Here at IGN we occasionally like to showcase something from geekdom’s rich history — a pop-culture Time Capsule, if you will, that gives us a peek in to the past, perhaps providing a new appreciation for previous projects.
If you’d like, please check out the past few Time Capsules:
- The Office: Watch Seth Rogen, Bob Odenkirk, and more audition for famous Dunder Mifflin characters
- Watch Batman v Superman’s 2013 Comic-Con announcement
- Why Tim Burton wanted an ‘average’ Batman in Michael Keaton
- That time HBO and Tom Hanks made Alexander Hamilton the bad guy
- Watch how the original X-Men fight scenes were created 20 years later
[poilib element=”accentDivider”]
While many Caped Crusader fans deride 1997’s Batman & Robin, calling it the worst Bat-flick of all time, never forget that while that movie had the Bat-Credit Card, a mindless Bane, MacGregor’s Syndrome, sky surfing, and a butt-ton of puns (wait, that might be its best quality), 1995’s Batman Forever had a Batman who… didn’t know why he was Batman.
In an attempt to delve into the depths of Bruce Wayne’s fractured mind — something which the Tim Burton films tended to steer away from in the name of origin tales for Joker, Penguin, and Catwoman — Batman Forever decided to give Bruce his own side story involving a heaping helping of inner turmoil caused by a recurring dream. That dream? The one Nicole Kidman’s Chase Meridian helps Bruce examine and analyze? A repressed memory of the time Bruce explored the Batcave and came face to face with a giant bat. You know, the moment he decided he would become a bat himself in order to strike fear in the hearts of criminals everywhere.
But, alas, Bruce had apparently forgotten all about this. And so, presumedly, every night he would patrol Gotham as a bat, occasionally catching a glimpse of himself as a bat, wondering aloud “Hey, I wonder why tf I dress like a bat lol.”
In any event, it was still nice of Batman Forever to focus some of its story on Bruce for a change (meaning Two-Face’s origin was relegated to a quick flashback, naturally). And with director Joel Schumacher’s tragic passing a few weeks ago, news has emerged about a “much darker, more serious” 170-minute cut of Batman Forever existing that Warner Bros. seems to be unsure about releasing.
For this week’s Time Capsule, we’re shining a spotlight Bat-Signal on this deleted scene from the film, featuring Bruce coming face to face with the Batman-forging past that he’s somehow buried within the shadowy recesses of his psyche. Take a look at Bruce doing a cathartic “Batusi” with a massive dream bat!
[youtube clip_id=”q-ssaFJZLUU”]
Bruce forgetting about his Batcave “meet cute” with a scary winged mammal is a bit silly, sure, but this scene also contains a few of Thomas Wayne’s journal entries about how it was Bruce’s idea to go see a movie. You know, something that would shred young Master Wayne’s soul from guilt. Something that, more believably, he’d inadvertently hide down in his personal hurt locker. Something worth rediscovering during this trek into his own personal Dagobah Dark Side cave.
Of course, the journal also shows that it was Thomas who chose The Mark of Zorro as the family film to watch so really him and Martha getting killed — aka Bat-Pearl Harbor — was all the good doctor’s fault. Guilt absolved, Bruce! Go enjoy your millions. And models. And not having to do anything except watch-binge Bosch and eat gelato.
The extended cut of Batman Forever reportedly contains the big bat scene above as well as a sequence involving Tommy Lee Jones’ Two-Face escaping from Arkham Asylum and extended scenes with Jim Carrey’s Riddler when he invades the Batcave. However, most of the footage cut from the theatrical release centers on Bruce’s emotional issues – something which Christopher Nolan would fully devote an entire movie to with 2005’s Batman Begins. Schumacher’s first Bat-movie could have beaten Nolan to the punch by more fully playing around in the sandbox of Batman’s psychology, but with most of that story ending up on the cutting room floor it just became a movie where Bruce actively didn’t know why his helmet had bat ears.
So what do you all think about a possible Schumacher Cut of Batman Forever? Is that something you’d like to see? If so then, um, send Warner Bros. a box full of… Val… Kilmers. Yeah, just send them Val Kilmer. You can probably find him on Cameo.
[widget path=”global/article/imagegallery” parameters=”albumSlug=why-these-actors-turned-down-amazing-movie-roles&captions=true”]
[poilib element=”accentDivider”]
Matt Fowler is a writer for IGN and a member of the Television Critics Association. Follow him on Twitter at @TheMattFowler and Facebook at Facebook.com/MattBFowler.
Source: IGN.com Could a Batman Forever Director's Cut Restore This Giant Dream Bat Deleted Scene?