Gorilla suits in Batman & Robin were made from old Santa wigs.
And that cape swoosh?
It was some old tarp…
This article originally appeared onDen of Geek UK.
Its interesting, too, digging in far more detail than you might expect into the technical details.
The pair clearly got on very well.
Joel… we havent even scratched the surface.
As Schumacher admitted, I think I had that feeling too … Batman Beginswould followBatman & Robin.
Around 60% of theBatman Forevercrew returned to help them realize it.
In Schumachers words, though, Michael Keaton and Val Kilmer were both wonderful as Batman.
But I think George is the best of all.
For some, perhaps Italy or Germany or Japan or Brazil may be nice places to take a vacation.
For me, these are important markets with audiences seeking entertainment, just as Americans do.
George Clooney has, on more than one occasion, apologized forBatman & Robin.
Even at the time of making the film, though, he was conscious of the pressures.
I dont want to screw up what has already worked so well, he said.
Its the most successful movie franchise ever, so Im not trying to make this thing right.
You try and do it differently, but you dont want to be different just to be different.
Playing Batman is a high point in my career, he added.
The other reason Hingle took the role?
He and his wife had never been to London, where the originalBatmanwas filming.
With the more diminutive person taking charge and telling the bigger one how to think.
As Bob Kane called it, Frankenstein meets Las Vegas.
Again, this was deliberate.
The equipment in the Gilgamesh lab was based on movies like the originalFrankenstein,Dr.
Thatd be the tank that holds Mr Freezes wife, Nora Fries.
It went through many variations before they settled on a triangular shape for it.
Mr Freezes transportation of choice, The Freezemobile, could actually do 50 mph in real life.
It had a two speed gearbox in it, and was described as really just an enormous golf cart.
The production team had to go with an electric motor for it.
A gas-powered engine would have struggled with the limited space in soundstages and the quick acceleration required.
Oh, and they had safety concerns over the mix of heat and fuel.
The whole vehicle took nine weeks from start to finish to construct.
The strobing effect on Mr Freezes cunningly-named Freeze Gun required some complex synchronization work with the camera.
That then sent a signal back to the gun, to tell it when to flash.
That meant it was synchronized to the opening of the cameras shutter.
Oh, and they built it before Arnie was on set.
Remember that ice-set action sequence in Gotham Museum?
It would be fair to say that theBatman & Robinteam had big ambitions for it.
To be fair, theres some very skilled work in the sequence too.
Thats a third of the weight of the Batsuit inBatman Forever.
The foams used to make them didnt last as long.
There were thousands of LEDs to power, and oftentimes, the batteries afforded only ten minutes of power.
15 suits were made, requiring 2500 LEDs in each.
Turns out that the magenta gorillas are made from 450 Santa wigs dipped with black roots and tips.
Thats a large part of the sound of Clooneys cape that you get in the movie.
The final shots were done on January 27th 1997, after a five month shoot.
The end of production was marked by the Batsignal being projected onto the interior of the set.
