robin, its director Joel Schumacher has decided share his regrets about the film, which includes an apology to all those disappointed by it. “Look, I apologize. I want to apologize to every fan that was disappointed because I think I owe them that.” Schumacher went on to explain that following Batman Forever, he never wanted to do a follow-up film, but gave in due to hubris and pressure from Warner Brothers.

“You know, I just knew not to do a sequel. If you get lucky, walk away. But everybody at Warner Brothers just expected me to do one. Maybe it was some hubris on my part. I had a batting average of 1,000, so I went from falling down a bit after Lost Boys, to a kind of genius with The Client, a big blockbuster with Batman Forever, then had great reviews with A Time to Kill, so my batting average was good. I never planned on being, that dreadful quote “a blockbuster king” because my other films were much smaller and had just found success with the audience and not often with the critics, which is really why we wrote them. And then after Batman and Robin, I was scum. It was like I had murdered a baby.”

Schumacher also addressed the infamous “Bat Nipples”, which were intended to imitate the nude Greek statues:

“[The costume] was made by Jose Fernandez, who was our brilliant lead sculpture. If you look at Batman and Batman Returns, it was the genius Bob Ringwood that created those suits, so by the time we got to Batman Forever, the rubber and techniques had gotten so sophisticated. If you look at when Michael Keaton appears in the first suit, you’ll notice how large it is. It was brilliant but the best they could do at the time. 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 statues and those incredible anatomical drawings you see in medical books. He did the nipples and when I looked at them, I thought, that’s cool.”

Although he apologized for the film, Schumacher surprisingly does not regret the Bips (Bat Nips) and didn’t know it would still haunt him years later. “I really never thought that would happen. I really didn’t. Maybe I was just naive, but I’m still glad we did it.” He may not regret the Bips but Clooney certainly does. Back at New York Comic Con in 2014, the actor gave his own apology for Batman and Robin, saying, “I think since Batman that I’ve been disinvited from Comic Con for 20 years. I see the comments section on all you guys. I just met Adam West and I apologized to him. Sorry about the nipples on the suit. Freeze, freeze, I apologize for that.”

Source: Slash Film

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