Batman Returns - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts

[amber]

Susan Sarandon showed great interest in the role of Catwoman, but eventually opted to take a leading role in Lorenzo's Oil (1992), a role that was vacated by Michelle Pfeiffer.

[manuel]

Meryl Streep was briefly considered for the role of Catwoman, but Tim Burton rejected her because she was considered too old for the role.

[fred]

Universal's Stage 12 housed the Penguin's underground lair, an enormous tank that was filled with half-a-million gallons of water and a simulated ice floe island. In order to create Penguin's bird army, a combination of techniques were utilized including men in suits, computer-generated imagery, robotic creatures and real life penguins. Everyone involved was required to sign a document guaranteeing that they would not specifically hold interviews with news sources. About midway through filming, however, a few test shots of DeVito in costume found their way into an American entertainment magazine. Warner Brothers then hired a group of private investigators to track down the source, though the ploy ultimately failed.

[ray]

A Penguin action figure based on his comic book counterpart was released as part of Kenner's line of figures based on the film, as Danny DeVito's image of the character was deemed too scary for kids. The figure in fact was a repaint of the Penguin action figure released in 1980s Super Powers Collection toy-line by Kenner (the original one had a blue suit, whereas the one released to promote the film has a black suit).

[jim]

The film originally included a montage of the boys being kidnapped by The Penguin's gang, with one of them screaming. Tim Burton, knowing that many children would see the movie, decided not to take any unnecessary risks, and just showed the boys after their kidnappings, being locked in circus train cages and reacting sedately.

[cassandra]

(at around 57 mins) When confronting the Penguin's henchmen for the second time, Batman snatches a time bomb off a clown and puts it in the Tattooed Strongman's pants, then throws him down a pipe as an explosion occurs, which killed him. An act which is rarely ever done by Batman.

[richard]

This film was considered the breakout role for renowned character actor Doug Jones, who played the role of "Thin Clown".

[tammy]

(at around 1h 30 mins) Danny DeVito refused a stand-in for the scene where the Penguin gets pelted with rotten food by an angry mob.

[lynn]

The set for The Penguin's decrepit underground lair, at the abandoned Gotham City Zoo, was filled with 500,000 gallons of water and a simulated ice floe island.

[michele]

There are numerous references to Germany's "Weimar Republic" culture, which existed from 1919 to 1933. The outfit and look of The Penguin are based on the title character from The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920), and much of the scenery and set designs of this movie are inspired by the same movie. A villain is named after Max Schreck, another film star of "Weimar Republic" culture. Schreck suggests to The Penguin to make a "Reichstag fire", the terrorist act which the Nazi Party used as a pretext to seize power (saying they were guarding against terrorists) and disband the Weimar Republic. It is popularly assumed that the Nazis set the fire.

[veronica]

(at around 28 mins) In order to get the cats to surround Selina when she's knocked out, the filmmakers put tuna on a dummy version of Selina, and tuna on Selina's suit.