What If Richard Donner Directed a Batman Movie

[TMC1982]

He of course, directed Superman: The Movie (as well as Superman II under controversial circumstances). So I would be awfully curious to see his take on the other top comic book superhero icon. Especially considering the rumors surrounding Tim Burton's vision of Superman in the ill-fated Superman Lives project.

 

[Fresh Prince]

Joker instead of being a crazy criminal would of been s crook/con man with his goofy girlfriend Harley Quinn and a goofy partner. Trying to take over land instead of just causing chaos and destruction.

 

[Jochimus]

Hm, I suspect if Donner had directed a Batman film, he more than likely would have filmed some version of the script that Tom Mankiewicz wrote in the early '80s, as reviewed back in 2000 on IGN http://movies.ign.com/articles/036/036038p1.html

Sticking strictly to the synopsis of the script itself...

The influence of Englehart and Rogers' work on Batman's proposed big-screen rebirth is overwhelmingly apparent here. Tom Mankiewicz essentially borrowed the main ideas of their Detective Comics story arc for his screen plot, with the notable exclusion of villain Hugo Strange. This draft includes characters seen in their story line: Joker, Penguin, corrupt politician Rupert Thorne, love interest Silver St. Cloud, and, of course, Alfred and Commissioner Gordon (inexplicably called David here). Mankiewicz even manages to squeeze in Robin's introduction during the script's homestretch. This 1983 draft of Batman opens with the murder of Dr. Thomas Wayne, a leading candidate for Gotham City Council, and his wife Martha before the eyes of their young son Bruce. (They still go the cinema but the film they see here is The Nun's Story with Audrey Hepburn!) Their killer, Joe Chill, is himself later murdered by his boss, The Joker. Dr. Wayne's campaign opponent, law-and-order candidate Rupert Thorne, exploits public outrage over the Wayne murders and begins the start of a long political career. Meanwhile, young Bruce, a budding scientist, swears to avenge his parents' death even if he's unsure as to how. He spends the next twenty years of his life training his mind and body for his destiny.
Now a twenty-something playboy philanthropist, Bruce discovers his calling and soon begins his career as The Batman, meting out justice on the mean streets of Gotham. Although Commissioner Gordon and the police don't know what to make of Batman at first (early reports describe the Caped Crusader as a violent transvestite!), Gordon soon forms a controversial partnership with Batman to wage war on crime. Although he's now a local hero, Batman nevertheless becomes a target for City Council President Rupert Thorne. Meanwhile, Bruce Wayne has fallen in love with Thorne's assistant, the gorgeous and brilliant graduate student Silver St. Cloud. This only makes Thorne envious of Batman's alter-ego, too.
The city, however, needs Batman as they have a new master criminal to contend with: The Joker! There's no backstory provided here for Joker so we're never told why he looks or behaves the way he does. The Joker's determined to rid Gotham City of Batman, even enlisting the (very brief) assistance of a suave fellow criminal known as The Penguin. It's eventually revealed that, for years now, Rupert Thorne's used The Joker and his goons to do his dirty work, to dispatch his opponents and to create a public menace so that Thorne will have a "crime wave" to rage against.
Needing to dispatch of Batman, Thorne and the Joker frame him, eventually turning public sentiment against him and branding him a wanted outlaw. This turn of events makes Bruce quit his crime-fighting career, albeit briefly. A few terrible events soon force Bruce to don his cape and cowl again. One is the murder of the Flying Graysons at the circus and Bruce's taking in of the sole survivor, Dick Grayson. The other event is the kidnapping of Silver St. Cloud by The Joker and Thorne, who want to draw Batman out of hiding and kill him. The Batman climaxes with a grand showdown at the city museum where Bruce Wayne must endure yet another tragedy in his life. The story ends with Batman and Robin as a crime-fighting team (it's an obvious set-up for a sequel).
What I found most remarkable about Mankiewicz's draft was that it so eerily foreshadowed the eventual four Batman movies. Mankiewicz's draft has The Joker going on a bizarre crime wave, has him shooting out a TV set that plays a news broadcast about Batman, and has him crashing a TV show to give Batman his ultimatum. There's even Batman trying to rescue his damsel from The Joker at the museum. All of this later happened in the 1989 film. Mankiewicz even has The Joker (indirectly) responsible for the murder of Bruce Wayne's parents, as he was in Tim Burton's film, but he wasn't the triggerman in this draft (Joe Chill was). As far as I know, Sam Hamm, the credited screenwriter on Batman, didn't use Mankiewicz's draft as a basis for his own script but there are some striking similarities between them.
This draft has The Penguin called upon to kill Batman so as to advance the corrupt political agenda of a minor villain. This idea was used in Batman Returns, with Max Shreck being a substitute for Rupert Thorne. Another idea later seen in the 1992 film is having Batman being framed for crimes he didn't commit and turning the public and police against him. There were other moments here that recalled Batman Forever. Although introduced late into Act Two of Mankiewicz's draft, Dick Grayson/Robin's origin is almost identical to how Joel Schumacher and Akiva Goldsman eventually realized it in 1995. In both versions, Bruce Wayne and his smart and sexy date attend a charity circus along with the city's elite. While the Flying Graysons perform, the super-villain (Joker in this draft, Two-Face in the film) crashes the event and causes the death of Dick's family. Bruce, seeing himself in Dick's plight, takes the orphan in and makes him his ward. Dick later stumbles upon the Batcave and learns Bruce's secret. In both versions, Dick initially blames Batman for his family's death. In both versions, Dick saves Batman's life before officially becoming Robin. Also in both versions, the kidnapping of Bruce's love interest spurs him into becoming Batman again.

Barring the inexplicable change of Gordon's first name, the rest seems actually much closer to the comics than either Burton's "Batman" or even S:TM before it. However, because of that, I can also imagine this movie, as a whole, pinballing back and forth between dark bits and campy bits, rather than being all-dark or all-campy throughout, which I admit would probably perplex the audience a bit.

 

[I Am The Knight]

Joker instead of being a crazy criminal would of been s crook/con man with his goofy girlfriend Harley Quinn and a goofy partner. Trying to take over land instead of just causing chaos and destruction.

 

[Fresh Prince]

Was a joke dude relax.

 

[Fresh Prince]

Hm, I suspect if Donner had directed a Batman film, he more than likely would have filmed some version of the script that Tom Mankiewicz wrote in the early '80s, as reviewed back in 2000 on IGN http://movies.ign.com/articles/036/036038p1.html

Sticking strictly to the synopsis of the script itself...


Barring the inexplicable change of Gordon's first name, the rest seems actually much closer to the comics than either Burton's "Batman" or even S:TM before it. However, because of that, I can also imagine this movie, as a whole, pinballing back and forth between dark bits and campy bits, rather than being all-dark or all-campy throughout, which I admit would probably perplex the audience a bit.

If Donner would of done the movie that way it would of been a great film. So what if it mixes camp and dark. It proably would not of been Batman & Robin camp.

 

[Ceb-Man]

Hm, I suspect if Donner had directed a Batman film, he more than likely would have filmed some version of the script that Tom Mankiewicz wrote in the early '80s, as reviewed back in 2000 on IGN http://movies.ign.com/articles/036/036038p1.html

Sticking strictly to the synopsis of the script itself...


Barring the inexplicable change of Gordon's first name, the rest seems actually much closer to the comics than either Burton's "Batman" or even S:TM before it. However, because of that, I can also imagine this movie, as a whole, pinballing back and forth between dark bits and campy bits, rather than being all-dark or all-campy throughout, which I admit would probably perplex the audience a bit.

I agree with you Donner would follow the Tom Mankiwiecz script.