Based on The Tom Mankiewicz script
https://indiegroundfilms.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/batman-jan-10-84-2nd-tom-mankiewicz-version.pdf
From the director of 48 Hours, Streets Of Fire, and The Warriors
THE BATMAN ( 1985)
Director : Walter Hill
Screenplay : Tom Mankiewicz
The Cast
Batman / Bruce Wayne : Alec Baldwin
Silver St. Cloud : Kathleen Turner
Joker : Tim Curry
Penguin : Joe Pesci
Rupert Thorne : Charles Gray
Robin / Dick Grayson : Wil Wheaton
James Gordon : Stacy Keach
Alfred Pennyworth : Peter O' Toole
Thomas Wayne : Treat Williams
Martha Wayne : Kate Capshaw
Young Bruce Wayne : Sean Astin
Joe Chill : James Remar
Thinking about the Batman movies coming together sooner is always a thrill for me, both as part of the Trinity team-up idea with Keaton, Reeve and Carter, but also for their own sake. Looking at 1985, it’s wild what a difference just four years makes, even when trying to hang onto elements from the Burton/Schumacher films.
By that point, even if Keaton is just established enough to make the grade (right smack in between
Johnny Dangerously and
Gung Ho), Burton is still making a name for himself with
Pee Wee’s Big Adventure, and Danny Elfman’s just starting to try his hand at movie scores.
There were a lot of directors in the running, but between
The Warriors,
48 Hours, and especially
Streets of Fire, Walter Hill might honestly be my A-list dream pick for that specific moment. So I like to imagine Hill or somebody cool doing Part 1, some other guy still helming Part II, and Burton taking the helm in Part III (kind of making him the Schumacher in this timeline).
Before Elfman can do his thing, I figure they’d get someone well-established like Basil Poledouris for the score. Remember how Prince made the soundtrack to B89? I figure that would be Elfman’s way in; he still has his band, so he can write a couple of Oingo Boingo originals for Part I’s soundtrack and work his way up from there. While a popular series getting its most iconic musical score after part 1 is rare, it’s not unheard of (see Aliens).
I wish I had more to say about part II, except that’s where I’d introduce Robin. Burton didn’t seem that interested in the Boy Wonder, but if Dick’s already at the party before Burton signs on, it’s one less thing for him to worry about.
Anyway, springing off of
Beetlejuice (gotta leave space for the other cool stuff), Burton & friends take control for Part III, and that basically blows up the way B89 did for real, so the producers are happy to offer Burton Part IV, where he gets to go nuts like what we saw in
Returns. And maybe it would kill the franchise. Or not. Who can say?
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