Matt Reeves and Robert Pattinson have justified DC’s most famous character Bruce Wayne in The Batman. Even with so many doubts surrounding Pattinson’s portrayal of the character, the movie is nothing short of a gem. And of course, Matt Reeves’s vision and his treatment of Gotham is adored by the audience. But let’s take our steps back to a few decades when Tim Burton worked with Michael Keaton and Jack Nicholson in 1989 for Batman. The movie was a critical success without a doubt. However, it is now revealed that WB had plans of working with the late Ivan Reitman for the movie. Bill Murray and Eddie Murphy were both approached for the movie but it didn’t happen. Murray has now spoken on the matter. Check it out!
Ivan Reitman Approached Bill Murray For Batman
The news of Ivan Reitman, who passed away on February 12, 2022, directing Batman comes as a surprise. But what’s even more interesting is that the Ghostbusters II director had plans of roping in Bill Murray for the lead role. You might think, why didn’t it work out? Recently speaking to Yahoo! Entertainment, Murray revealed why it never happened. Check it out:
“I talked to Eddie Murphy about it, and Eddie wanted to play Batman. That’s as far as that conversation went.”
Be it out of respect or some other angle, Murray simply rejected the role because Eddie Murphy too was interested in it. While he left this role, he was again approached for the role of Robin the Boy Wonder. However, he rejected that too claiming that the role came to him too later in his career. He continued:
“I don’t wanna be the Boy Wonder to anybody. Maybe much earlier when I was a boy. But it was too late for that by the 80s. I couldn’t do the outfit. Eddie looks good in purple, and I look good in purple. In red and green, I look like one of Santa’s elves! There was just a lot of vanity involved in the production. It wasn’t gonna happen!”
The reasons for WB letting go of Ivan are still a mystery. But Burton, Keaton, and Nicholson came together to give one of the most successful movies of 1989. Keaton as Batman was such a success that he is reprising his role once again in The Flash as DC explores the Flashpoint storyline. What do you think of Bill Murray as Batman?
