10 Actors Who Didn't Understand Their Own Movie
2. George Clooney - Batman & Robin
When Michael Keaton was cast to play Batman in Tim Burton's 1989 take on the Dark Knight, the world laughed at the casting choice. Then, everyone saw the movie and realized Keaton knew what he was doing, and he remained for the sequel. The third movie starred Val Kilmer in the same role, and he didn't do a terrible job.
When Kilmer was done with it, the job went to George Clooney, and if there was ever a person who didn't understand the character or the movie they were starring it, it was him. Clooney is a phenomenal actor, but he clearly didn't know who Batman was before he started filming.
To be fair, it's not 100% Clooney's fault that the movie tanked. It was a horribly bad movie, filled with terrible jokes, Bat-Nipples, stupid puns, ridiculous situations, and way too many bad guys for anyone to deal with in a single film.
Clooney has talked about his time in the cape and cowl, and he admits he wasn't the best pick to play the Dark Knight. He's apologized for his performance on a number of occasions, and years later, he explicitly said what he thought:
"Let me just say that I’d actually thought I’d destroyed the franchise until somebody else brought it back years later and changed it. I thought at the time that this was going to be a very good career move. It wasn’t."