Michael Keaton Would Play Batman Again!

During the promotional tour for his upcoming meta superhero film Birdman, former onscreen Batman Michael Keaton was asked whether or not he would ever don the cape and cowl again:

"If it was Tim Burton directing? In a heartbeat."

That’s a bold statement. Considering the quality of Burton’s work over the second half of his career, I don’t think I’d want him to touch a Batman flick with a ten foot pole. Batman 1989 was a game changer and ushered in our current era of superhero films, but Tim Burton jumped the shark a long time ago.

Speaking of the current era of the genre, Keaton was also asked his opinion of both the Nolan films and Ben Affleck’s potential as the Dark Knight;

"Chris Nolan is great, but I’ve never seen any of the Batman movies all the way through. I know they’re good. I just have zero interest in those kinds of movies.I mean, people are asking me, ‘Is Ben Affleck going to be any good?’ And my attitude is, First of all, why would you ask me? Second, he’s probably going to be very good, and third, frankly, it’s all set up now so that you’re weirdly kind of safe. Once you get in those suits, they really know what to do with you. It was hard then; it ain’t that hard now."

I dunno if I’d say that to Affleck directly, but if anyone would know, it’d be Keaton.