Tim Burton has explained why he has no interest in making another superhero film.
The 65-year-old director, who is set to release the long-awaited Beetlejuice Beetlejuice starring Michael Keaton and Jenna Ortega this September, helmed both Batman (1989) and Batman Returns (1992) at the beginning of his career, but hasn’t made a superhero film since.
In a new interview with Variety, the filmmaker explained why he has no desire to return to the genre, saying: “I come at things from different points of view, so I would never say never to anything. But, at the moment, it’s not something I’d be interested in.”
The Edward Scissorhands director added: “I was lucky because at that time, the word ‘franchise’ didn’t exist. Batman felt slightly experimental at the time… It deviated from what the perception [of a superhero movie] might be.”
Burton said agreed to work on the 1992 Batman sequel, Batman Returns, because he felt “re-energised” by the film’s villains Penguin (Danny DeVito) and Catwoman (Michelle Pfeiffer). However, the first signs of studio interference quickly put him off the idea of any subsequent instalments.
“That was when we started hearing the word franchise,” he said. “And where the studio started going, ‘What’s the black stuff coming out of the Penguin’s mouth?’ It was the first time the cold wind of that kind of thing came upon me.”
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Alongside Batman, Burton had also been in talks to make a Superman film starring Nicolas Cage. While the movie never came to fruition, The Flash made a reference to the project by featuring a CGI version of Cage as the Man of Steel.
Looking back on the canned production, Burton said: “I’ve worked on a couple movies that didn’t happen after working for years on them, and those are quite traumatic. I just try to focus on things that I feel strongly about and get rid of all the noise surrounding them.”
Burton’s Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, which also sees Winona Ryder and Catherine O’Hara return to their original roles, will arrive in cinemas on September 6.