Magazine Article: Starlog #240 - Part 2

The second part of Starlog 240's coverage is an interview with director Joel Schumacher who tries to be diplomatic about the change of Batman star from Val Kilmer to George Clooney. 

The end of the article has some interesting notes that Mark Protosevich had already been assigned the job of writing Batman 5 before Batman & Robin opened. I believe this script (which fans tend to refer to as Batman Triumphant) has never been leaked and may not have even been finished which is a shame because it would have been fascinating to see where Joel would have gone with another Batman film. Supposedly Man Bat and Scarecrow were going to be featured.

Magazine Article: Starlog #240 - Part 1

Back to Starlog magazine this week - an interview with production designer Barbara Ling along with a treasure trove of concept art - even a couple of early sleeker versions of the Batmobile (before toy manufacturer Kenner gave their input).

Magazine Article: Film Review magazine - May 1997

This week we've got a couple of articles from Film Review magazine (yup that's the title) that came out in May 1997. At the time very little was known about the film other than the trailer and some stills.

Some interesting bit to note. The first article suggests that Patrick Stewart was never considered to play Mr Freeze - it was purely a bit of "fan casting". However X-Files actor David Duchovny did do a screen test to play Batman (going so far as to try on the suit). Another bit of gossip that the article includes is the speculation that Michelle Pfeiffer would might have a cameo as Catwoman - which is the first and only time I've heard this.

The second article is an interview with George Clooney who is charmingly self deprecating about taking on the role of Batman from Val Kilmer. Reading these interviews now is a little bit of case of spot the awkward quote. In this interview George says he's hoping that he won't be "the first one to screw [Batman] up." 

Magazine Article - Starlog #239 - June 1997

 This time we're with Starlog with an in-depth interview with producer Peter MacGregor-Scott who talks through the production while they were filming. Interesting to note that he acknowledges that the film is lighter but insists that it isn't "Adam West Batman." I don't know Peter.

Magazine Article - Empire #97 - July 1997

Next up we've got a big spread of articles and interviews with UK film magazine Empire. Once again Chris O'Donnell gets a big interview to himself. 

 

Magazine Article - Empire #96 - June 1997

Hello and welcome to the first proper post for www.1997batman.com

Just to warn you things will be a little slower around here than www.1995batman.com and it'll take a while before I get around to any videos here.

Let's kick off things with - appropriately - issue 96 of Empire magazine that previews the then forthcoming Batman & Robin. Note the now dated references to George Clooney signing up to "two further Bat pictures", Joel "already signed up to formulate episode five" and the movie being "one of summer's surest things."

 Whoops.