Tim Burton’s Unmade ‘Catwoman’ Was an ‘$18 Million Black-and-White Movie,’ Says ‘Batman Returns’ Writer: Selina Kyle ‘Low-Key Living in a Small Town’
variety.comZack Sharf Digital News Director “Batman Returns” screenwriter Daniel Waters participated in a recent discussion about the Tim Burton-directed sequel (via IndieWire) and revealed the collaborators’ clashing visions for a spinoff project centered on Michelle Pfeiffer’s Catwoman.
Waters was envisioning a satirical take on the comic book movie genre, something he says was more akin to Prime Video’s “The Boys” these days, but Burton had something far more risky up his sleeve. “He wanted to do an $18 million black-and-white movie, like the original ‘Cat People,’ of Selina just low-key living in a small town,” Waters said. “And I wanted to make a ‘Batman’ movie where the metaphor was about ‘Batman.’ So I had her move to a Los Angeles version of Gotham City, and it’s run by three asshole superheroes.
It was ‘The Boys’ before ‘The Boys.’ But he got exhausted reading my script.” It appears Waters always wanted to inject his superhero movies with a darker satirical edge.
Per IndieWire: “Waters said the original draft of the ‘Batman Returns’ screenplay contained multiple digs at the first Burton ‘Batman’ film, a merchandising juggernaut in 1989 and a film Waters thinks ‘sucks.’ ‘Batman Returns’ was originally set to open on the Batman logo, which would pan out to reveal an in-universe merchandise store, with Batman making several references to exploitative merchandising during the film.
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