The history of Batman in the cinema is enormous, full of very interesting details that make us think how different some installments could have been. Having said that, How would things have been with Robin Williams in Batman Forever?
The iconic actor was considered to be one of the antagonists of that film. And he wasn’t going to play just any villain, huh… He’s also the protagonist of Jumanji He had a chance to be The Riddler, that grouper that finally came into the hands of Jim Carrey.
Robin Williams in ‘Batman Forever’ and the possibility of playing The Riddler
It’s strange to imagine Robin Williams in Batman Forever as The Riddler, No? And we do not mean this in a derogatory way; he was a real raffle of acting. However, it is difficult to think of that character being played by someone other than Jim Carrey, who gave a cartoonish and brilliantly crazed air to the villain.
But hey, believe it or not, Williams could have been in charge of bringing Edward Nygma to life on the big screen. He remembered it like that Akiva Goldsman, screenwriter of that filmin a recent interview with The Playlist: “When I got there (to ‘Batman Forever’), no one had been cast yet, and it was still going to be Michael (Keaton)”said the also producer.
Let’s remember that before you enter Batman Returns from 1992 and Batman Forever from 1995, the franchise went through some changes. Tim Burton left the direction for the third part and Joel Schumacher took the position, and with it also came Michael Keaton’s resignation to be replaced by Val Kilmer.
Well, when Schumacher came to direct the 1995 film, he commissioned Akiva Goldsmith to check out the possibility of having Robin William in Batman Forever. At the time, it didn’t seem like something unreasonable. Williams himself had already been considered to play the Joker before Jack Nicholson took the character in 1989.
“I remember something like one extraordinary day where Joel (Schumacher) sent me to San Francisco, and I spent the day in Robin’s kitchen and he was just going on about Riddler… And he was like, ‘genius’ is not the right word. . It was as if he had opened his head and the universe was simply speaking to him. she was so cute and so kind“Akiva Goldsman told in the aforementioned interview.
Why didn’t Robin Williams take the role anymore?
Although some versions say that Williams refused to enter the franchise of Batman due to the snub that they did to him with the Joker, the recent words of Akiva Goldsman show that I was excited to do the Riddler.
The actor had many ideas for the character and without a doubt, it would have been a milestone to have him in that cast if we take into account the outstanding casting that was made. But at the end of the day, the Robin Williams thing in Batman Forever It was not given because, apparently, the also protagonist of Dead Poets Society and the director Schumacher did not share the same vision regarding the role.
“In the end, he and Joel didn’t see eye to eye… Jim (Carrey) came in. Jim was amazing”Goldsman added in the interview with The Playlist. It was not detailed what precisely the disagreement between Williams and Schumacher was, but it sounds like Robin was possibly not so convinced of the turn that the new director gave to the saga.
Let’s remember that one of the main criticisms that the Batman received from Schumacher went for the lighter, cartoonish tone he gave the franchise, leaving behind the darker plot that Tim Burton gave to the story. And well, you know, in the end everything collapsed with the eventually fatal movie Batman y Robin con George Clooney.
But well… And you, How do you think things would have turned out with Robin Williams in Batman Forever? Do you think it would have been a box office hit or nothing beats Jim Carrey’s version of the Riddler?
