Michael Keaton says he hasn't watched 'an entire' comic-book movie since his own 1989 'Batman' film
- Michael Keaton hasn't seen an "entire" comic-book film since 1989.
- The actor told THR that he didn't keep with the genre after starring in Tim Burton's "Batman" films.
- "I just never got around to it," he said.
Michael Keaton did not keep up with Hollywood's growing collection of comic-book franchises after he suited up as the popular Caped Crusader in Tim Burton's 1989 blockbuster "Batman," according to a new profile in The Hollywood Reporter.
"After the first 'Batman,' I'm not sure I've ever seen an entire [comic book] movie," Keaton, who is reprising his role as Batman in DC's upcoming "The Flash" film, told the publication. "I just never got around to it. So you're talking to a guy who wasn't in the zeitgeist of that whole world."
Keaton, who has since also starred in Marvel's "Spider-Man: Homecoming," said that he was surprised by the scale of that studio's productions when he traveled to its primary production base in Atlanta, Georgia.
"When I went down to do the Marvel things in Atlanta... It's an entire city dedicated to Marvel," he said. "They'll be doing Marvel movies forever. I'll be dead, and they'll still be doing Marvel movies."
Later in the interview, while speaking about reprising the role of Batman in DC's "Flash" standalone film, Keaton said: "Frankly, in the back of my head, I always thought, 'I bet I could go back and nail that motherf-----.' And so I thought, 'Well, now that they're asking me, let me see if I can pull that off.'"
Keaton added that he had been impressed by the "Flash" script, which was written by "Birds of Prey" writer Christina Hodson, but he had to read it several times to wrap his head around the multiverse narrative.
"I had to read it more than three times to go, 'Wait, how does this work?'" he said. "They had to explain that to me several times. By the way, I'm not being arrogant, I hope, about this. I don't say it like, 'I'm too groovy.' I'm stupid. There's a lot of things I don't know about. And so, I don't know, I just kind of figured it out, but this was different."
Keaton's last appearance as Bruce Wayne was in Tim Burton's 1992 "Batman Returns," and the 69-year-old told THR that returning to the world of Gotham gave him a new perspective on the character.
"What's really interesting is how much more I got [Batman] when I went back and did him," he said. "I get this on a whole other level now. I totally respect it. I respect what people are trying to make."
He added: "I never looked at it like, 'Oh, this is just a silly thing.' It was not a silly thing when I did 'Batman.' But it has become a giant thing, culturally. It's iconic. So I have even more respect for it because what do I know? This is a big deal in the world to people. You've got to honor that and be respectful of that."