Michael Biehn Reveals He Almost Played Batman in Tim Burton’s Classic 1989 Film But Didn’t Care About the Role at All: “everybody who’s ever played Batman has always bitched and moaned and groaned”

The 1989 ‘Batman’ movie, directed by Tim Burton, follows Bruce Wayne as he becomes the vigilante Batman to fight crime in Gotham City. The film stars Michael Keaton as Batman and Jack Nicholson as the Joker, offering a dark, stylish take on the superhero, which became a major success and influenced future comic book films.

Before Keaton however became a beloved version of the character, there has been a lot of controversy surrounding his casting. Many actors were considered for the role of Batman before Michael Keaton was chosen. His casting was controversial because, by 1988, he was mostly known for comedy, and people doubted he could play a serious role.

Now Michael Biehn best known for his roles in ‘Aliens’ and ‘Terminator’ revealed he was also strongly considered for the role.

In a recent Just Foolin’ Around podcast episode, actor Michael Biehn shared that he had two meetings with Tim Burton about playing Batman in the first movie. Burton was considering two options: Biehn as Batman with Robin Williams as the Joker, or Keaton and Jack Nicholson, who were eventually cast.

I went in and met Tim Burton, over at Warner Brothers, and back in those days they were just meetings. They weren’t auditions. I would just go in and meet. But I was very good at […] telling people how good I was going to be in this role and how I was going to play it.

And I was going to do this and I was going to do that, and sometimes some of the dialogue would slip in ya know. I’ve done that many many times. So I did that with Tim Burton. Tim Burton I guess liked me quite a bit. […] This was for Batman, this was for the original Batman.

So Tim Burton, had me in again and it was an important enough meeting that Limato [Biehn’s agent] came with me. Ed Limato came over there with me at Warner Brothers. We sat and we talked to Tim Burton for about an hour, and of course, he ended up casting Michael Keaton in that role and Jack Nicholson.

But Limato told me that he had two choices and it was either that choice or me and Robin Williams. Robin Williams [would] play the Joker. And that he [Burton] was making up his mind about that.

The host then praised this potential team-up between Biehn and Williams, saying that the combo would be unbeatable. Biehn however tells him that he didn’t care about the role at all.

I didn’t know who Tim Burton was. I didn’t fucking […] Batman, I didn’t care. You know, I just went on to the next thing. It seems like everybody who’s ever played Batman has always bitched and moaned and groaned about how fucking difficult it was to play Batman and the suit and the whole thing.

Although THE Batman you know the movie THE Batman, did you see it? I fucking love that movie. I thought that was extremely extremely well done, I like that one a lot.

You can check out the actor’s statement below:

The 1989 ‘Batman’ movie got mostly positive reviews, though some critics thought it was too dark. Many praised the film’s unique style, production design, and Jack Nicholson’s performance as the Joker, but others felt the story and focus on Batman were lacking.

Fans had mixed reactions to creative changes like the Joker killing Batman’s parents, and while the music by Prince was criticized, Michael Keaton’s portrayal of Batman won over audiences.

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