Batman, A to Z A look at the actors who have donned the Batsuit.
Batman may be an enduring comic-book hero (he turns 70 next year), but as a movie character he poses all sorts of problems. Costume issues aside, any actor who plays Batman will inevitably be overshadowed by the villains, gadgetry, special effects, merchandise or all of the above. But some actors have fared better as the Caped Crusader than others. With The Dark Knight opening this month, we thought we’d take a look at the five movie Batmen, in alphabetical order:
Christian Bale Batman Begins (2005), The Dark Knight (2008)
The only movie Batman who wanted to be Robin, Bale auditioned for the role that eventually went to Chris O’Donnell in Batman Forever. The throaty voice is a bit much, but he restored credibility to the character after the debacles that were Batman Forever and Batman & Robin. (For more on Bale, see our Movie interview on page 62.)
George Clooney Batman & Robin (1997)
Despite being the only movie Batman who has since won an Oscar, Clooney has yet to live this one down (as evidenced by Tilda Swinton’s crack at this year’s Oscars re: the infamous nippled Batsuit he wore in Batman & Robin). In fairness, Clooney wasn’t the first Batman with nipples (see Val Kilmer). Besides, he can play heroes with a dark side (see Michael Clayton). If he had a script along the lines of Batman Begins, or the 1989 Batman, it would have been a different story.
Michael Keaton Batman (1989), Batman Returns (1992)
The only actor other than Bale to play Batman twice, Keaton had to overcome (1) tremendous skepticism among comic-book traditionalists (director Tim Burton promised that the 1989 Batman would be dark and edgy, yet Keaton’s best-known roles were in comedies like Mr. Mom and Beetlejuice), and (2) the likelihood he would be upstaged by Jack Nicholson as the Joker. Yet he also had one thing going for him: Burton, who had worked with Keaton in Beetlejuice, knew the actor could bring out the tormented aspect of Batman he wanted (which was much in line with the Dark Knight graphic novels by Frank Miller). Keaton not only held his own against Nicholson, but set a standard for Batman that only Bale has matched.
Val Kilmer Batman Forever (1994)
After making Batman Returns with Burton, Keaton was originally set to star in this second sequel, but bowed out over “creative differences” (presumably, over director Joel Schumacher’s decision to abandon Burton’s dark interpretation so as to appeal to a younger audience). Kilmer scored well at the box office, but not so much with critics. Must’ve been the nipples.
Adam West Batman (1966)
TV’s Batman makes the list because he starred in a 1966 big-screen version of the series – and with all due respect to our movie man, Fred Topel, he wasn’t that bad. Besides, as anyone who’s seen the YouTube tribute video “Adam West” can attest, “He’s got cool and savoir faire/In his cape and cowl and his gray underwear.”
Happy Feet Generous San Jose children help provide shoes for the needy.
So you think you’re doing your part to make the world a better place? Prepare to be humbled by the deeds of Brandi and Brandon Gonzalez of San Jose. These good-hearted siblings, aged eight and 11, respectively, are doing their part to “shoe the children with no shoes on their feet,” as Steve Miller once wistfully sang. The website Shoes4Orphans.com, created by Brandon while he was undergoing chemotherapy for leukemia, documents the siblings’ efforts to collect new shoes for kids at the Chosen Children Village Foundation (www.chosenchildrenvillage.com), a center for special-needs orphans in the Philippines.
Brandi says the idea for Shoes 4 Orphans first began to take shape after the Gonzalezes visited Chosen Village last year. “When I first went there, I saw [that] everywhere we went, there were kids without shoes who had cuts on their feet,” Brandi recalls. She soon learned that because money was used for food first, the orphanage simply couldn’t afford to purchase 200 new pairs of shoes for its residents. As a result, the kids of Chosen Village have never owned new shoes. Moved by what she witnessed, Brandi donated her own shoes to the orphanage and returned home barefoot.
Between their website and their face-to-face interactions with the public while handing out flyers in front of department stores, the members of the Gonzalez family have managed to get community members to donate 59 pairs of new shoes so far. By saving up money over the past year, Brandi herself has been able to purchase 17 pairs of shoes for the children. The Gonzalezes, who also regularly send food and clothing to the Chosen Village Foundation, will be returning to the Philippines this August to fit the children of the orphanage with their new shoes.
To get involved with Shoes 4 Orphans,
visitwww.shoes4orphans.com or call (408) 239-9970.
Empire Strikes Back The Joyce Ellington Branch Library reopens, now better than ever.
In 2005, a teary-eyed San Jose bade farewell to the Joyce Ellington Branch Library (formerly the Empire Branch Library) at the corner of Empire and Tenth Streets. Little did the community suspect that the building would be reborn three years later as a $9.8 million mega-library. In addition to being more than twice the size of its predecessor, the new Joyce Ellington Branch Library, which opened last month, offers more computers, more seating and more parking.
One of the most outstanding features of this 14,500-square-foot structure is its Community Health Information Center, which is supported by a grant from the Health Trust and San Jose’s Plane-Tree Health Library. “We’ll have volunteers here to help people find valid health information to take to their doctor, or to help them understand a diagnosis or treatment they’ve been given,” explains branch director Keye Luke. Other noteworthy amenities include a community room, living room with fireplace, quiet room, teen center, children’s area, internet café and bookstore. Luke says the library’s staff members also hope to add a coffee shop to the building, and are looking into making the community room available for nonprofit meetings. In addition, the library is adorned with public art, as well as art donated by the Friends of the Joyce Ellington Library, including a tile mosaic of Ellington herself, a community activist.
Luke believes the new library will be a great community meeting spot. “I’ve had a couple of customers say, ‘This is wonderful! I’ve run into people who live in other parts of the community that I haven’t seen since Joyce Ellington closed. We always run into each other at the library, so it’s like meeting old friends again,’” she says, adding, “I think it’s a library that’s going to be very much embraced by the community, and I hope they take pride and ownership of this, because it is their library. We just staff it for them.”
