Joel Schumacher’s Even Weirder Batman Forever Director’s Cut Almost Really Happened
For years, Bat-fans have heard rumors of the release of a darker, extended cut of Joel Schumacher's Batman Forever. According to writer Akiva Goldsman, it almost happened.
Release the Schumacher Cut!
Okay, that nerdy battle cry maybe hasn’t caught on like the demands for David Ayer’s darker cut of Suicide Squad or another, longer cut of whatever Zack Snyder is making. But the Schumacher Cut of Batman Forever is a thing, a longer and darker version of the 1995 sequel based on director Joel Schumacher‘s original intentions, and according to Akiva Goldsman, who co-wrote the script with Lee Batchler and Janet Scott Batchler, the Schumacher Cut almost saw the light of day.
Speaking with Collider at SDCC 2024, Goldsman revealed that the Schumacher Cut does exist and he has seen it. “There is a preview… that is most of the material that is available put back together,” Goldsman explained.
Even though much of the deleted material has made its way onto the internet in one way or another over the years, Goldsman has long hoped to release a fully restored version of the Schumacher Cut. “My fantasy was to try to resurrect it as a celebration of Joel after he died [in 2020],” he said, referring to conversations he held with Warner Bros, back before they were sold to Discovery to form the current media conglomerate. “There’s some visual effects that need to be finished, there’s some music that would have to be if not rescored then moved around. The whole soup to nuts was about a million bucks. They were on the verge of doing it, then Warners got sold again.”
For some readers, the idea of more Batman Forever doesn’t seem like a great idea. After all, even if Batman Forever doesn’t go full camp like Schumacher’s second trip to Gotham City in 1997’s Batman & Robin, it’s still a great deal cornier than the two previous movies, directed by Tim Burton. Val Kilmer acquitted himself well as Bruce Wayne and Nicole Kidman leans into the femme fatale role as vampy therapist Chase Meridian, but Chris O’Donnell is totally miscast as a tough guy take on Dick Grayson and Tommy Lee Jones‘s Two-Face is battling with Jim Carrey‘s Riddler to see who can go bigger in each scene.
But according to Goldsman, the Schumacher Cut of Batman Forever isn’t just another slice of pre-MCU comic book movies, back when studios still seemed embarrassed to be telling superhero stories at all.
“It was a more modern interpretation of the narrative,” Goldsman said of the director’s cut, “not too dissimilar to those we have now.” Goldsman admits that there’s very little in the complete Schumacher Cut that hasn’t been seen in special features or in the version that Kevin Smith screened in front of an audience in 2023.
Those who have seen the footage point out that the Schumacher Cut still features the same arch tone and imagery as the theatrical release. Schumacher still uses lots of neon-lit black leather, Robin is still in the movie, and Jones and Carrey are still giving wacky performances. That said, some of the more infamous corny moments from the theatrical film, such as the bank security guard who bemoans “boiling acid!” or Robin doing karate while folding his laundry, have been omitted.
In fact, the Schumacher Cut downplays Robin as well as the Riddler. Instead, this version focuses on Bruce Wayne’s psychological complexity, using Two-Face as a reflection of the dual identities that Wayne cannot reconcile. Throughout the movie, Bruce has flashbacks to his parents’ deaths and he feels guilty for pestering them to go to a movie, which led to that fateful night in Crime Alley.
This storyline climaxes with Bruce getting knocked out when the Riddler and Two-Face invade Wayne Manor, causing him to forget who he is. As Alfred nurses him back to health, Bruce comes face to face with a giant man-sized bat (who is, crucially, NOT Man-Bat), which represents his escaping his guilt and fear and accepting his Batman identity. The Schumacher Cut closes with Alfred telling Meridian that Batman’s work is never done, followed by a shot of Batman and Robin standing heroically at the edge of a Gotham City tower.
Perhaps the most interesting part of this supposedly darker version of Batman Forever is that it gives us a sense of what Schumacher’s third movie would have been like. For years, Schumacher talked about a darker third movie called Batman Triumphant, in which Robin becomes Nightwing and Batman fights the Scarecrow and Harley Quinn, here reimagined as the Joker’s daughter.
Like Schumacher’s Batman Forever cut, Batman Triumphant would have likely put more attention on Bruce’s mental state and included surreal scenes to represent his reconciling with the past. Triumphant was supposed to include a scene in which the Scarecrow’s fear toxin makes Batman hallucinate about the Joker, played again by Jack Nicholson. However, like the Schumacher Cut, Batman Triumphant would have likely still been very silly and gaudy, with the same over-the-top performances and extreme visuals.
Obviously, Batman Triumphant will never happen, at least not the way Schumacher wanted. But there’s still hope that the Schumacher Cut of Batman Forever could emerge from the shadows one day. “I will, once the new DCU is moving forward, bat my eyes at everybody again and see if, once more, we can resurrect it,” promised Schumacher. And if that doesn’t work, there are always hashtags.
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Joe George’s writing has appeared at Slate, Polygon, Tor.com, and elsewhere!