Latest news with #BatmanReturns'
Perth Now
02-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Perth Now
Danny DeVito loved 'the operatic element' of Batman Returns
Danny DeVito "loved" playing The Penguin in 'Batman Returns'. The 80-year-old actor played the iconic character in the 1992 superhero film, and DeVito relished the opportunity of playing The Penguin in the Tim Burton-directed movie. The Hollywood star - who appeared in the film alongside the likes of Michael Keaton, Michelle Pfeiffer and Christopher Walken - told Variety: "I loved it because it gave you a freedom that burst out." DeVito particularly cherished working with the film's director. He said: "You can go off the rails with something. "The operatic element of Tim Burton's 'Batman Returns' was my favourite thing about it - the music and sets and the whole thing. The Shakespeare of it - 'All the world's a stage.' [The Penguin's] realm and his penguins and his minions and his passion. I loved that." DeVito also enjoyed the experience of working with Michelle Pfeiffer, who played Catwoman in the superhero film. He shared: "I'm not comparing anything, but I'm just saying, she was a goddess. If I knew she was going to be in a scene that day … I got all flushed. Put extra makeup on - 'Give me another pound of makeup.' It was very difficult." DeVito actually spent hours in a make-up chair every day before filming. The veteran actor said: "We started with a five- or six-hour make-up job, then they whittled it down. Every morning, I was in the chair for three and a half hours." Despite this, DeVito ultimately developed a strict ritual during the shoot that helped him to cope with the long working days. He said: "I was there every day for 66 days. "In make-up, cooking pasta in the afternoon, having meals, making meatballs. I'm in the middle of a scene in the Penguin's lair, and this wonderful guy who worked with me, I [call] him over. He goes through all these catwalks; he goes, 'What is it, Dan?' And I said, 'Stir the sauce.' He had to go back to the trailer to stir the tomato sauce." What's more, DeVito actually spent time with some penguins in preparation for playing the iconic character. The movie star recalled: "I went down to the zoo in San Diego, and they let me in the back to go hang out with the king penguins." DeVito's performance as The Penguin remains one of the most memorable of his career. And the actor previously revealed that he'd happily return to the Batman franchise if Tim Burton helms another movie. He told ScreenRant: "If Tim Burton was directing it, I'd be there in a second. Oswald Cobblepot is my favourite. I had a good time. Its operatic. "I like every once in a while going big, and so I'd do that in a second. We had a ball doing that."
Yahoo
05-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito Have 'Twins' Reunion with Surprise Guest: 'Love Bringing Old Friends Together'
Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito had another reunion, with a special guest joining them for the photo op: Tony Blair "I love bringing old friends together!" the actor and former California governor captioned the snap of himself, DeVito and the former U.K. prime minister Schwarzenegger recently honored DeVito with a theater award in New York City Two worlds are colliding for Arnold Schwarzenegger. The actor and former California governor shared a photo on Sunday, May 4, of himself posing alongside his Twins costar and longtime friend Danny DeVito, plus former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair, who stood between the two actors. Schwarzenegger, 77, DeVito, 80, and Blair, 71, were all dressed dapperly for the photo op, smiling at the camera as they were snapped in front of an outdoor pool. "I love bringing old friends together!" the Terminator star wrote in his caption. "It was fantastic to see my dear friend Tony Blair and introduce him to my brother, @dannydevito. I can't wait to talk about terminating pollution together in Vienna at the @schwarzeneggerclimate summit!" Twins is a buddy comedy that centers on Schwarzenegger and DeVito as genetically engineered fraternal twins separated at birth. The movie grossed $111 million at the domestic box office upon its release and was the fifth highest-grossing film of 1988, per Box Office Mojo. Never miss a story — sign up for to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human-interest stories. Related: Arnold Schwarzenegger Thinks He Would Have Been a Great President: 'I Have the Energy' And while a previously planned follow-up movie called Triplets has not come to fruition, DeVito and Schwarzenegger are collaborating on something else. 'We're working on something, a project that we're going to do together, another movie,' DeVito told CNN in March 2024. Of his friendship with the bodybuilder-actor-politician, DeVito noted that their bond predated their 1988 comedy about an unlikely pair of brothers. 'Arnold and I are good buddies. We met way before Twins, years ago,' he said. DeVito also joked, 'We missed Twins 2, because he became governor — which, he should have done Twins 2 instead of becoming governor." Schwarzenegger put his acting career on hold when he ran for the California governorship. The actor served in office from 2003 to 2011. is now available in the Apple App Store! Download it now for the most binge-worthy celeb content, exclusive video clips, astrology updates and more! Related: Danny DeVito's Most Memorable Roles: From 'Batman Returns' to 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest' The longtime friends have reunited several times over the years, and were event among the presenters at the 96th Academy Awards ceremony in March 2024. This past March, Schwarzenegger presented DeVito with the Jason Robards Award for Excellence in Theatre at Roundabout Theatre Company in New York City. "Last night, I had the opportunity to surprise my brother, @dannydevito, and be there to help present him with the Robards Award for Excellence in Theatre at @roundaboutnyc," Schwarzenegger captioned a photo carousel of himself and DeVito onstage at the ceremony. "It didn't matter that I filmed all day and had to throw on a jacket and hustle on stage. I had to be there, because he deserves to be celebrated," added the Kindergarten Cop actor in his post, concluding, "Be there for your friends and family." Read the original article on People
New York Times
02-04-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
When Val Kilmer Was Batman and the '90s Were Their Most '90s
In June 1995 a pop confection hit thousands of movie screens. It seemed to embody what both boosters and critics have identified as that decade's end-of-history nonchalance. It was, of all things, a Batman movie. And holding it together, the sturdy straight man surrounded by abject goofiness, was Val Kilmer, the actor who died at the age of 65 on Tuesday. 'Batman Forever' was the third movie in a franchise kicked off in 1989 by the director Tim Burton's brooding 'Batman.' Starring Michael Keaton in the title role and Jack Nicholson as the Joker, 'Batman' was, by the standards of the time, dark for a comic-book flick. Burton's and Keaton's follow-up, 'Batman Returns' (1992), failed to repeat the original's box-office success. So a new director, Joel Schumacher, was brought in expressly to make what one journalist termed a 'Batman Lite.' Schumacher was a fan of Kilmer's portrayal of Doc Holliday in the 1993 western 'Tombstone' and tapped him as his leading man. This was not Burton's Batman. 'There's not much to contemplate here,' the critic Janet Maslin wrote in The New York Times, 'beyond the spectacle of gimmicky props and the kitsch of good actors (all of whom have lately done better work elsewhere) dressed for a red-hot Halloween.' Schumacher favored showy camera angles and a garish color scheme. The villains — Jim Carrey played the Riddler, Tommy Lee Jones was Two-Face — were freely permitted to chew the scenery. Batman's suit had nipples. The movie was weird. It was also a box-office smash. It broke an opening-weekend record and eventually brought in more than $336 million worldwide, besting its predecessor by tens of millions of dollars. In his highest-profile role ever, Kilmer played Batman and Bruce Wayne as stolid. He romances Kidman's psychologist with aw-shucks respectability ('Chicks love the car'). He combats his antagonists' ridiculousness with a straight face. His Wayne is tortured and guilt-wracked, and also middle-aged. No longer just a son seeking vengeance, he becomes a father figure to an orphaned young man (who turns out to become Robin, played by Chris O'Donnell). The outlandishness of 'Batman Forever' was recognized almost immediately as emblematic of its era. The next year, the French director Olivier Assayas made 'Irma Vep,' a satire of modern blockbuster moviemaking. While the sleek black suit that the star of the film-within-the-film must wear is most obviously a reference to Michelle Pfeiffer's Catwoman of 'Batman Returns,' the gaudy aesthetic is all 'Batman Forever.' There have since been efforts to reclaim Kilmer's film as something of an unsung masterpiece. Vera Drew, the director of last year's art house independent movie 'The People's Joker,' credited 'Batman Forever' as its primary influence. But Kilmer was one-and-done as the Caped Crusader. He did not return for Schumacher's follow-up, 'Batman & Robin' (1997), and decades later told The Times that the role felt like too much of a cipher. 'It's not about Batman,' he said. 'There is no Batman.' He was replaced by George Clooney. 'Batman & Robin' was a relative flop best remembered today for the execrable puns uttered by Arnold Schwarzenegger's Mr. Freeze ('All right everyone — chill'). That iteration of the franchise ended there. The kind of comic-book movie that 'Batman Forever' typified faded away, to be replaced the following decade by the grittiness of Christopher Nolan's 'Dark Knight' trilogy and the real-world irony of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Not counting his brief appearance three years ago in 'Top Gun: Maverick,' Kilmer was never again in so big a movie. But 'Batman Forever' is an immaculate artifact of its time, in much the same manner as 'Top Gun' (1986), another of Kilmer's most memorable films. It was not the best '90s movie, but it may have been the most '90s movie. When historians wish to learn what it was like to live in the United States during the height of its unipolar moment atop the world, they could do worse than to dust off Kilmer's Batman suit, nipples and all.
New York Times
24-02-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Steve Carell, Justin Bieber headline Los Angeles charity hockey game: ‘These guys were ready'
LOS ANGELES — Playing in a charity hockey game hosted by the LA Kings on Sunday, Justin Bieber took it upon himself to drop the gloves against a former NHL player. 'I can say I got beat up by Justin Bieber,' said Jeremy Roenick, a recent inductee into the Hockey Hall of Fame. 'That's a great day.' The 'fight' they had saw Bieber, a noted hockey enthusiast and proud Toronto Maple Leafs fan, pull Roenick's jersey pulled over the veteran's head in a tussle following a goal by Roenick. It was one of numerous lighthearted moments that came out of an event at Arena to raise money and support recovery efforts for the January wildfires that destroyed neighborhoods throughout suburban Los Angeles, including Pacific Palisades and Altadena. Advertisement Skate For LA Strong recognized the first responders who fought the destructive fires, with the Palisades and Eaton blazes claiming 29 lives and burning an estimated 16,200 structures. Those responders and their families were the honored attendees for Sunday's charity games, with four teams comprised of celebrities, firefighters, NHL alumni and other personalities in competition. It was a motley crew of individuals coming together. Former MLB catcher Joe Mauer, a Minnesota native and resident who gravitated to baseball and basketball instead, played on ponds but went away from organized hockey when the family saw how expensive it was for his older brother to play. 'I never thought I had to leave Minnesota to play a hockey game,' Mauer joked. 'Here we are.' There was no viral moment like at the 2017 NHL All-Star Weekend in Los Angeles, when Bieber was driven into the glass by Chris Pronger, complete with a perfectly captured photo of Bieber being smushed by the legendary defenseman, proudly wearing a devilish smile. But on Sunday, Bieber did get a drop pass from Jeff Carter and attempted a toe-drag move, only to be denied by Billy Blase, a 37-year-old Santa Monica native who played in the U.S. National Team Development Program and for Yale. Steve Carell, a goalie in college before he gained fame on 'The Office,' was playing defense — and not all that detailed — on this afternoon for Team Black. Actor Taylor Kitsch showed off his hockey skills from his days of Junior A play in the BCHL by scoring a neat goal for Team Blue. Danny DeVito was one of the guest coaches and cracked off one-liners. GO DEEPER Steve Carell's college hockey teammates 'didn't know he was funny because we were idiots' 'We're going full bore on these guys,' DeVito spoke of his pregame message for Team Blue. 'I want to see chiclets.' And of an early shift change, the diminutive star of 'Taxi,' 'Batman Returns' and 'It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia' quipped, 'That line wants to lie down.' 'Stay at home,' Will Ferrell, noted Kings fan and season-ticket holder, barked out to his Team Black players during the game. 'Stay at home. I don't know what that means. But stay at home.' Advertisement Manon Rhéaume, twice a world champion goalie for Canada who once played in two exhibition games for the Tampa Bay Lightning, wanted no part of the net. 'Especially in a game like this,' Rhéaume said, smiling. 'Nobody can play defense.' Levity and fun were the order of the day. 'I know a lot of people that have lost their homes,' said David Boreanaz, Philadelphia Flyers fan and star of 'Bones' and 'SEAL Team.' 'In speaking with them, it doesn't stop. The grief doesn't stop, and it stays with them. And this is an opportunity to shed some grief for them, give some healing for them.' Team Red, with actors Vince Vaughn and Cobie Smulders running the bench, was the last team standing as it won both of its games in shutout fashion. Vaughn threw credit Smulders' way in jest, saying the 'How I Met Your Mother' star and member of the Marvel Universe was 'doing the little things. Day in and day out. You see it on the ice.' Smulders and her husband, actor Taran Killam, lost their home in the Palisades. The competitive element that fueled the former NHL players in their careers quickly bubbled to the surface. Vaughn didn't have to channel Peter La Fleur, his 'Dodgeball' character, to provide inspiration for a ragtag group. 'These guys were ready,' Vaughn said. 'I said, 'Just don't get content. There's one more to go.' And I didn't have to say anything. These guys were off the leash and ready. I felt bad for the other team at some point.' Roenick, with tongue in cheek, chimed in, 'We were a well-oiled machine today. There's no question about it.' But there was a serious element that couldn't be ignored. The Kings were the first Los Angeles sports team to be directly impacted as their scheduled Jan. 8 home game against the Calgary Flames was postponed. The Los Angeles Rams had to relocate to State Farm Stadium in Phoenix — the home of the Arizona Cardinals — to play their first-round NFL playoff game. The NBA's Lakers and Clippers also had to move home contests. Advertisement The Kings helped lead the way in recovery efforts. Their practice facility in El Segundo became a donation center. Team president Luc Robitaille worked with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman on arranging the charity game. Teams throughout the league made donations through 50-50 ticket sales at their home games. 'I remember talking to Craig Conroy, who's the GM in Calgary,' Robitaille said. 'No one hesitated. We knew we had to cancel the game and move on. And then we saw how it just seemed to get bigger and bigger for the next few days. 'Those are things that happen and there's things that are much more important. Even though we love our game and it's our job and everything, it was way above anything that we've ever seen.' Jason Northgrave, a firefighter based out of El Segundo, was on the front lines of the Palisades blaze. Hockey is in Northgrave's blood. A native of London, Ont., who counts himself a lifelong Maple Leafs fan, he cherished moments such as meeting Rob Blake, the Hall of Fame defenseman and current Kings general manager, or Dion Phaneuf skating with him and his son. He reveled in hearing the 'game plan' from coaches Ferrell and Snoop Dogg. 'For me today, growing up a hockey fan and being here getting to play with some guys that I grew up watching, it's amazing,' Northgrave said. 'And having the celebrities here too to come out and show their love and support means a lot.' (Top photo of Jeremy Roenick and Justin Bieber: Bailey Holiver / NHLI via Getty Images)
