Michael Keaton Gets Very Real About Playing Batman in the Canceled Batgirl Movie

You wanna get nuts? Then ask Michael Keaton a question about a controversial topic, and he’ll get nuts.

That’s what GQ discovered when they profiled Keaton in advance of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. The magazine asked Keaton to weigh in on Batgirl, for which he returned as Batman. Even though the movie was almost finished, Warner Bros. decided to shelve it, electing for a tax break instead of completing and releasing the movie. The move outraged anyone who wants a long-running studio like Warner Bros to continue putting out movies. But not Keaton.

“I didn’t care one way or another,” Keaton admitted to GQ. “Big, fun, nice check.” To be clear, Keaton’s only talking for himself, not for any of the up-and-comers who were set back by Warner’s decision. Batgirl starred singer-turned-actor Leslie Grace as Barbara Gordon and was directed by Belgian filmmakers Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah.

“I like those boys. They’re nice guys,” he said of El Arbi and Fallah. “I pull for them. I want them to succeed, and I think they felt very badly, and that made me feel bad.”

Fortunately, things seem to be going well for the directing duo these days. They earned plenty of praise for the episodes of Ms. Marvel they helmed and for their last two films, Bad Boys 4 Life and Bad Boys: Ride or Die. Same for Brendan Fraser, who got the role of bad guy Firefly as part of his comeback, which culminated with a Best Actor Oscar for The Whale. Grace hasn’t enjoyed quite the same high-profile success, but she did star in the Sundance winner In the Summers and appears alongside Peter Dinklage in the Western The Thicket later this year.

“Me?” Keaton said when asked about himself. “I’m good.”

Batgirl was just one of several films slated to feature Keaton’s Batman. As part of the DCEU shake-up before James Gunn and Peter Safran took over, producers planned on Keaton’s Batman taking a central role in the universe, something akin to Nick Fury in the MCU. In addition to mentoring Batgirl in her title movie, Keaton reportedly shot scenes for Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, which saw him keeping tabs on the hero portrayed by Jason Momoa.

Keaton’s Batman did of course make it back to the screen in The Flash, where Barry Allen’s time-travel shenanigans. Originally, that movie was to end with Keaton’s Batman taking the place of Ben Affleck’s version. Instead, the finished version closed with a totally different Batman in the universe, effectively closing out Keaton’s time in the tights.

Others might be disappointed, but Keaton’s used to resistance when it comes to Batman. After all, fans were outraged when the wiry comedian was cast as Bruce Wayne for the 1989 film. That experience helped Keaton take even the Batgirl cancelation in stride.

“I’m nothing but only respectful and grateful, 100%,” said Keaton. “And proud of it actually, because I like to prove everybody wrong. It’s fun for me.” Maybe he’s not so nuts after all.