People always ask who your favourite Bond is (for the record, Timothy Dalton, obviously). Rare are those who ask who the best Batman is. Allow me to clear it up once and for all: it’s Michael Keaton. No, I’m not taking any questions or concerns at this time. End of discussion.
The thing with Keaton (born Michael Douglas, trivia fans!) is his face. It was never handsome – not really – but it almost always looked honest and sincere. It’s a good, jovial face, quick to smile but also capable of tipping into superciliousness in an instant. He put that quality to good use in Beetlejuice, which is where I first saw him (entirely too young to be watching such colourful horror). He’s the guy who’s all fun and games until it’s time to get serious, and possibly nasty. It’s what made him such a great Batman – his Bruce Wayne was sweet and funny, the edge mostly tucked away until he put on the mask and the cape.
Keaton went quiet for a few years as he got older, never completely fallow but hardly reaching the dizzy box office heights of the Batman days. Incidentally, he turned in some of my favourite performances during this time: a few scenes in Soderbergh’s Out Of Sight, and the voice of Ken in Toy Story 3. Now he’s back with Birdman, a dark comedy about a washed-up Hollywood star whose most famous role was as a superhero. A self-referential movie plus a comeback? It’s Hollywood catnip! He bit back tears during his Golden Globes speech last weekend, looking every one of his 63 years and grateful for the adulation. How lovely it must feel to be back in the fold.
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