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"I don't know if any ideas made it in," says Tim Burton of the subsequent Batman Forever film. "I realized halfway through my meeting with Warner Bros. that they didn't really want me to do the movie. They kept saying, ‘Don't you wanna go back and do a movie like Edward Scissorhands? Something smaller?' I said, 'You don't want me to do the movie, do you?'"
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In Tim Burton's book Burton on Burton he explained, "I don't think Warners wanted me to direct a third Batman. I even said that to them. I've always been a little at odds with them. I have a different perception of what dark is. There was a big backlash that it was 'too dark,' but I found this movie [Batman Returns] much less dark than the first one. It's just the culture climate. And they [Warners] hear that. They listen to that. I don't want to because I think it's dangerous and perverse. I think the culture is much more disturbed and disturbing than this movie, a lot more. But they just fixate on things and they choose targets. Got a lot of flake from parents thinking it [Batman Returns] was too scary for their kids. But I feel close to that material. I certainly don't feel like dissociating myself from the material completely because I feel I gave it something. I saw Batman Forever, but I didn't see the last one [Batman & Robin]. I couldn't. It's like you're involved with something and then you're not. You feel like you've died and you're having an out-of-body experience. That's the best way I can describe it. I just had a shock. I always hated those titles like Batman Forever. I though, 'Batman Forever, that sounds like a tattoo that somebody would get when they're on drugs or something,' or something some kid would write in a yearbook to somebody else. I have high problems with some of those titles." I had a shock, too, watching the rubber nipples, the neon Gotham City and the Ziggy Stardust Riddler etc. It was like a bad dream.
In Cinescope [June 1995] Joel Schumacher explained that he wasn't even trying to do a sequel to Tim Burton's Batman Returns and basically saw Batman Forever as a reboot, "I wasn't asked to do the third of Tim's movies... When I was able to bring Val Kilmer in, it really gave me and the rest of the creative team an opportunity to feel that we were doing a new [version] instead of a sequel... In my Gotham City...The Batman suit has nipples, and so does the Robin suit... We tried to add a lot of humor to Batman. They are called 'comic' books. The trouble with taking him [Two-Face] from a comic book into a movie is that [in the comic books] he's a very tortured soul who lives in the shadows. Even though he has two faces, the character can be very one-note. So we chose to make him less the Phantom of the Opera and give him a more theatrical flair; he's quite a clothes horse on one half of his body. And he has a girlfriend for each side - Sugar and Spike [Drew Berrymore and Debi Mazar]."
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Pat Hingle and Michael Gough were the only ones from Tim Burton's back, and even their characterizations were changed from dignified and authoritative to bumbling comedic elders to be laughed at or pitied.
Warners had Bob Kane brought on as a film consultant on Batman Forever and Batman & Robin, too. But Joel Schumacher didn't even respect Bob's consultation. Joel Schumacher explained, "Bob Kane doesn't understand why Chris O'Donnell [as Robin] has an earring and Batman has nipples. I told him 'it's the '90s, Bob! It's my Gotham City, and if I want Batman to have nipples, he's going to have nipples!'" Jim Carrey explained, "It pissed off Bob Kane. Bob Kane was walking around going 'I never put nipples on a Batsuit. Whoever heard of nipples on the Batsuit?'"
In Cinescope [June 1995] even Bob Kane explained about Batman Forever, "It's not really a sequel - it's a brand-new ballgame."
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In SFX #3 (August 1995) Batman Forever and Batman & Robin production designer Barbara Ling explained that when Joel Schumacher offered her the job, she would only agree on the provision that "We're doing our own version, right?" Joel Schumacher completely agreed.
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In Action Heroes '95 #1 (1995) Batman Forever and Batman & Robin scriptwriter Akiva Goldsman explained, "This [Val Kilmer] is a younger Batman and he fits into a world that has more colors to it, a world that isn't as dark and Gothic."
www.1995batman.com/2018/09/mag…
In Starlog Science-Fiction Explore #8 (August 1995) Batman Forever and Batman & Robin producer Peter MacGregor-Scott explained, "They [Warners chairman Bob Daly and Terry Semel] wanted a very different film. They didn't want this film to be as dark as [Michael Keaton's] Batman Returns [by Tim Burton]. There was quite a bit of criticism from parents about the second film. The six-year-olds liked it. I know mine did. But the parents just thought it was too dark, and the studio had some concerns... What we've done is make things lighter... [Jim Carrey's] Riddler is more of a clown-like super-villain than any sort of horrible monster. He does bad things but not necessarily evil things. [Tommy Lee Jones'] Two-Face could have been a bit of a problem if we had decided to play him the way Batman Returns portrayed [Danny DeVito's] the Penguin. He's [Tommy Lee Jones' Two-Face's] not gruesome or ghoulish in appearance. He has his good side and his bad side but, ultimately, Two-Face wont be terrifying."
Costume designer Bob Ringwood explained that he was instructed that Batman Forever was "going in a different direction. The studio wanted the costumes to be more cartoony...They wanted things lighter and more colorful."
www.1995batman.com/2018/06/mag…
Joel Schumacher wanted Robin Williams to play the Riddler, and Joel Schumacher's writers Lee and Janet Batchler wrote the role with Robin Williams in mind. Robin Williams confirmed in November 19, 1993, that he had been talking to director Joel Schumacher about the project scheduled to film in September 1994, and he said that he thought playing the Riddler would be "nifty," but the script wasn't finished yet. Joel Schumacher was expecting the script to be in his hands on January 1, 1994.
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On January 2nd 1994 Des O'Connor asked Robin Williams, "You've got the Riddler coming up?" Robin Williams said, "Maybe. Yeah, if the script is good I'll do that."
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After reading the script and the studio giving him a final deadline for his decision, Robin Williams turned down the role. He believed the character was too intellectual and not as comedic as the Riddler played by Frank Gorshin on the TV series. Robin Williams was reportedly also concerned that his Riddler would be overshadowed by the film's other foe, Tommy Lee Jones' Harvey Two-Face. So Joel Schumacher cast Jim Carrey instead. It took just 30 minutes of negotiation to cast Jim Carrey.
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Extensive, and Recreational Recreativ. (Trideca-Tic-Tac-Toed Polyfaceted Analogous Pun)