The Big Picture

Tim Burton’s daring casting choices in the Batman films set a new standard for the ideal Batman archetype with Michael Keaton leading the way.
The exceptional talent of Jack Nicholson and Michelle Pfeiffer as Batman’s villains showcased Burton’s high aspirations when choosing actors.
Marlon Brando was considered for The Penguin in Batman Returns, but Warner Bros.’s rejected the idea, altering the course of casting decisions.

The legacy of the Tim Burton Batman films rests on the laurels of its audacious casting choices. Fans decried the selection of veteran funnyman Michael Keaton to portray the haunted and tortured spirit of The Dark Knight, but over 30 years since Batman, the characteristics of the ideal Batman are gauged by what Keaton brought to the screen. Burton’s films aimed high when casting Batman’s villains, as they obtained the prestigious talent of Jack Nicholson and Michelle Pfeiffer to play the rollicking forms of evil in The Joker and Catwoman, respectively. Naturally, it should come as no surprise that Burton’s original choice for The Penguin, which would eventually be exceptionally portrayed by Danny DeVito, was perhaps the most acclaimed screen actor to ever live. You might not have asked for a version of Batman Returns that features Marlon Brando as The Penguin, but you would have been intrigued by it.

Batman (1989) The Dark Knight of Gotham City begins his war on crime with his first major enemy being Jack Napier, a criminal who becomes the clownishly homicidal Joker.Release Date June 23, 1989 Runtime 126 minutes

Tim Burton Established a Unique Cinematic Voice in the Blockbuster Format
1992 saw director Tim Burton peaking and influential actor Marlon Brando on the back nine of his career. Burton, coming off his populist hit in Batman and his idiosyncratic modern-day twist on Frankenstein, Edward Scissorhands, established Burton as one of, if not the most, pronounced visionaries in Hollywood. Brando’s days as the cinematic icon of the 1950s and the prodigious Corleone family patriarch in The Godfather were long over, but he was working just enough in the 1990s to maintain relevance. After the role as Vito Corleone helped revive his career, Brando became a punch-line in the ’90s thanks to the pair of flops that included Christopher Columbus: The Discovery and The Island of Dr. Moreau. Before he died in 2004, Brando had an opportunity to star in one final commercial success.

If Burton’s original Batman from 1989 was a work of a subdued piece of Burton-esque art, then Batman Returns would make up for his compromised vision by being completely unrestrained. To the betterment of its artistic success and legacy, Returns is less of a Batman movie and more of a spiritual successor to Scissorhands and a precursor to Burton’s love letter to oddballs and B-movies, Ed Wood. The Gothic visual language, the artificial set design, and the characterization of lonely and disturbed outcasts are pure Burton. Compartmentalizing these fascinations into the commercial-friendly prism of a comic book adaptation was a stunning achievement, but it may be something Warner Bros. wishes it could reverse, as the studio had a notorious PR crisis after McDonald’s, who created a promotional toy line for the film, expressed concern over the dark and obscene content in the film.

Marlon Brando Was Considered During the ‘Batman Returns’ Extensive Casting Process

In Batman Returns, Gotham City is under havoc by the forces of three new villains, including Oswald Cobblepot/The Penguin (DeVito), the corrupt business executive backing the Penguin’s campaign for mayor, Max Shreck (Christopher Walken), and Shreck’s former employee, Selina Kyle/Catwoman (Pfeiffer). Throughout the film, the audience registers that Bruce Wayne, who has a limited amount of screen time relative to a Batman movie, has a perverse kinship to his arch nemeses–maybe they’re not so different after all. Burton’s sequel has stood the test of time against the plethora of Batman and comic book adaptations that followed in the 21st century, as its carefully observed portrayal of its villains evokes a stunning amount of humanity. This is a story of alienated oddballs living in a cruel world, and not just a battle between good and evil.

In Burton’s films, and all Batman stories alike, villains are always enticing roles filled with rich dialogue and eccentric characteristics. Even an actor of such serious pedigree as Marlon Brando would struggle to turn down a role like The Penguin. An enthusiastic response to starring in his new film was what Burton had hoped for when he offered Brando the role of The Penguin. Burton’s plans were undermined by Warner Bros., who rejected the idea of Brando as the main antagonist. Instead, the studio had their eyes on Dustin Hoffman, who recently portrayed Captain Hook in Steven Spielberg’s reimagining of the Peter Pan story, Hook. Specifically, it was Bob Kane, the creator of the Batman character and comic series, who was vehemently against Brando’s casting. Studios being scrupulous over creative details in a major franchise property such as Batman is nothing out of the ordinary. When handling films with this much financial stake, it’s rare for any director to attain creative autonomy.

During the casting process for The Penguin, it was not DeVito, but one of his fellow cast members on the hit sitcom, Taxi, who was considered an ideal candidate. Christopher Lloyd had a great track record playing eccentric characters, from Back to the Future to antagonistic roles in Who Framed Roger Rabbit, and Warner Bros. found his unique skill set a match for The Penguin. However, pre-production on Batman Returns went into overhaul once Heathers screenwriter, Daniel Waters, was hired to re-write the script, which needed to comply with Burton’s demands for a twisted vision of this comic book world, as he was initially reluctant to sign on for a sequel to his 1989 blockbuster. Waters’ revisions helped shape Batman Returns’ disturbingly unique interpretation of the DC Comics characters, notably recontextualizing The Penguin as a deformed, vengeful half-human/half-bird villain. Under these revisions, DeVito became a draw. However, the actor was also hesitant to accept the part, but his friend and frequent collaborator, former Batman villain Jack Nicholson, encouraged him to take on the challenge.

How Would Marlon Brando Have Fared as The Penguin in ‘Batman Returns’?
Image via Paramount Pictures

When asked by MTV, Burton denied that Marlon Brando was his original choice for The Penguin in Batman Returns. While dismissive of this allegation, he did recall that he initially envisioned Sammy Davis Jr. as the titular role in Burton’s breakout hit, Beetlejuice. “Sometimes my ideas don’t go down so well with the studios. But hey, you try,” the director remarked. With these stories of alternate casting decisions, the truth is often muddied. Decades after the fact, clarity becomes lost in the constant cycle of revisionist history and career retrospectives. This is how online speculation and legend-making ensue.

However, casting Brando as the famous Batman antagonist is equally an enticing and dubious prospect. Brando, especially as he reached his late 60s, was synonymous with his heavyset physique. He developed a menacing streak to his persona, one that was a far cry from his sympathetic, disaffected presence in On the Waterfront. Not to mention, Batman Returns wouldn’t have been Brando’s first foray into the DC Comics world, as he starred in the formative superhero film, Richard Donner’s Superman, where he played Jor-El. In this role, which also pertains to the entirety of the film, Jor-El evokes a mythical presence–something “classier” than portraying a Batman villain who bites people’s noses while donning heavy makeup and prosthetics. When considering Brando’s temperamental past, a checkered history that includes refusing to remember his lines and showing up to set late and unprepared, Brando as The Penguin could have been a disaster due to his failure to engage with the campiness of the text.

It’s suffice to say that the casting deliberations for Batman Returns turned out fortuitously. Tim Burton’s iconoclast superhero blockbuster is anchored by its stellar performances by Danny DeVito, Christopher Walken, and Michelle Pfeiffer. They were so exceptional that you couldn’t imagine anyone else in their roles, even the great Marlon Brando. Yet, for all anyone knows, Brando never even crossed the mind of its director.

Batman Returns is available to stream on Max in the U.S.

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