Burton's Two-Face

[Brian Braddock]

I seriously don't think they were even thinking of Two-Face when they did Harvey Dent in B89. I might be wrong but that's the impression I got.

They might not well have been but Billy Dee was smart enough to get a 'pay or play' clause written into his '89 contract stating that if they did useTwo-Face in the sequel - he'd be the one to play him.

When Burton left, Schumaker came in and wanted Tommy Lee Jones instead - they had to pay compensation to Williams.

Nice work if you can get it; getting payed for nothing. t:

Anyways, we've seen the perfect Two-Face on screen in the form of Eckhart. As much as I enjoyed Ledger's performance - it was Eckharts which left the more lasting impression on me.

 

[DaRkVeNgeanCe]

Williams was still sore about the whole thing even though he got paid, you can tell when watching the extras on the SE of 89.

 

[justinianus]

Why you call Schumacher - Schumaker? Some kind of internal joke?

I agree that Williams' Dent feels more like a background city official kind of character, but it's a fault of the script, not the actor. I think he could be great as a Harvey Dent with more stuff to do than comment on "ghosts and goblins".

What is done is done anyway, there's two good films to look back, and two "what to avoid in a comic book movie" 2-hour long instruction videos.

 

[El Payaso]

Burton hired the wrong man to play Dent.

Why?

 

[justinianus]

This fan-photoshop of Billy Dee Williams is the most Burtonesque Two-Face I have ever seen. Note that his scarred side is WHITE! It's great!

 

[ronny]

Why?

He's not a good actor. I never once believed that this guy was Gotham's great hope. The crusading DA taking on the Mafia. It didn't work. But what Burton did get right was introducing Dent before the accident.

 

[DaRkVeNgeanCe]

Why?

Some people dont have faith in what they've never seen before I guess.

 

[DACrowe]

I actually really wish we could've seen Billy Dee Williams as Two-Face. I think he made a decent Dent from what we saw in B'89 and has a very likable air about him, so him turning into a ruthless cruel villain would have been a sight to see.

But I don't know about "he obviously would be better" than Eckhart's as the OP suggested. Firstly Eckhart's is based on the best comic interpretation of the character to date, The Long Halloween/Dark Victory which didn't begin until 1996. Secondly it improved on that material by removing the murderous wife and giving him more motivation to go "to the dark side." I like the idea of Dent being a good guy with some flaws of vanity, arrogance and pride but ultimately a good guy who is trying to do the right thing.

We know Burton originally wanted Schreck to be Dent. Dent was intended to be used as they did introduce him as a "crusader" in B'89 with more screentime than Gordon (though not that much, but still) and Williams said he thought he was coming back. I would've hated that, Dent is not a villain before the transformation. Schreck was an awesome character played by the invaluable Walken so I'm glad for the trade-off, but seeing a Burton Two-Face in the third one with Williams would've been nice. I love Burotn's movies (albeit I do think NOlan does it all, including Batman, Joker and Gordon better). Surely would've been better than Tommy Lee's "character."

Oh well.

 

[DACrowe]

Does anyone have a link to the interview?

 

[DaRkVeNgeanCe]

No but I wish I did, I hope someone will post it.

 

[onDgrind]

Just wished we got to see Burtons version of Two-Face , Scarecrow , Riddler and Bane

 

[DACrowe]

I watched B'89 and its special features a few days ago. I saw Billy Dee talk about it. He seemed happy he was cast because of his charisma and his race had nothing to do with it. He told Robert Whul and they talked about how he thought he was going to get to play Two-Face in a later movie and that is why he did it.

Billy Dee seemed pretty disappointed and pissed he wasn't. He even said "And I would've played it different than Tommy Lee...I can play a different kind of mad" and also said "They all said why isn't Billy Dee doing this?" but added at the very end "That's show business, baby."

But you got a feeling of his anger about it. I actually am not sure Burton's Bane would have been that interesting.

 

["V"]

The character I really wish we'd seen Burton do was Mr Freeze. Could have been beautiful... sigh.

YAW NAWT SENDIN' MEH BACK TO DAH COOLAH!

 

[BatFan1986]

C'mon, it's Arnold, you have to sacrifice good writing for horrid one liners and horrible Schumacher direction!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNaDZIrxh-0

 

[onDgrind]

[quote="V";15441205]The character I really wish we'd seen Burton do was Mr Freeze. Could have been beautiful... sigh.

YAW NAWT SENDIN' MEH BACK TO DAH COOLAH![/quote]

Mr Freeze was the best thing in Batman & Robin

 

[El Payaso]

Mr Freeze was the best thing in Batman & Robin

I know. That bad he was.

 

[Paste Pot Pete]

I really would like to read the original version of Batman Returns, with Dent in the Shreck role (if it even got to script stage). I've always been curious how that would've worked out. Would Dent have genuinely believed that Penguin was a good guy? He couldn't have been villianous like Shreck; that's just not his character. Though maybe that's exactly why they changed it.

As far as the physical representation, Burton has said that he would've played up the black/white motif, which makes me assume that the scarred side would've somehow been white. It's a really creepy concept, actually.

 

[The Batkilt]

[quote="V";15400641]

If Nolan does a third, and does bring back Two Face, I want him half Eckhart and half Billy Dee.[/quote]

That, sir, is absolutely fantastic!

 

[Jochimus]

I think Billy Dee would have been neat to see as Two-Face; Burton's villains may have been a tad over the top, but they also tended to be a lot more obsessive and as formidable in their actions as their words than Schumacher's were - in other words, Burton's villains to me seemed more dangerous, as they should be.

Otherwise, your best bet at seeing Billy Dee as Two-Face is to dig up the old CRACKED Magazine parody of the movie from 1989, where he was drawn wearing Two-Face's half-plaid business suit. If I could find my copy, I'd post a panel scan.

 

[p4poetic]

Burton hired the wrong man to play Dent. Therefore his version of Two-Face would be flawed from the very begining. Now, if he had hired someone decent it would have been a different story. In fact we could have gotten a really good story instead of the nonsense with the blessed saint Catwoman.

Are you saying Billy Dee Williams isn't decent? Oh baby, don't you do it.

[quote="V";15400641]

If Nolan does a third, and does bring back Two Face, I want him half Eckhart and half Billy Dee.[/quote]

LOL.