History of the Batman Portrayals - Part 2

[CBR News]

With "The Dark Knight Rises" ending Christopher Nolan's Batman film trilogy, Alan Kistler finishes examining the actors who have portrayed Batman in film, television, and radio.


Full article here.

[AirDave]

Great story! Kevin Conroy seems to have "played" Batman the longest. Nearly as identifiable as Batman as Adam West for a generation. I hope The Man of Steel is DC's opportunity to launch a live-action Justice League franchise. I think it is time they took a page from the Marvel/Disney bible. Superman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman films leading up to Justice League; with The Flash, Martian Manhunter or Cyborg spinning out with Green Lantern and Batman reboot films.

[MrPalen]

This is a really nice write-up of the various ways Batman has been done. However, it seems a bit mixed up as to who is responsible for making the decisions about Batman's portrayal. Each section is headlined by the actor playing Batman, and is written almost as though the actor were also the writer, director, and producer.

Schumacher decided the hero should "get over" the trauma of his parents' murder and become a well-adjusted, "more heroic" figure. While Keaton's Bruce Wayne (and the mainstream comic book version) remembered the death of his parents quite clearly, Kilmer's incarnation had repressed memories of the event and was subconsciously driven by guilt he didn't fully understand.

While you talk about Schumacher making the decision, it's quite misleading to say "Keaton's Bruce Wayne... remembered the death of his parents" and "Kilmer's incarnation had repressed memories of the event". Keaton had nothing at all to do with his character remembering the death of his parents, and likewise Kilmer had nothing to do with his character having repressed memories. This is from the script.

Kilmer's Batman was less ruthless than Keaton's. He knocked out thugs and tasered them rather than dropping bombs in front of them or letting them fall several stories. He even made rare attempts at humor, such as when confronted by the forward Dr. Chase Meridian (Nicole Kidman) and remarked, "It's the car, right? Chicks dig the car."

After the first sentence, I was expecting to read something about the different acting styles of Keaton and Kilmer. But no, it's more stuff that has absolutely nothing to do with the actors. Do you think Kilmer wrote the script, deciding whether to use a taser or a bomb, and wrote the line about the car?

The article is full of stuff like this. There is very very little in the entire article that talks about what the actors actually do control - their acting. Instead it's mostly about production, direction, and script decisions. All of that is great, and well worth reading about. But if that's the article you want to write, it should be written with an awareness of that. Rather than saying "Kilmer's Batman was less ruthless than Keaton's" you should say "Schumacher's Batman was less ruthless than Burton's" because that's actually what you're providing evidence for.