In a strange way without Batman Forever we wouldn’t have Nolan’s Films? Why you ask? Because without the successes of Batman Forever Kilmer would not have done Heat. Heat was one of the major influences of Nolan’s The Dark Knight…so it’s all part of the plan. Anyway, Spinoff Online has a great write up about Chicago Comic panel where fans got to ask Val Kilmer about his long list of films. Here’s an excerpt from the article:
A fan asked for his thoughts on director Christopher Nolan’s Batman films. “They are doing what I hoped we would do, but didn’t do,” the actor replied to much laughter and applause. “Directors like Spielberg and George Lucas don’t wonder what kids think. They go ask them. That was my suggestion: ‘Why don’t we talk to the people who really love Batman?’ I had my own childhood memories of Batman, and when you think of what Bob Kane dreamt up, which led to so many stories and is still entertaining us decades later, you realize a billion dollar business has sprung up from that one idea he had. It’s really phenomenal.
“I think because of Tim Burton’s success on the first film and Nicholson being so amazing that they kind of got carried away with the idea of the bad guy being immune to rules somehow,” Kilmer continued. “In the original film the Joker gets the hell kicked out of him and thrown off the bell tower. He suffers, and that sort of went away. Things became cute. It’s entertaining, but I think what they’re doing with the Batman films now is more in the original spirit of the character.”