Tim Burton's Batman (1989): 30 Years Later (VIDEO SCRIPT)

I wanna talk about Batman

/Batman was an action adventure film released in theaters on June 23rd 1989, based on the character of the same name published by DC Comics. It tells the story of Bruce Wayne, a billionaire philanthropist and playboy who for a few years has been taking on the identity of the vigilante to fight crime in Gotham City. Then when the right hand to the mob boss Carl Grisham Jack Napier appears, he’s disfigured and falls into a vat of chemicals during their first interaction with each other. He becomes the infamous Joker, and Batman now has to stop him from killing everyone in Gotham City, while also finding out that these two devils have been dancing in the pale moon light for longer than they realized.

Oh, and Vicki Vale’s there too, I guess.../

As of June 23rd, Tim Burton’s first Batman movie is now officially 30 years old.

Yet despite it not being my immediate favorite of the ones he directed, I’d be lying if I said that this movie didn’t leave an impact on me at all, because it TOTALLY did.

I’m talking acting. I’m talking story. I’m talking music. I’m talking becoming my gateway into the superhero genre and comic books overall.

So if you would allow me, for however long this video is going to be...

I would like to share with you all why those aforementioned portions of the movie matter so much to me, and how it still continues to be a strong staple in my life.

Michael Keaton’s Batman

I was born on July 29th, 1988. Tim Burton’s Batman came out almost a year prior. I was either 2 or 3 years old when I saw it for the first time.

Not in the movie theater, because my parents knew better than to take a small child with no grasp on the concept of when and when not to be quiet to a movie theater filled with people trying to watch something uninterrupted.

Instead, it was in the comfort of my childhood home, after my dad and I picked up the movie from our local video rental place, literally down the street and around the corner.

/Tim Burton’s Batman was the first movie I ever remember watching and introduced me to the concept of stories, acting, and characters in the most peculiar way, and it was all thanks to Michael Keaton’s portrayal of Batman./

For me at that age, when I saw Michael Keaton as Bruce Wayne and Batman, he wasn’t Michael Keaton -- I didn’t even know who that dude was -- he was Bruce Wayne.

/Even in other movies with Keaton in them that were in NO WAY shape or form related to Batman, he was Bruce Wayne.

Y’know, until he wasn’t (Val Kilmer Smile)./

Once I got older and properly learned the difference between actors and the characters they portrayed, I gained a whole new respect for the medium. Especially after looking at Michael Keaton growing up.

/Michael Keaton as Bruce Wayne and Batman knew when to be focused (but he’s out there right now), when to be serious (but right now, shut up), and knew when to be intimidating (I’m Batman)./

Michael Keaton as Michael Keaton on the other hand, was COMPLETELY different in the late 80s early 90s.

/He was full of energy, had a very contagious energy about him; was someone that you always wanted to hang out with. He was also Tom Holland before Tom Holland was Tom Holland/ (Michael Keaton David Letterman Footage).

/And as opposed to the intense physical transformations that Christian Bale and Ben Affleck underwent, the fact that Tim Burton cast Michael Keaton for the reasons that he did in my opinion really helped with not only the way he wanted Bruce and Batman depicted, but the overall direction he went with the movie./

(Tim Burton on Michael Keaton clip)

But yeah, I had already made up my mind after seeing Keaton’s performance as Batman at a young age that acting and showbiz in general was the industry I wanted to be in growing up.

But it took me seeing Bruce Wayne and Batman transitioning from Michael Keaton into Val Kilmer in Batman Forever for me to properly separate the actors from the characters.

And it’s because it took me such a long time for me to come to that realization thanks to Michael Keaton’s performance, I can now look at actors like Heath Ledger’s Joker, or Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn, and even Ryan Reynold’s Deadpool in the light of, “Wow. These performances are amazing. I wanna be on that level one day.”

Although, I do admit; it helps that the movie and the performances in it had not only good direction, but a good script as well.

Samm’s Take on Batman

/Batman was directed by Tim Burton and written by Sam Hamm, both protoge’s of at the time Warner Brothers studio executive Bonni Lee. Hamm was actually meeting with Lee to talk about a different project when he came across one of the first drafts for the Batman script written by Tom Mankiewicz, which was in a lengthy development phase because nobody knew what kind of direction to take the movie.

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.

Screenwriter Sam Hamm talks Batman 89 (INTERVIEW), Comics Alliance, 8/25/14

That take was one that I greatly appreciated, and one that actually inspired me to utilize in my own writing projects once I realized that there’s no REAL wrong way to tell a story.

The take in question; starting Batman off somewhat established and using JOKER’S origin as the focus, while building up to the mystery of having Vicki Vale discover that Bruce and Batman are one in the same person. It’s a take that both Sam and Tim greatly appreciated.

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.

Screenwriter Sam Hamm talks Batman 89 (INTERVIEW), Comics Alliance, 8/25/14

(Tim Burton’s commentary on the take).

It also shares similarities with how Batman was initially introduced in Detective Comics issue 27.

While he did use a gun, and while he did kill, Batman already existed; he was already stalking criminals in the shadows. It wasn’t revealed to the audience that he WAS Bruce Wayne until the last panel of the story.

Slightly following this route in Batman 89, along the fact that works by Dennis O’Neil, with small bits and pieces of Frank Miller’s “The Dark Knight Returns” and Alan Moore’s “The Killing Joke” were sprinkled in the script for good measure, just made the movie...work. It made it work splendidly.

Just like the OTHER thing that worked was Danny Elfman’s score

Danny Elfman’s Batman

Just like John Williams established a quintessential theme for Superman eleven years prior, Danny Elfman did the same for Batman in 1989.

/All throughout the 90’s -- even during the early days of Batman: The Animated Series -- Danny Elfman’s Batman theme was so associated with the character that it was impossible and straight-up foolish to try and disassociate it. It was THEE Batman theme.

Y’know, until it wasn’t. (Schumacher Theme Song)/

While nowadays Tim Burton and Danny Elfman go together like Peanut and Jelly, the beginnings of that relationship were a bit more humble.

You see, the way Tim Burton found Danny Elfman was through his band Oingo Boingo, which he used to headline, and wanted him to score his first big picture as a director Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure.

He composed films in the past, prioritizing both his film and stage music careers equally, but Danny’s initial encounter with Tim was just as random as finding a Pikachu in Viridian Forest.

I had no idea who Tim was, of course. Nobody did. When I met him, it was like, “Why me? Why would you want me to do a score? That’s crazy.” Tim was like, “I don’t know. I’ve seen your band and I think you could do it.” It was kind of that simple.

Danny Elfman on Film Scores, ‘Simpsons’ and Working With Tim Burton, Rolling Stone, 06/29/15

After bonding over their love for sixties and seventies horror films, and then scoring Beetlejuice 3 years later, they pretty much became the director/composer duo we all see them as now.

I say that because for a lot of us fans in our thirties and younger, Batman 89 was the film that told us that film directors and film composers usually come as a pair.

We’ve since seen the trope played out multiple times with the likes of Chris Nolan and Hans Zimmer, Ryan Coogler and Ludwig Goransson.

/But in regards to Tim and Danny, Batman 89 wasn’t the film that started the trope. It was the film that SOLIDIFIED the trope. The irony there is that almost didn’t happen.

Nobody wanted me on the film except for Tim, and he was not a major director yet. The studio didn’t really want me, understandably. I’d never scored a big film. I’d never scored a dark film. I’d never scored action. I was the quirky comedy guy. I’m sure they would have been much happier if they could get a more experienced composer, John Williams or somebody.

Danny Elfman on Film Scores, ‘Simpsons’ and Working With Tim Burton, Rolling Stone, 06/29/15

You see, the funny bit about this is that even knowing that Warner Brothers had this preconceived idea about the type of music Danny was more suited for,

Just like a lot of individuals beforehand, his immediate knowledge of Batman was pretty much the Adam West show.

It wasn’t until Tim Burton gave him a copy of The Dark Knight Returns in order to get an understanding of the tone he was looking for that what we got in return came to fruition.

I wasn’t trying to come up with something that people would remember so much as something that fit the footage...I needed something heroic and simple. And in that simplicity you have building blocks. And you can use different building blocks and expand on them.

With the Batman theme, I just looked for something that had the components, that would be mysterious, that could be dark , that could also get fun, and can also have a driving heroism, too. Always keeping that dark side to it.

I don’t understand what makes Batman popular. I didn’t expect Batman to do really well when I was working on it. These things always surprise me. To me, they’re movies; they’re fun, they’re interesting. But what makes them a cultural phenomenon, I haven’t a clue.

Nocturnal Overtures: The Music of Batman

The way Danny Elfman was able to utilize said blocks to deliver a score that fit so well with the movie and become just as iconic as John Williams Superman score is something that to this day absolutely fascinates me.

But while Elfman’s work on Batman was just as important to me, there was another instance in the movie that set me down a path I didn’t know I needed to follow at the time.

/And it started the moment Joker entered the Gotham Museum, the double-hinged doors closed behind him and he said “Gentlemen! Let’s broaden our minds! Florence!”/

I didn’t know how much my life would change once they turned on that boom box. But I knew in one way shape or form, it would involve the artist known as...

Prince

Batman 89 was the first time I heard Prince’s music...ever.

/It was also the first time I was made aware of movie studios wanting to get popular bands and singers attached to big budget movies, as I would learn first hand from seeing Queen work on the music for the films Highlander and Flash Gordon./ (Electric Chair footage, w/Queen Flash & Highlander Album Art)

/It’s even utilized today with the most current example being Kendrick Lamar and the music for Marvel Studios’ Black Panther./ (Kendrick Lamar - All The Stars)

Prince and Danny Elfman also had this type of collaboration considering he was doing the theatrical score.

However, Elfman was pretty slow to the collab at first because he knew there would be conflict considering he already had a solid idea on what the score was going to be.

For a short period, I had to walk away from the film. I knew what the score should be, and I knew that collaborating with a pop artist – as much as I deeply respected him – would not yield good results. I had no security, the future was far from set, but I felt I had to take a stand. And I went through probably a month where I was as depressed as I’ve ever been about making wrong choices and what an idiot I was, and then they actually came back and said, “We need you on the film.” And I was like, “OK, I’m ready.”

Danny Elfman on Film Scores, ‘Simpsons’ and Working With Tim Burton, Rolling Stone, 06/29/15

Thankfully, they resolved whatever issues that they had, and we received two bodies of work that went pretty well together.

As a matter of fact, a lot of the songs Prince did that made it into the final cut of Batman felt properly place.

/From “The Future” in the first few scenes, the extended ending of “Vicki Waiting” and “Electric Chair” during Bruce Wayne’s fundraiser for Gotham’s Festival, the use of Partyman during Joker’s museum crash, the use of “Scandalous” as the prominent portion of Vicki Vale’s theme song, and of course, Trust./

I first heard Batdance when my older sisters took me to Pizza Hut as a kid, back when Pizza Hut was more of a dine-in experience than the take-out king it is now.

/There was a small juke box on our table, and the moment I saw the Batman logo, I didn’t care what song it was, I wanted to listen to it. Ever since then, I have paid more and more attention to the songs Prince performed in the movie with every rewatch, listened to them myself in their entirety and just...wanted more. From then, I found his discography and I’ve been a fan of his ever since./ (Batman Footage, Let’s Go Crazy, Call My Name)

Thanks to Tim Burton’s Batman, I found a black artist that dabbled in pop, rock, R&B, soul, take singing seriously

Made me want to pick up a guitar and learn to play, gave me the confidence to want to do things without constantly bring up the fact that I’m only 5’5” as a factor, considering he was able to accomplish so much only being 5’2”.

He did a lot for me growing up that I’ll forever be grateful for, and I wouldn’t have had such an immediate knowledge of him if it weren’t for the fact that he made music for the very first movie that I ever watched.

Which is why when he died on April 21, 2016, I was absolutely torn up about it.

I’ve never shed tears for the death of any artist or performer before. Not only was Prince the first and only performer to break that streak with me, but he was also the first that I’ve ever shed tears for, the same day I discovered about their passing.

Michael Keaton said it best when he was asked his thoughts on Prince upon his death in an interview with Variety:

I put him up there with Duke Ellington, Stevie Wonder, Miles [Davis] among the true greats. Some musicians had their moments. He had what seemed like centuries of being great. He was one of those people you just assume, ‘I am going to be watching what Prince does when he is 80, and it is going to be as good or better, and as innovative, as it is now.

Michael Keaton Remembers Prince, Compares Him to Duke Ellington, Stevie Wonder, Variety, 4/21/16

Conclusion

So for multiple reasons including me wanting to be an actor, introducing me to a new outlet in order to tell stories, establishing a theme for a whole generation of fans and even the movie being my gateway drug to the mind of Prince

Tim Burton’s 1989 Batman movie is...engraved in me.

The very thought of not growing up with this movie or having it later on in my development instead of the time that I did is unfathomable; there’d have to be some strong Butterfly Effect shit in order for me to think about how I would’ve turned out otherwise.

Which is why I’m glad that even at 30 years old, not only am I not the only person that feels this way, but outside of 1978’s Superman, it was one of the first instances that proved that superhero movies work.

The moment my dad found out that I was digging Batman by the time I was able to read, he drove me to my first comic book shop, and I just wanted to grab EVERYTHING related to him.

Back when K-Mart was a thing, Batman Returns Batman was taking photos with kids when that was out in theaters, and I made sure I was one of them.

The main reasons why I’m such a huge fan of DC Comics is because I watched Tim Burton’s Batman, followed by Richard Donner’s Superman, found out that they exist in the same universe and just read stories from there.

So I’m not exaggerating at all when I say that I owe a lot to this film as far as helping me be the person I am today.

And the fact that I’m not alone in this factoid upon the celebration of the 30th anniversary of its release, well...like Vicki Vale said at the end of the movie, “I’m not a bit surprised.”