[High Praise! to The Hollywood Reporter]

The Battle to Make Tim Burton’s ‘Batman’

I just love this part of the story:

Surprisingly, Uslan actually turned down the opportunity to make a Batman film prior to Burton’s 1989 film. “We had a company tell us that they would do us a favor and make our movie, but it had to be in the ’60s Batman redux with the POW and the WHAMS. I said, ‘No way!'”

At one particular meeting, Uslan recalls feeling particularly dejected and being asked, “Are you sure you don’t just want to do it that way? Isn’t getting a movie done better than having no movie done?'”

Uslan replied with, “Yeah I’m sure, I am not going to let it happen that way. We’re just not going to do it.”

After that heart-breaker, Uslan sat down with partner Melniker and bemoaned their situation.

“It’s just sad that everyone has been saying no,” Uslan recalls saying. The older and wiser Melniker responded with, “It’s pretty ironic that the last person to say ‘no’ was you. Do you know what you are?”

Uslan recalls responding with, “Yeah, an idiot.” Melniker shook his head and replied, “No, you’re Batman’s Batman. You are defending him, you are protecting him.”

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