Batman Forever is a 1995 American superhero film based on the DC Comics character Batman. It is the third installment of the Batman film series (1989–1997), acting as a standalone sequel to Batman Returns. Directed by Joel Schumacher and produced by Tim Burton and Peter MacGregor-Scott, it stars Val Kilmer as Bruce Wayne / Batman, replacing Michael Keaton, alongside Jim Carrey, Tommy Lee Jones, Nicole Kidman, and Chris O'Donnell. The film follows Batman as he attempts to prevent the Riddler (Carrey) and Two-Face (Jones) from uncovering his secret identity and extracting information from the minds of Gotham City's residents, while at the same time navigating his feelings for psychologist Dr. Chase Meridian (Kidman) and adopting orphaned acrobat Dick Grayson (O'Donnell)—who becomes his partner and best friend, Robin.
Schumacher mostly eschewed the dark, dystopian atmosphere of Burton's films by drawing inspiration from the Batman comic books of the Dick Sprang era, as well as the 1960s television series. After Keaton chose not to reprise his role, William Baldwin and Ethan Hawke were considered as replacements, before Kilmer joined the cast.
Batman Forever was released by Warner Bros. on June 16, 1995, to mixed reviews from critics, who praised the visuals, action sequences, and soundtrack, but criticized the screenplay and tonal departure from the previous two films. The film was a box office success, grossing over $336 million worldwide and becoming the sixth-highest-grossing film of 1995. It was followed by Batman & Robin in 1997, with Schumacher returning as the director, O'Donnell returning as Robin, and George Clooney replacing Kilmer as Batman.
Plot
In Gotham City, Batman defuses a hostage situation orchestrated by the criminal Two-Face, formerly district attorney Harvey Dent, who escapes. Flashbacks reveal that Dent, once one of Batman's biggest supporters, was horribly disfigured with acid on one side of his face by mobster Sal Maroni. The trauma of the incident caused Dent to develop a split personality, make decisions based on the flip of a coin, and swear vengeance against Batman for failing to prevent the incident.
Edward Nygma, an eccentric and egotistical researcher at Wayne Enterprises, approaches his employer, Bruce Wayne, to present an invention that can beam television signals directly into the brain, demanding immediate approval directly from Bruce. Bruce rejects the device as he is concerned that the technology could manipulate minds. After killing his abusive supervisor and staging it as a suicide, Nygma resigns and plots revenge against Bruce, sending him riddles. Criminal psychologist Chase Meridian diagnoses Nygma as psychotic.
Bruce attends a circus with Chase. Two-Face hijacks the event and threatens to detonate a bomb unless Batman reveals his identity. Dick Grayson, the youngest member of the Flying Graysons family of acrobats, prevents the bomb from killing anyone by throwing it into a river with the help of his family; however, Two-Face kills all of them except Dick in the process. Bruce invites the now-orphaned Dick to live at Wayne Manor as his ward, where he later discovers that Bruce is Batman. Seeking to avenge the death of his family, Dick demands to join Batman in crime-fighting, hoping to kill Two-Face, but Bruce declines in order to help Dick move on instead, as he is considering retirement.
Nygma becomes the Riddler and teams up with Two-Face. They commit a series of robberies to finance Nygma's new company and mass-produce his brainwave device dubbed the Box, which steals information from minds and transfers it to Nygma's, increasing his intelligence but also slowly causing him to lose his grip on reality. At a party hosted by Nygma, Batman pursues Two-Face and is almost killed until Dick saves him.
Batman visits Chase, who explains that she has fallen in love with Bruce, and Bruce reveals his secret identity to her. Having discovered Bruce's secret through the Box, on Halloween night, Two-Face and the Riddler destroy the Batcave, shoot Bruce, and abduct Chase. As Bruce recovers, he and his butler, Alfred Pennyworth, deduce that Nygma is the Riddler through clues he left in his riddles, while Chase is held prisoner in the Riddler's lair. Bruce finally accepts Dick as his comrade, Robin.
At the Riddler's lair, Robin defeats Two-Face but chooses to spare him, which allows Two-Face to capture Robin at gunpoint. The Riddler reveals his final riddle: Chase and Robin, representing the two sides of Batman's personality, are trapped in tubes above a deadly drop, and he only has the time to save one. Batman distracts the Riddler with a riddle himself, before destroying the Riddler's brainwave receiver with a Batarang, damaging the Riddler's mind and enabling Batman to rescue both when he sees the floor is an optical illusion. Two-Face corners them and flips his coin to decide their fate, but loses his balance after Batman throws multiple identical coins in the air, and falls to his death.
Committed to Arkham Asylum, a now-delusional Nygma exclaims that he is Batman. Bruce, the real Batman, resumes his crusade with Robin as his partner.
Cast Val Kilmer as Bruce Wayne / Batman. Jim Carrey as Edward Nygma / The Riddler, a Wayne Enterprises employee and later a criminal mastermind. Tommy Lee Jones as Harvey Dent / Two-Face, former Gotham City district attorney and now a gangster. Nicole Kidman as Dr. Chase Meridian, a psychologist. Chris O'Donnell as Richard "Dick" Grayson / Robin, a circus acrobat. Michael Gough as Alfred Pennyworth, Bruce Wayne's butler and confidente. Pat Hingle as James Gordon, the Gotham City police commissioner. Drew Barrymore as Sugar, Two-Face's "good" assistant. Debi Mazar as Spice, Two-Face's "bad" assistant. Elizabeth Sanders as Gossip Gerty, Gotham's top gossip columnist. René Auberjonois as Dr. Burton, Head Doctor of Arkham Asylum. Joe Grifasi as Hawkins, a bank guard. Michael Paul Chan as executive. Jon Favreau as assistant. Glory Fioramonti as Dick Grayson's mother. Larry A. Lee as Dick Grayson's father. Mitch Gaylord as Dick Grayson's older brother. George Wallace as the mayor of Gotham City. En Vogue as girls on corner. Ofer Samra as Harvey's thug. Ed Begley Jr. (uncredited) as Fred Stickley, Edward Nygma's supervisor at Wayne Enterprises.
Additionally, United States Senator and Batman fan Patrick Leahy makes an uncredited appearance as himself.
Production Development
Batman Returns was released in 1992 with financial success and generally favorable reviews from critics, but Warner Bros. was disappointed with its box office run, having made $150 million less than the first film. After Batman Returns was deemed too dark and inappropriate for children, with McDonald's even recalling their Happy Meal tie-in, Warner Bros. decided that this was the primary cause of the film's financial results. After the film's release, Warner Bros. was not interested in Tim Burton's return as director. Burton noted he was unsure about returning to direct, writing: "I don't think Warner Bros. wanted me to direct a third Batman. I even said that to them." Burton and Warner Bros. mutually agreed to part ways, though Burton would stay on as producer. Sam Raimi was briefly considered to direct, but Warner eventually deemed him to be too inexperienced at the time. John McTiernan turned down an offer to direct since he was too busy making Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995). In June 1993, Joel Schumacher was selected by Warner Bros. while he was filming The Client (1994), and with Burton's approval.
Lee and Janet Scott-Batchler, a husband-and-wife screenwriting team, were hired to write the script. Warner Bros. had lost a bidding war for their spec script titled Smoke and Mirrors to Disney's Hollywood Pictures. The project ultimately fell through, and Warner Bros. offered the Batchlers several of their film properties to write. Being familiar with the Batman comics from their childhood, the Batchlers chose to work on the next Batman film as their next project. In a meeting with Burton, they agreed that "the key element to Batman is his duality. And it's not just that Batman is Bruce Wayne".
Their original script introduced a psychotic Riddler, real name Lyle Heckendorf, with a pet rat accompanying him. A scene cut from the final film included Heckendorf obtaining his costume from a fortune-telling leprechaun at the circus. Instead of NygmaTech, the company would have been named HeckTech. The story elements and much of the dialogue remained in the finished film, though Schumacher felt it could be "lighte[ne]d down". Michael Keaton initially approved the selection of Schumacher as director and planned on reprising his role as Batman from the first two films. Schumacher claims he originally had in mind an adaptation of Frank Miller's Batman: Year One and Keaton claimed that he was enthusiastic about the idea. Warner Bros. rejected the idea as they wanted a sequel, not a prequel, though Schumacher was able to include very brief events in Bruce Wayne's childhood with some events of the comic The Dark Knight Returns. Akiva Goldsman, who worked with Schumacher on The Client, was brought in to rewrite the script. Burton, who was now more interested in directing Ed Wood (1994), later reflected he was taken aback by some of the focus group meetings for Batman Forever, a title he hated. Producer Peter MacGregor-Scott represented the studio's aim in making a film for the MTV Generation, with full merchandising appeal.
Casting Production went on a fast track with Rene Russo cast as Chase Meridian, but Keaton decided not to reprise Batman because he did not like the direction the series was headed in, and rejected the script. Keaton's departure was announced in July 1994. Keaton also wanted to pursue "more interesting roles", turning down $15 million. A decision was made to go with a younger actor for Bruce Wayne, and an offer was made to Ethan Hawke, who turned it down, but eventually regretted the decision. Hawke however would ultimately voice the character in the Batwheels animated series. Schumacher had seen Val Kilmer in Tombstone (1993), but was also interested in William Baldwin (who like Hawke would later voice the character in Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths in 2010), Alec Baldwin, Ralph Fiennes (who would later voice Alfred Pennyworth in The Lego Batman Movie in 2017), and Daniel Day-Lewis. While Burton pushed for Johnny Depp to get the role, Kurt Russell was also considered. Tom Hanks turned down the offer in favor of Apollo 13. Keanu Reeves and Dean Cain was in the mix, but Cain was dismissed because he was already known for playing Superman in TV Series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman. Kilmer, who as a child visited the studios where the 1960s series was recorded, and shortly before had visited a bat cave in Africa, was contacted by his agent for the role. Kilmer signed on by July 1994 without reading the script or knowing who the director was.
With Kilmer's casting, Warner Bros. dropped Russo, considering her too old to be paired with Kilmer. Jeanne Tripplehorn, Robin Wright, Sandra Bullock, Cindy Crawford and Linda Hamilton were considered for the role, which was eventually recast with Nicole Kidman. Kidman later revealed she took the role because she "wanted to kiss Batman." Billy Dee Williams took the role of Harvey Dent in the 1989 film on the possibility of portraying Two-Face in a sequel, but Schumacher instead cast Tommy Lee Jones in the role. Al Pacino, Clint Eastwood, Martin Sheen and Robert De Niro were also considered. Mel Gibson turned down the role in favor of Braveheart (1995). Jones was reluctant to accept the role, but did so at his son's insistence.