12 Ridiculous Castings That Almost Ruined DC Comic Book Movies
9. Bill Murray - Batman
The Role: Batman
Who Was Cast Instead: Michael Keaton
What Happened?
Before Tim Burton was unexpectedly hired by Warner Bros and Keaton was controversially cast as the Bat, Ivan Reitman was attached to an alternate script called 'The Batman' that had been in development from 1983. After the success of Ghostbusters, Bill Murray was the studio favorite to join Reitman on the project.
The film then stumbled into development hell, was heavily rewritten and Reitman left with Burton coming on board. He had different ideas and fought to cast Keaton while the studio held onto the idea of Murray. He won, thankfully.
The Results
Considering how irate the fans were when Keaton was cast, Murray's casting would probably have derailed the Earth from its axis.
Though Keaton was a comedic actor, he had an intensity and a weirdness to him that had made Beetlejuice so compelling to watch that Murray simply didn't have in his locker then. Sure, he's grown into an actor with a sort of contemplative cool about him, but his shtick has always been about comfort (even with douche-bag characters) and there's no way he would have sold Bruce Wayne's idiosyncratic weirdness or Batman's action hero spirit.