Joel Schumacher was attached to make Batman Triumphant after Batman & Robin.
And what would the movie have been like?
They had planned to get the film in cinemas during 1999.
Of those, onlyPopcornultimately went unproduced.
I never planned to be the summer blockbuster guy, Schumacher explained of this indie-flavoured sabbatical.
I wanted to return to filmmaking, not blockbustermaking.
I felt I disappointed a lot of older fans by being too conscious of the family aspect.
Id gotten tens of thousands of letters from parents asking for a film their children could go to.
Now, I owe the hardcore fans the Batman movie they would love me to give them.
But this is my own idea, and they may kick me onto Barham Boulevard after they hear it.
Then, hed return to the franchise for what he hoped would be a smaller-budget, fan-pleasing movie.
We doubt, at this stage, that the 1999 release date was looking all the plausible anymore.
A 150-page script outline was hashed out, with the intended-to-be-played-by-Nic-Cage Scarecrow at centre stage.
Protosevich described his take on Harley as sadistic in a mischievous, fun sense.
(Potential castings that were considered for Harley included Madonna and Courtney Love.)
Scarecrow, apparently, would have had a personal vendetta against Bruce Wayne, not Batman.
Batmans time under the influence of the toxin was intended to culminate in a show-stopping cameo-filled hallucination sequence.
For one, we would have seen a rift forming between Batman and Robin in the film.
On top of this, Bruce Waynes fear of bats would have been a central theme.
Not that this scene was inspired by mine, but it was a similar idea.
It was a powerful image.
Joel wanted to tie up all of the films.
But, of course, well never know for sure.
Then I remember I never heard from the executive at Warner Bros.
I called many times, never got any kind of response.
This got into a period of weeks and then a month, and my agent pestering Warners.
And the next thing I knew, they were pulling the plug on the whole project.
They were going to wait and see what they were going to do with Batman.
The Joel Schumacher-driven Batman train was taken off the rails.
And from there, the rest is history.
Maybe, just maybe, it wouldve been a Batman film for absolutely everyone to enjoy.
