Following the success of Superman starring Christopher Reeve, Warner Bros. was extremely eager to get a Batman movie in front of audiences. While that effort culminated in Michael Keaton donning the cape and cowl for Tim Burton, forever changing the landscape of superhero films, the studio almost went in a wildly different direction. In a new interview, Bill Murray confirmed that Ghostbusters director Ivan Reitman was approached by Warner Bros., and for a moment, there was talk of Murray becoming the Dark Knight with Eddie Murphy as his sidekick Robin.
However, as Murray reveals, those talks did not go very far thanks to the egos of every involved. “I talked to Eddie Murphy about it, and Eddie wanted to play Batman,” Murray told The Never-Weres. “That’s as far as that conversation went.” Via Yahoo! Entertainment:
If Murphy wanted to be the Caped Crusader so badly, would Murray have willingly taken on the role of Robin? Holy negatory, Batman! “I don’t wanna be the Boy Wonder to anybody,” the Ghostbusters star says. “Maybe much earlier when I was a boy. But it was too late for that by the ’80s. Also, I couldn’t do the outfit. Eddie looks good in purple, and I look good in purple. In red and green, I look like one of Santa’s elves. There was just a lot of vanity involved in the production. It wasn’t gonna happen.”
If Murray had become Batman instead of Keaton, would the Stripes star currently be suiting up to reprisal his Dark Knight role in The Flash or would the superhero landscape look completely different without Batman ’89 changing the whole game? Pretty wild stuff to think about.
(Via Yahoo! Entertainment)
