Clooney's Son Finally Watches Dad's Batman Movie
The Oscar winner recently screened his infamous 1997 superhero flop for his 8-year-old, who had a surprisingly different reaction than critics did decades ago.
George Clooney finally faced the music. His 8-year-old son Alexander needed to see Batman & Robin, the 1997 disaster that haunts the actor's filmography to this day.
The timing felt right when Halloween rolled around. Alexander dressed up as the Dark Knight, still skeptical that his famous father once wore the cape and cowl.
"Halloween's a big holiday. My son went as Batman. He hadn't seen Batman yet. I always say to him, 'You know I was Batman.' He's always like, 'No.' I don't know that he knew how profound it was when he said I wasn't Batman," Clooney told W magazine while promoting his Netflix project Jay Kelly.
Kid-Friendly Disaster
The home screening happened just weeks ago. Clooney braced himself for the inevitable judgment from his young critic.
"A couple of weeks ago, I finally showed it to him. It wasn't great for grown-ups, but it's great for eight-year-olds, so he loved it. My daughter, meanwhile, went as a witch. She doesn't like all the princess stuff. She likes to be the evil witch."
Joel Schumacher's blockbuster remains one of the most ridiculed superhero movies ever made. The film paired Clooney's nipple-suited Batman against Uma Thurman's Poison Ivy, Arnold Schwarzenegger's pun-heavy Mr. Freeze, and Robert Swenson's Bane.
Cast Reflects on the Chaos
Chris O'Donnell, who played Robin, recently opened up about the production's troubled reception. "It is what it is. Some work out and some don't. All of a sudden, you were starting to get the feedback, and you realize it was just going sideways," he explained to Entertainment Weekly.
The backlash hit hard. "There was so much hatred of the film when it came out. It was like, 'Oh my God.' And you want to do your job and promote the movie... I remember at one point [director] Joel Schumacher just threw up the flag. He's like, 'I'm out. I can't do it anymore.' He was so heartbroken and kind of bummed out about it."
Alicia Silverstone, who played Batgirl, remembered the chaotic shoot differently. "I remember a lot of things not making sense. We would be in a big warehouse and there was so many extras and so much going on," she recalled.
Clooney became her protector on set. "[Clooney] really was like a big brother in those circumstances. So cool. He stood up for me and was reasonable when things were not. And to get the outfit on took so much time and energy. And once you had it on, you couldn't go to the bathroom for ages. These were not easy costumes. You had to put baby powder all over your body to get it on. The whole thing was a big production."
Career-Changing Failure
The movie's failure became Clooney's turning point. When accepting his AFI Lifetime Achievement Award, he named Batman & Robin as his most influential film.
"It's really easy to pick: Batman & Robin. That's not a joke. Up until that moment, I was an actor only concerned with finding work. After the failure of that film creatively, I understood that I needed to take control of the films I made, not just the role. My next three films were Out of Sight, Three Kings, and O Brother, Where Art Thou?"
Those three movies launched Clooney into A-list territory and established him as both a serious actor and filmmaker. Sometimes the worst mistakes create the best opportunities.