Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice 2 is shut down by the strikes. Production has halted in London. So he’s headed for the South Of France and is editing what he has already shot, ready to return and finish up the moment a deal is made. While he was doing this, to took part in a Zoom call with the UK’s BFI and, inevitably, he talked about Batman and his ill-fated Superman Lives project.
Most recently, elements of both of these turned up in Andy Muschietti’s The Flash, a now notorious flop this past summer for Warner Bros. Pictures. Keaton as Batman had a major supporting role, and Cage’s Superman had a fun Easter Egg in the Chronobowl scene.
When he was asked about Superman Lives, he said he had no regrets:
“No, I don’t have regrets. I will say this: when you work that long on a project and it doesn’t happen, it affects you for the rest of your life. Because you get passionate about things, and each thing is an unknown journey, and it wasn’t there yet. But it’s one of those experiences that never leaves you, a little bit.
Then he went on to say something really interesting:
“But also it goes into another AI thing, and this is why I think I’m over it with the studio. They can take what you did, Batman or whatever, and culturally misappropriate it, or whatever you want to call it. Even though you’re a slave of Disney or Warner Brothers, they can do whatever they want. So in my latter years of life, I’m in quiet revolt against all this.”
Is he talking about his Batman being reproduced in The Flash, and his Superman being rendered in CGI, complete with Jon Peters’ giant spider? It sure sounds like it.
The Flash is now streaming on Max, and I am going to stick my neck out and say it’s a fun movie.
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