I hated Joel Schumacher as a director for years, and it was thanks to one movie: Batman & Robin. Over time, I’ve come to appreciate the guy because when he’s on, he’ll deliver a movie like Falling Down or Phone Booth. But when he’s off, you’re in for a bad time. Fortunately, Schumacher is a self-aware guy… even if he’s not above throwing a little shade at one particular cast member.
Variety interviewed Schumacher and to be fair to the guy, he’s got a sense of humor about the whole enterprise, defending Batman Forever and noting Batnipples will be on his tombstone. That said, he’s pretty blunt about how he screwed up:
I was the problem with “Batman & Robin.” I did my job. But I never got my ass in the seat right…There’s nobody else to blame but me. I didn’t do a good job. George did. Chris [O’Donnell] did. Uma [Thurman] is brilliant in it. Arnold is Arnold.
Oh, come on, Joel, Arnold couldn’t possibly be that bad, right?
OK, maybe Schumacher has a point. Although he is the guy who decided Mr. Freeze’s outfit needed glowing boob windows.
Still, it’s nice that Schumacher isn’t generally blaming anyone else, and that he’s willing to talk about the movie. Now if we could just get Akiva Goldsman to apologize, the healing might truly begin.
