After two very good Batman directed by the whimsical Tim Burton, Warner decided to oust the director to entrust the reins of the franchise to Joel Shumacher and open it to a wider audience. A very doubtful strategic choice which will result in two big failures: Batman Forever in 1995 then Batman & Robin two years later. If on the first, Tim Burton still remains a producer and manages to infuse some references that we know (which does not prevent the film from having a series of embarrassing situations), Batman & Robin does even worse and veers into clownery, as evidenced by his tight-fitting costumes with visible nipples. Not sure that the members of the 5-star cast, who completely overplayed, want to see their performances again today.
#1 George Clooney – Batman (Batman & Robin)
George Clooney undoubtedly holds the prize for the actor who played the leading role in the worst superhero film of all time. But we knew he had little investment in his more than doubtful costume. Because George Clooney is a big name in Hollywood. He won the Golden Globe for Best Actor for The Descendants in 2011 before touching consecration with Argo, Oscar for best film in 2013. It also remains one of the indestructible elements of the franchise Oceanplaying in all three films, between 2001 and 2007, alongside Brad Pitt. This year, he found his old friend on Wolf, a thriller directed by Jon Watts which tells the story of two mercenaries.
#2 Chris O’Donnell – Robin (Batman & Robin)
Following the poor critical and public reception of Batman and RobinWarner Bros. decided to cancel his plans around Robin (the objective was to make him a hero in his own right and make him stand on his own two feet). Too bad for Chris O'Donnell, who had the opportunity to definitively launch his career in Hollywood. At the same time, a year earlierhe declined the lead role of Men in Blackleaving Will Smith to don the black costume and enjoy the success of the license. Chris O'Donnell will finally find recognition on the small screen in the series NCIS Los Angelesplaying the role of Callen, until having his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2015.
#3 Uma Thurman – Poison Ivy (Batman & Robin)
The interpreter of Poison Ivy is completely freewheeling in Shumacher's turnip. Overly made-up and the source of the most embarrassing jokes in the film, Uma Thurman contrasts radically with her other performances, as in Pulp Fiction a year earlier. Still very young at the time (25 years old), the American actress bounced back in the most beautiful way in ruthless revenge for Quentin Tarantino in the diptych Kill Billas well as in Welcome to Gattaca. The most cinephiles will see it this winter in Oh, Canadaa film which will be in official competition at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival.
#4 Arnold Schwarzenegger – Mr. Freeze (Batman & Robin)
If we wonder what Arnold Schwarzenegger was doing in Batman & Robinthe answer is financial. The actor, known for Total Recall, Predator et Terminator received a huge sum for playing one of his worst film roles. The media THR reports an amount of'a million dollars per day of filmingor $25 million in total. It was also from this year that his career stalled, despite a short success in Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines in 2003. After a big shift in politics, “Shwarzy” returns to his role as strong arm by joining the team Expandable, in the second and third opuses.
#5 Alicia Silverstone – Batgirl (Batman & Robin)
Alicia Silverstone is certainly the actress who keeps from the filming of Batman & Robin the worst memory. What should have been an opportunity for the actress, who was only 20 years old at the time, and had everything to prove, turned into a nightmare. The young star suffered very harsh and unfair criticismthe press having described it as “grosse”. A very bad experience which impacted the rest of her career, since she announced that she had subsequently turned away from comedies. Behind, the star of Clueless (1995) never really bounced back. She still found some color thanks to the Netflix thriller Reptile (2023), and will soon be showing in Bugoniathe next film from Yorgos Lanthimos, who won the Golden Lion for best film at Venice last year for Poor Creatureswith Emma Stone, Oscar winner for best actress.
#6 Val Kilmer – Batman (Batman Forever)
A true star of the 90s, we still wonder what pushed Val Kilmer to take on the costume of the Dark Knight in Shumacher's film, as he seems so uncomfortable throughout the film. A performance completely different from that of a gangster alongside the monuments Al Pacino and Robert DeNiro in Heat the same year, or in his role as Iceman, the rival of Pete Mitchell (Tom Cruise) in Top Gun in 1986. Despite his throat cancer, the actor returned to his suite Top Gun : Maverick, more than 30 years later. This is thanks to artificial intelligence, which was able to reproduce his original voice.
#7 Jim Carrey – the Riddler (Batman Forever)
In Batman ForeverJim Carrey does Jim Carrey, to the point of becoming a parody of himself. Completely overexcited, the star of The Mask forms a completely absurd duo with Tommy Lee Jones. We knew him in better shape in Ace Ventura, dog and cat detective, The Mask and Dumb and Dumber. If in 2022 he announced that he would end his career, he finally decided to turn around, saying he was broke. Excellent news for his fans who will find him in Sonic 3, scheduled to hit theaters on December 25. Obviously determined to reconnect with fortune, Jim Carrey could even play the Grinch again, more than twenty after the first part, but also in the continuation of The Mask, one of his most cult films, and one of the first huge successes of his career, with 351 million worldwide receipts.
#8 Tommy Lee Jones – Double-Face (Batman Forever)
Two-Face's gritty jokes certainly won't stick in Tommy Lee Jones' memory. The immense actor has accustomed his audience to more serious roles as a man with responsibility, like Clay Shaw in JFKthat of Marshal Gerard, launched in the footsteps of Harrison Ford in The Fugitiveof this other Texan cowboy who investigates the assassination of a Mexican cowherd on Three Burialsand of course the fatalistic sheriff in the excellent No Country fo Old Men. Even in Men in Black, he plays the role of the serious and thoughtful agent alongside the madness of young Will Smith.
#9 Nicole Kidman – Dr Chase Meridian (Batman Forever)
What about Nicole Kidman? The immense American actress has finally lifted the veil on the reasons which pushed her to accept the role of Dr. Chase Meridian, the psychologist with a bit of a nymphomaniac who serves as Batman's love spring in Shumacher's film. This year, she explained that she signed the contract to be able to “kiss Batman!”neither more nor less. The now 57-year-old star got her chance to star in another superhero movie when she played Queen Atlanna in Aquaman, then in the sequel released in 2023, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom. But Nicole Kidman is also and above all cult roles in Eyes Wide Shut by Stanley Kubrick, The Others; Scandal, The Northman, Dogville or even Days of Thunder. The actress is currently starring in the thriller The Perfect Couplebased on the novel by Elin Hilderbrand, where she plays Greer Garrison, a matriarch suspected in the murder of her son's fiancée.
And to go further, discover what happened to the actors of the first two Batman, ici et To be.
