During a recent episode of "The Graham Norton Show," actor George Clooney once again apologized for the highly criticized 1997 film "Batman & Robin," in which he played Bruce Wayne a.k.a. the Batman. The film, which has an 11 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes, is often cited as one of the worst comic book movies of all time.
"I always apologize for 'Batman & Robin,'" the actor explained on the show. "I thought at the time this was going to be a very good career move. Um, it wasn't."
The actor continued to explain that the movie almost ruined the franchise. Luckily, just about eight years later, the series was rebooted by Christopher Nolan with his release of "Batman Begins," starring Christian Bale in the titular role. This rebooted franchise would later spawn the award-winning "The Dark Knight" and its sequel, "The Dark Knight Rises."
Clooney also spoke about Joel Schumacher's method of directing, stating that the helmer made it very difficult to set the tone, particularly for emotional scenes. He explained this was because the director often used a microphone and very loud speakers while on set.
Later on, he criticized the suit that he was made to wear for the film. According to Clooney, the Batman costume weighed approximately 60 pounds and was very hard to move in, let alone act in.
However, there are a lot of other things wrong with the movie that go beyond Clooney's involvement. The costume is notorious for its nipples, Arnold Schwarzenegger's lines are all one-line puns playing on his character's name Mr. Freeze, and the film's version of Bane is a big disservice to the character's depth and story as seen in the comics.
According to a report from Screen Rant, this isn't even the first time that the actor has expressed his regret. The report cites that the actor has been avoiding comic book conventions ever since the film was released, and has apologized on several occasions since 2000.
In 2014, Clooney attended the New York Comic-Con and made an apology directly to Adam West, who portrayed the character in the 1960's TV series, and while he was promoting "Tomorrowland," he also apologized to the fans for nearly destroying the Batman film franchise.
