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Batman Returns
a Tim Burton film
Plot (Spoiler Alert)A gang of circus freaks attack the streets of Gotham. Their leader, The Penguin, wants to know who he really is and who is parents are. Penguin was abandoned as a baby by them, was found by a flock a penguins in an abandoned zoo, became a side show freak and then spent the rest of his life in an underground lair. Penguin has one of his henchmen kidnap the major’s baby so he can pretend to be the hero. In return Penguin finds out his real name is Oswald Cobblepot. Meanwhile Selena Kyle, has a near death experience after her boss Max Shreck pushes her out the window of a tall building because she found out he is planning to illegally monopolize Gotham’s supply of electricity. The canopies sort of help break the fall. Cats surround Selena Kyle’s unconscious body and when she awakes she becomes a entirely different person who wants revenge against Shrek. Selena makes a leather suit and calls herself Catwoman. The people of Gotham believe Penguin is harmless and a role model after he tells the press he forgives his parents after abandoning him 33 years ago, but Bruce Wayne/Batman thinks different. He believes Penguin is the crime boss of the circus gang. Penguin deals with it by framing Batman for a murder. Batman fights back with a recording of Penguin’s voice saying nasty things. The people of Gotham then turn against Penguin. Penguin crawls back into the sewer where he orders the circus gang to kidnap the first borns of Gotham City so he can kill them. He kidnaps Shrek as well. Batman ruins Penguin’s plan. Full of rage, Penguin proceeds with his next plan by sending an army of penguins with rocket explosives to blow up Gotham. Batman uses a device that redirects the penguins back to Penguin's lair. Batman arrives outside Penguin’s lair and Penguin manages to steal the device controlling his army. Penguin accidentally sets off the rockets and falls down through the ceiling into the toxic water. Shrek tries to escape, but Selena Kyle catches him and attempts to kill him. Batman goes down and tries to convince Selena Kyle not to kill Shrek and instead give him to the police. Selena won’t allow it and instead grabs hold of an exposed power cable while putting a taser on Shrek’s lips. Shrek is dead and Selena’s body is no where to be found. Penguin is badly injured and tries to use his last ounce of strength to try to kill Batman, but collapses and dies. 
Blaine: Tim Burton wasn’t planning to make another “Batman” movie after the first because one was good enough for him and he felt he already described how Batman is to him, but the studio had loved what Tim did with the first one and they wanted to proceed with the second film. The studio wanted the Penguin because they saw him as the number 2# Batman villain and they wanted to do Catwoman as well so they ended up putting both characters in the film. Tim wasn’t sure if he wanted to do it or not, so the studio offered to make the next one more of a Tim Burton film meaning he could do whatever he wanted and that made Tim think of how he could re-invent it so he decided to take the job. He still wanted to keep the spirit of Batman in it. Once Tim was on board, a script was in works. It never crossed Tim’s mind of what fans were going to think of this “Batman" movie. They had to think of how Penguin and Catwoman would be in this movie and look at their backgrounds. They were thinking about putting Robin in the film, but they already had too many characters like Batman, Catwoman and The Penguin and they thought he could be added after the third or fourth film. Michael Keaton returned as Batman/Bruce Wayne and it was a new experience for him at the time because he had never portrayed a character twice in his career and it was sort of a challenge for him because “Batman Returns” would be moving in a entirely new direction after the first one. What interested Michael was revisiting the character with different actors surrounding him and a different situation. Danny DeVito never thought about playing the Penguin, but everyone else thought he was the right guy to play the character. There was even a newspaper article saying Danny DeVito should play the Penguin. Tim Burton gave Danny a painting that he did himself of Oswald as a toddler sitting on the side of a circus tent. Tim said Danny became the character on and off the camera. Danny ate a lot of raw fish and he really liked the taste of it. Danny said he would have to be in the makeup chair for 66 days and makeup takes a long time to be put on. It felt really good to Danny once the makeup was fully on. They would take pictures of Danny DeVito’s face and draw different designs of what he would look like as the Penguin, but also add the Tim Burton signature like have him have pale skin with dark sunken eyes. Tim had some drawings he did himself and try to make it look like that as well. Ve Neill, a makeup artist Tim had worked with before, mixed up this mouth wash with red and green food coloring in it and it’s the black stuff Penguin has in his mouth. 
Like the first “Batman”, the lead actress had to be replaced at the last minute. Catwoman was originally supposed to be Annette Bening, but when it came close to shooting, she had called Tim and informed him that she was pregnant and she couldn’t do all the physical stuff that is in the film. Tim was happy for her, but also disappointed because they now had to find a new Catwoman and they already had the wardrobe done for Annette. There was a lot of women from 20 to 45 who wanted to be Catwoman. When Michelle Pfeiffer auditioned there was something about her that felt perfect and she could make you believe she is both Selena Kyle and Catwoman. Michelle believed at first that it would just be a couple of scenes with her and not a fully developed character, but it didn’t matter to Michelle how much scenes there was going to be because she’s idolized the character since her childhood. As Michelle read the script, she found Catwoman to be very interesting, very complicated and challenging. When Michelle met Tim, she found him to be unusual and a interesting person. Tim was very impressed with the work that Michelle did. The two things he was most impressed with were the eye flutter and her eyes opening up in that scene where the cats bring her back to life. He found it both chilling and amazing. Another thing is where she put a live bird inside her mouth for several seconds and then just let it fly out. The weirdest scene I think in “Batman Returns” is when Catwoman is licking herself pretending she giving herself a bath like a cat does. In the morning, Michelle felt like she was in Oz because it was a huge production everyday. She would ask what’s going on because they were moving buildings around the set and she would have trouble finding her way to the set. Michael Keaton had fun seeing the looks on Danny DeVito and Michelle Pfeiffer’s faces seeing how big of a movie this was. “Batman Returns” was more difficult than the first because they drop the temperature of the sets to make it cool enough for the penguins. Some of the penguins in the film were real others were puppets. What penguins couldn’t do is shoot missiles off their backs or escort the dead so those were animatronic puppets designed by Stan Winston and six of the bigger penguins were little people in penguin suits. Post-production of the movie was scary because they were on a tight schedule before it’s release and it was twice as long without all the digital stuff that companies and filmmakers have today. Before special effects were all done by computer they would be models and the backgrounds would be paintings. “Batman Returns” was Tim Burton’s first movie that had a number of special effects shots and they were lucky to get everything done before the movie’s release. At the end of the movie you see Catwoman looking at the Bat signal and Tim decided to add her at the last minute. The special effects department had nine days to do it. Michelle Pfeiffer was unavailable to do it so they created an animatronic puppet. 
When the movie was released there was mixed reactions to it. Some people thought it was too dark and scary, others thought it was fine. In some trilogies there is one movie that is supposed to be the darkest compared to the others and it’s always the second film. “Batman Returns” didn’t get great reviews as well, but it was successful and was the biggest movie of 1992. Tim Burton didn’t want to direct another “Batman” movie after that because he’s the type of guy who likes to explore new and different ideas and tell different stories. “Batman Returns” is by far the only sequel Tim has ever done in his career. Michael Keaton didn’t return as well after he read the script for “Batman Forever” and when Joel Schumacher took over the Batman franchise he was thinking light and Tim Burton thinks dark. Plus Michael didn’t like the idea of nipples being on the Batsuit. If Tim had directed other Batman movies I think Michael would have returned to wear the mask and cape again. I believe if Tim had directed the other two Batman movies that came after “Batman Returns”, he would have done a spectacular job because he really does bring the sprit of “Batman” into these movies. My rating on “Batman Returns” is five out five stars. Tim Burton directing “Batman Returns” 
Drawings by Tim Burton 
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