Melis

Michael Keaton Appreciation Thread



Quirky, inventive and handsome US actor who first achieved major fame with his door busting performance as fast talking, ideas man Bill Blazejowski alongside nerdish morgue attendant Henry Winkler in Night Shift (1982). Keaton was born Michael John Douglas on September 5th, 1951 in Corapolis, Pennsylvannia 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.

Keaton first appeared on TV in several episodes of "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" (1968). He left Pittsburgh and moved to Los Angeles to begin auditioning for TV. He began cropping up in popular TV shows including "Maude" (1972) and "The Mary Tyler Moore Hour" (1979). Around this time Keaton decided to use an alternative surname to remove confusion with better-known actor Michael Douglas. After reading an article on actress Diane Keaton, he decided that Michael Keaton sounded good. His next break was scoring a co-starring role alongside James Belushi in the short-lived comedy series "Working Stiffs" (1979), which showcased his comedic talent and led to his co-starring role in Night Shift (1982). Keaton next scored the lead in the comedy hits Mr. Mom (1983), Johnny Dangerously (1984) , Gung Ho (1986) and the Tim Burton horror-comedy _Beetlejuice (1988)_.

Keaton's career was given another major boost when, in 1989, Tim Burton cast him as millionaire playboy / crime-fighter Bruce Wayne in the big budget Batman (1989). To say there were howls of protest by fans of the caped crusader comic strip is an understatement! Warner Bros. was deluged with thousands of letters of complaint commenting that comedian Keaton was the wrong choice for the Caped Crusader. Their fears were proven wrong when Keaton turned in a sensational performance, and he held his own on screen with opponent Jack Nicholson playing the lunatic villain, The Joker. Keen to diversify his work, Keaton next appeared as a psychotic tenant in Pacific Heights (1990), as a hard working cop in One Good Cop (1991) and then donned the black cape and cowl once more for Batman Returns (1992).

Barrybgb

Awesome!. I've always been a fan of Michael Keaton. He's quite underappreciated too. Mr. Mom, Beetlejuice, Batman, Night Shift, Gung Ho, etc. He was great in the 80s. Don't see him enough anymore. I know we don't see see him in Toy Story 3, but hopefully it will bring him more into the public eye again.

Melis

Yeah, definitely. Michael is great. I loved the Batman movies when I was young. That's odd because I wasn't into the super hero thing.

You should still watch TS3. He was hilarious as the Ken doll.

Barrybgb

I liked his Batman too.

Everyone is going gaga over TS3.

Melis

Yeah, I watched both Batman movies at the theater when I was younger.

Yep, I can see why. It was a fun movie.

Barrybgb

Following Michael on Twitter too. He says some pretty funny things.

Melis

Wow, you're following everyone. lol

Barrybgb

I can't help it! Lol.

Melis

I wish I could keep up with everyone. lol I really don't have time to read everyone's tweets. I filter A LOT.

Barrybgb

Michael has been in meetings with the writer for Beetlejuice 2. Says he is extremely excited to be in the role again.

Melis

Oh wow, hope it turns out well.

Barrybgb

Looks like this will be happening. Tim Burton is interested too.

Melis

That could be very exciting.

Barrybgb

I am so glad that it's still Michael. In this day and age, I expect everything to be rebooted and everyone replaced. Thankfully, Michael will be back and it's an honest to goodness sequel.

Melis

That's good. No remakes.