Michael Keaton Gives a ‘Batman’ Callback on ‘SNL’ Sketch

Article by Eric Lee

Former Batman actor Michael Keaton surprised Saturday Night Live audiences with his guest appearance as WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, but Batman fans got a bonus surprise when Keaton directly quoted from the classic 1989 film.

In the SNL cold opening, Keaton made a guest appearance as Julian Assange in prison. The Assange character compared just how much crazier he was than everybody else. When questioned by fellow cellmates, Keaton’s Assange dropped the classic line from Tim Burton’s Batman movie.

“You wanna get nuts? C’mon, let’s get nuts!”

 

‘Batman’ Callbacks

Fans of the classic movie, will recognize that the actor is directly quoting himself. In the film, Keaton as Bruce Wayne is confronted by Jack Nicholson’s Joker. Bruce starts swinging a fireplace poker, while yelling the famous line in an attempt to scare off the Joker.

 

Quoting from ‘Batman’

The greatest legacy of Batman may actually be how quotable the movie is, even 30 years after its release. While the majority of lines come from the Joker, Keaton’s Bruce/ Batman character gets a lot of good ones in too. The many amazing quotes delivered by Keaton include:

  • “You may weigh a little more than 108.”
  • “He’s out there right now… and I’ve gotta go to work.”

Plus, of course, the classic, quintessential Bat-line: “I’m Batman.”

Michael Keaton – if nothing else – is a super committed actor. Whatever role he takes, he transforms himself to fit it.


Related posts

Review: Detective Comics #1092

Review: Batman ’89: Echoes #5

Review: Batman and Santa Claus: Silent Knight Returns #4