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Michael Keaton wasn’t too broken up over ‘Batgirl’ getting shelved

Michael Keaton didn't mind hearing that Batgirl got shelved

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Michael Keaton famously reprised his role as Batman in 2023 film The Flash, but that wasn’t supposed to be the only time he put the cowl back on. He was also supposed to reprise the character in Batgirl, a film that was ultimately shelved by Warner Bros. Discovery, even though it had already been shot.

In a new interview with GQ, Keaton said that he wasn’t too upset the film got shelved, but said that he felt bad for directors Bilall Fallah and Adil El Arbi. “I like those boys. They’re nice guys. I pull for them. I want them to succeed, and I think they felt very badly, and that made me feel bad. Me? I’m good.”

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He went on to say that he had fun making it, and made some good money too.”I didn’t care one way or another,” he said. “Big, fun, nice check.”

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Keaton was originally cast as Batman all the way back in 1989, and his Batman was the first adaptation to treat the character with some veneer of seriousness. Keaton’s casting was controversial at the time because he was known primarily for his more comic roles, but he went on to become one of the most legendary Batmen of his or any era.
Keaton, who was doing the interview to promote his partnership with his Batman director Tim Burton for Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, credited Burton with the 1989 movie’s success.
“Tim deserves enormous credit,” he said. “He changed everything. I can’t necessarily say this, but there’s a strong possibility there is no Marvel Universe, there is no DC Universe, without Tim Burton.”

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Joe Allen
Joe Allen
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Joe Allen is a freelance culture writer based in upstate New York. His work has been published in The Washington Post, The…
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