Michael Keaton

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Michael Keaton (born Michael John Douglas on September 5, 1951) is an American actor best known for his roles in the films Batman, Batman Returns, Beetlejuice, and Multiplicity.

[edit] Early life

Keaton was born in Coraopolis, Pennsylvania (near Pittsburgh), and studied speech for two years at Kent State, before dropping out and moving to Pittsburgh. An unsuccessful attempt at stand-up comedy led Keaton to working as a TV cameraman in a cable station, and he came to realize he wanted to work in front of the cameras.

[edit] Early career

Keaton left Pittsburgh and moved to Los Angeles to begin auditioning for various TV parts. He first appeared on TV in several episodes of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood (1975), and cropped up in other popular TV shows including Maude (1977) and The Mary Tyler Moore Hour (1979). Around this time Keaton decided to use an alternative surname to remove confusion with well known actor Michael Douglas, as well as satisfying SAG rules, and after reading an article on actress Diane Keaton, he decided on "Michael Keaton".

His next key break was scoring a co-lead alongside James Belushi in the short-lived comedy series Working Stiffs (1979), which showcased his comedic talent and got him into the casting for the co-lead in Night Shift (1982). His role as the hilariously fast-talking schemer Bill "Blaze" Blazejowski alongside nerdish morgue attendant Henry Winkler earned Keaton some critical acclaim, and he scored leads in the subsequent comedy hits Mr. Mom (1982) , Johnny Dangerously, and Gung Ho (1986).

His role as the title character in the 1988 Tim Burton horror-comedy Beetlejuice, which starred Alec Baldwin, Geena Davis, and Winona Ryder, earned Keaton widespread acclaim and boosted him to the A-list.

[edit] Batman

Keaton as Bruce Wayne/Batman in Batman Returns

Keaton's career was given another major boost when in 1989 he was again cast by Burton, this time as billionaire playboy and crime-fighter Bruce Wayne in the big budget film Batman. Tim Burton cast him in the title role of Batman (1989) because he thought that Keaton was the only actor who could believably portray someone who has the kind of darkly obsessive personality that the character has. After the Keaton casting, Warner Bros. received thousands of letters of complaint by fans commenting that the comedic Keaton was the wrong choice for Gotham City's creature of the night, given his prior work in comedies and the fact that he lacked the suave, handsome features and tall, muscular physicality often attributed to the character in the comic books. However, their fears were proven wrong when Keaton turned in a widely-acclaimed performance.

According to Keaton, he wasn't surprised when he was first considered as Batman since he was only familiar with the 1960s Batman television series, but it wasn't until Burton introduced Keaton to Frank Miller's "The Dark Knight Returns" that Keaton really understood the dark and brooding side of Batman that he portrayed to much fan approval.

Keen to diversify his work and take on different types of characters, Keaton next appeared as a psychotic tenant in Pacific Heights and as a hard-working cop in One Good Cop. They were both relative flops, but he returned to wear the black cape and cowl again in Batman Returns (1992).

He was prepared to return for Batman Forever (1995), even going so far as to show up for costume fitting. However, when Burton was dropped by Warner Bros. (slated to executive produce), Keaton left the series after being dissatisfied with the screenplay the new director, Joel Schumacher, approved, which Keaton considered to be lighter in tone in comparision to the past two Batman movies. According to the A&E Biography episode on Michael Keaton, after he had refused the first time (due to analysis of the script and meetings with Schumacher), Warner Brothers then offered him 35 million dollars (one of the highest salaries offered to an actor at the time), but Keaton steadfastly refused. In marked contrast to their initial reaction, many fans complaining about the following two Batman films often demanded not only that Tim Burton be rehired as director but that Keaton play Batman again.

See also: Batman Forever and Batman & Robin (1997 film)

He would later be asked to reprise his role in a cameo appearance in Tim Burton's Superman Lives, before the project was ultimately cancelled.

Keaton stated in early 2005 that he had very high hopes that the reboot (meaning not bearing any continuity with Keaton's Batman films) Batman Begins, in which Christian Bale played the Caped Crusader, would put the franchise back on track.

[edit] 1990s

He remained in demand during the 1990s, appearing in a wide range of films including the star-studded Shakespearian Much Ado About Nothing (1993), another Ron Howard comedy The Paper (1994), with Andie MacDowell in Multiplicity (1996), as Elmore Leonard character Agent Ray Nicolette in Jackie Brown (1997) and Out of Sight (1998), and in the thriller Desperate Measures (1998).

[edit] 2000s

Since 2000, Keaton has appeared in several productions with mixed success including Live From Baghdad (2002), White Noise (2005), First Daughter (2004), and Herbie: Fully Loaded with Lindsay Lohan (2005). While he continues to receive good notices from the critics (particularly for Jackie Brown), with the exception of Cars, in which he played the part of Chick Hicks, he has not been able to approach the box-office success of the Batman series.

In 2006, he starred in an independent film called Game 6, a semi-thriller based around the infamous 1986 World Series bid by the Boston Red Sox. Keaton has also just been announced to be the lead in Media 8 Entertainment's upcoming film Reaper, a supernatural thriller, expected for a 2008 release. He has also recently agreed to star as John Target in the Matt Evans scripted No Rule To Make Target.

[edit] Trivia

• Studied speech at Kent State University in Ohio.^{[citation needed]}
• First acting job was on Mister Rogers' Neighborhood as one of the "Flying Zucchini Brothers." He also served as a full-time production assistant on the show, and directed several "Neighborhood of Make-Believe" segments. In 2003, following Rogers' death, Keaton hosted the PBS memorial tribute program, Fred Rogers: Everybody's Favorite Neighbor.^{[citation needed]}
• Has been married once to actress Caroline McWilliams. They have one son, Sean Douglas.^{[citation needed]}
• His son, Sean, is in a band called The Hatch.^{[citation needed]}
• In one installment of the Saturday Night Live skit, Celebrity Jeopardy, Matthew Perry parodies Michael Keaton, prominently borrowing elements from Keaton's performance in his first film Night Shift.^{[citation needed]}
• Keaton was the first choice for the role of Jack Shephard in Lost. The original idea was to kill Jack off in the first episode, but the writers decided to keep the character. The role was later given to Matthew Fox.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Filmography

• Night Shift (1982)
• Mr. Mom (1983)
• Johnny Dangerously (1984)
• Gung Ho (1986)
• Touch and Go (1986)
• The Squeeze (1987)
• She's Having a Baby (1988) (Cameo)
• Beetlejuice (1988)
• Clean and Sober (1988)
• The Dream Team (1989)
• Batman (1989)
• Pacific Heights (1990)
• One Good Cop (1991)
• Batman Returns (1992)
• Porco Rosso (1992) (voice in 2003 English dubbed version)
• Much Ado About Nothing (1993)
• My Life (1993)
• The Paper (1994)
• Speechless (1994)
• Multiplicity (1996)
• Inventing the Abbotts (1997) (narrator)
• Jackie Brown (1997)
• Desperate Measures (1998)
• Out of Sight (1998) (Cameo)
• Jack Frost (1998)
• A Shot at Glory (2000)
• Quicksand (2001)
• Live from Baghdad (2002)
• First Daughter (2004)
• White Noise (2005)
• Herbie: Fully Loaded (2005)
• Cars (2006) (Voice of Chick Hicks)
• Game 6 (2006)
• The Last Time (2006) (post-production)
• Reaper (2007) (pre-production)

[edit] External links

• Michael Keaton at the Internet Movie Database
• Story on Michael Keaton and his hometown Pittsburgh Pirates opening day controversy