Director Tim Burton is opening up about his rift with Warner Bros. amid the “Batman Returns” 30th anniversary.
During a recent interview with Empire magazine, the fantasy and gothic visionary ripped the entertainment company that had replaced him for the third film after declaring “Batman Returns” was “too dark.”
Despite the 1992 movie’s popularity, Warner Bros. decided to nix Burton from directing any more movies about the caped crusader and swapped him with Joel Schumacher for “Batman Forever” and “Batman & Robin.”
“They went the other way,” said Burton. “That’s the funny thing about it. But then I was like, ‘Wait a minute. Okay. Hold on a second here. You complain about me, I’m too weird, I’m too dark, and then you put nipples on the costume? Go fuck yourself.’ Seriously. So, yeah, I think that’s why I didn’t end up” doing a third film.
Nodding to the newest installment of the franchise, this year’s edgy rendition of Gotham’s protector from Matt Reeves, “The Batman” demonstrated just how deranged the character could get.
Burton pointed out the irony of the latest film, telling Empire: “It is funny to see this now, because all these memories come back of, ‘It’s too dark,’ So, it makes me laugh a little bit.”
Even though “Batman Returns” has its share of ballsy moments (exploding penguins and latex galore), Burton said he appreciates the film beyond just the darkness it’s been popularized for.
“I’m not just overly dark. That represents me in the sense that… that’s how I see things. It’s not meant as pure darkness. There’s a mixture,” he said.
“I feel really fondly about it because of the weird experiment that it felt like.”
Revisit the “Batman Returns” trailer below.