Batman and Robin movie storyline. This was the third follow-up to Tim Burton’s Batman (1989), the original revisionist look at the Gotham City legend, as well as the second in the Batman series directed by Joel Schumacher and the first featuring George Clooney as the Caped Crusader; it features not one but two super-villains, and a new heroine to fight crime alongside Bruce Wayne (aka Batman) and Dick Grayson (aka Robin) (Chris O’Donnell).
The experiments of Dr. Victor Fries (Arnold Schwarzenegger) to preserve his late wife cryogenically have gone horribly wrong, turning him into the evil genius Mr. Freeze, who must keep his body at sub-zero temperature in order to say alive — and he wants to put Gotham City on ice. Shy horticulturist Pamela Isley (Uma Thurman) goes a bit wild with a Venus Fly Trap-like creation she’s been working on and mutates into Poison Ivy, who wants to kill all the people on Earth so plants can take over. Can Batman and Robin stop these fiends before their plans go too far?
Meanwhile, Bruce and Dick’s faithful butler Alfred (Michael Gough) isn’t feeling well, so his niece Barbara (Alicia Silverstone) comes to pay a visit. When Barbara finds out what her uncle’s employers do in their spare time, she decides she wants in on the action, and she joins the crime fighting twosome as Batgirl. Batman & Robin also features Jesse Ventura in a small role as a prison guard; it would be his last film role before becoming Governor of Minnesota in 1998.
Batman & Robin is a 1997 American superhero film based on the DC Comics characters Batman and Robin. It is the fourth and final installment of Warner Bros.’ initial Batman film series. The film was directed by Joel Schumacher and written by Akiva Goldsman. It stars Arnold Schwarzenegger, George Clooney, Chris O’Donnell, Alicia Silverstone, and Uma Thurman. Batman & Robin tells the story of Batman and Robin as they attempt to prevent Mr. Freeze and Poison Ivy from freezing all mankind to death and repopulating the earth with mutant plants, while at the same time struggling to keep their partnership together. It is also to date the only live-action film appearance of Batgirl, who helps the title characters fight the villains.
Warner Bros. fast-tracked development for Batman & Robin following the box office success of the previous film, Batman Forever. Schumacher and Goldsman conceived the storyline during pre-production on A Time to Kill, while Val Kilmer decided not to reprise the role over scheduling conflicts with The Saint. Schumacher had a strong interest in casting William Baldwin in Kilmer’s place before George Clooney won the role. Principal photography began in September 1996 and finished in January 1997, two weeks ahead of the shooting schedule.
Batman & Robin was released on June 20, 1997. While it performed modestly at the box office, making $238.2 million worldwide against a production budget of $125 million, the film was a critical failure and is often considered to be one of the worst films of all time. It is also the lowest grossing live-action Batman movie to date. Due to the film’s negative reception, Warner Bros. cancelled a sequel, Batman Unchained, and rebooted the film series with Batman Begins in 2005. One of the songs recorded for the film, “The End Is the Beginning Is the End” by The Smashing Pumpkins, won a Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance at the 40th Grammy Awards.
About the Filming
The original start date was August 1996, but principal photography did not begin until September 12, 1996. Batman & Robin finished filming in late January 1997, two weeks ahead of the shooting schedule. The film was mostly shot at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, California.
When comparing work on Batman Forever, Chris O’Donnell, who portrayed Robin, explained, “It just felt like everything got a little soft the second time. On Batman Forever, I felt like I was making a movie. The second time, I felt like I was making a kid’s toy commercial.” He also complained of the Robin costume, saying it was more involved and uncomfortable than the one he wore in Batman Forever, with a glued-on mask which caused sweat to pool on his face.
According to John Glover, who played Dr. Jason Woodrue, “Joel [Schumacher] would sit on a crane with a megaphone and yell before each take, ‘Remember, everyone, this is a cartoon’. It was hard to act because that kind of set the tone for the film.”[12] Production designer Barbara Ling admitted her influences for the Gotham City design came from “neon-ridden Tokyo and the Machine Age. Gotham is like a World’s Fair on ecstasy.”[28] Rhythm and Hues and Pacific Data Images created the visual effects sequences, with John Dykstra and Andrew Adamson credited as the visual effects supervisors.
According to Shadows of the Bat: The Cinematic Saga of the Dark Knight Part 6: Batman Unbound, Chris O’Donnell revealed that despite hanging out with Arnold Schwarzenegger a lot off set and during promotion for the film, they never worked a single day together. This was achieved with stand ins when one of the actors wasn’t available. Stunt coordinator Alex Field taught Alicia Silverstone to ride a motorcycle so that she could play Batgirl.
Batman and Robin (1997)
Directed by: Joel Schumacher
Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, George Clooney, Chris O’Donnell, Uma Thurman, Alicia Silverstone, Michael Gough, Pat Hingle, Elle Macpherson, Vivica A. Fox
Screenplay by: Akiva Goldsman
Production Design by: Barbara Ling
Cinematography by: Stephen Goldblatt
Film Editing by: Dennis Virkler, Mark Stevens
Costume Design by: Ingrid Ferrin, Robert Turturice
Set Decoration by: Dorree Cooper
Art Direction by: Richard Holland, Geoff Hubbard
Music by: Elliot Goldenthal
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for strong stylized action and some innuendos.
Distributed by: Warner Bros. Pictures
Release Date: June 20, 1997
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