With Robert Pattinson having a very successful launch to his newfound ‘Batman’ film career, it’s always fun to look back at the history of the character on film. Specifically, as recalled recently by Bill Murray, the history of Batman on the big screen could have had a very different beginning.
Speaking to Yahoo, Bill Murray confirmed that back in the early ‘80s, before Ivan Reitman and he teamed up to make “Ghostbusters,” the filmmaker had his eyes on Murray to play Batman in a comedic take on the Caped Crusader. Yes, this predates Tim Burton’s work on the franchise, which would culminate in 1989’s “Batman.” But apparently, according to Murray, things started to fall apart when the actor approached Eddie Murphy about playing his Robin in the film.
“I talked to Eddie Murphy about it, and Eddie wanted to play Batman,” Murray said. “That’s as far as that conversation went.”
“I don’t wanna be the Boy Wonder to anybody,” he added. “Maybe much earlier when I was a boy. But it was too late for that by the ’80s. Also, I couldn’t do the outfit. Eddie looks good in purple, and I look good in purple. In red and green, I look like one of Santa’s elves. There was just a lot of vanity involved in the production. It wasn’t gonna happen.”
Not a lot is known about what the take on “Batman” would have been with Reitman, Murray, and Murphy, but you have to assume it would have been primarily comedic and more in line with what Adam West did in the ‘60s. Obviously, we know that this film project fell apart and led to Tim Burton’s version of the film in 1989. So, while we didn’t get the “Batman” comedy starring two of the biggest actors of the ‘80s, we did get “Ghostbusters” and Tim Burton’s “Batman” starring Michael Keaton. Everything seemed to work out for the best.