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Hollywood is full of stories of heartwarming friendship between celebrities, but behind the big screen are also stories of strong clashes and feuds, often resulting from indifferent personalities. While the current generation might be pretty interested in the feud between Taylor Swift and Kanye, one memorable feud from yesteryears remains unresolved: Tommy Lee Jones and Jim Carrey.

Batman Forever | Credit: Warner Bros.

Both impeccable actors duo starred together in Batman Forever. But instead of having a fun time, they ended up feuding, a fight that remains intriguing even after all this time.

Tommy Lee Jones and Jim Carrey’s Infamous Feud Jim Carrey as Riddler and Tommy Lee Jones as Two-face in Batman Forever | Credit: Warner Bros.

Tommy Lee Jones and Jim Carrey’s infamous feud started on the set of Batman Forever in 1995, where Jones played the menacing Two-Face and Carrey took on the role of the crazy Riddler.

Following the box office success of Batman Forever, Warner Bros. greenlit another sequel with Joel Schumacher returning as director. Val Kilmer was initially set to reprise his role but ultimately declined, citing his commitment to The Saint. It was later revealed that Kilmer and Schumacher had a strained working relationship, which may have been the real reason behind Kilmer’s decision.

George Clooney stepped in to replace Kilmer for Batman & Robin, marking Clooney’s first and, fortunately, his only major appearance as Batman (excluding any special cameos). The film also starred Uma Thurman as Poison Ivy and Arnold Schwarzenegger as Mr. Freeze, delivering what many consider one of the worst comic book performances ever.

While Schwarzenegger’s portrayal was widely criticized and the character poorly written, his costume remains memorable. Though not accurate to the comics, it stood out enough to warrant this report dedicated to examining the iconic suit.

Due to the box office success of Batman Forever, Warner Bros. ordered another sequel with Joel Schumacher returning as director. Val Kilmer was supposed to reprise his role, but he eventually declined, citing his engagement in the movie The Saint as a reason. Still, it was revealed that Schumacher and Kilmer had a difficult working relationship, which was supposedly the real reason why he declined to return.

This is when George Clooney stepped in, replacing Kilmer for the movie Batman & Robin, which was his first and, thankfully, last appearance (except you know which – I won’t spoil it) in the role. The movie featured Uma Thurman as Poison Ivy and Arnold Schwarzenegger as Mr. Freeze in what is considered to be one of the worst comic book performances of all time.

Schwarzenegger was a mismatch for the role and the character was horribly written, which absolutely ruined one of Batman’s greatest villains.

Supernatural prescience might not be one of the Dark Knight's powers, but when Michael Keaton walked away from Batman, it was as if he could see the future. Along with Tim Burton, who directed the first two live-action Batman movies (not including 1966's Adam West-led "Batman"), Keaton had reinvented the character in the public's collective consciousness. No longer was he the Caped Crusader, but a brooding lone avenger of the night. Then, after 1992's "Batman Returns" scared the bejeezus out of kids around the world, Warner Bros. decided they better rein in Burton before he created another nightmare fairytale that made it impossible for McDonald's to sell Happy Meals.

But Warners went one step further, dismissing Burton outright and bringing in new director Joel Schumacher, who actually made a fairly dark installment in the franchise with 1995's "Batman Forever." Unfortunately, due to yet more studio meddling, the film's...

The 1963 TV series "The Fugitive" was a massive success in its initial four-season run, and became something of a pop cultural touchstone. The premise was a grabber: Dr. Richard Kimble (David Janssen) has been arrested and convicted for the murder of his wife, a crime he didn't commit. Dr. Kimble slips the authorities and goes on the lam, eager to track down the real killer and prove his innocence. All he knew was that the killer had one arm. On Dr. Kimble's tail -- the Javert to his Valjean -- was Lieutenant Philip Gerard (Barry Morse), who didn't much care if Kimble was guilty or innocent; he merely sought to apprehend him and let the law work itself out. 

30 years later, "The Fugitive" would be adapted into a massively successful and acclaimed feature film starring Harrison Ford as Kimble and Tommy Lee Jones as the re-named Sam Gerard, a U.

"Batman & Robin" has been derided enough at this point. We all know it's not a fondly-remembered Batman movie, let alone a comic book adaptation. Which is why it's strange to think that before director Joel Schumacher unveiled his infamously disappointing follow-up to 1995's "Batman Forever," there couldn't have been more excitement surrounding the project.

Once "Batman Forever" proved a huge hit, everyone wanted in on Schumacher's sequel — from actors angling for parts to company CEOs demanding their products be featured. As the director explained in a making-of-featurette:

"It was the opposite from 'Batman Forever' when we had to go around and convince everybody to come along with us, we were going to make a Batman movie. This was, 'How can we stop everybody?' It was everybody and their mother wanted to have their franchise in the movie and be part of it."

Schumacher went on to say that whereas,...

Joel Schumacher's 1997 film "Batman & Robin" is a large, clunky, over-designed nightmare. In his two-star review, Roger Ebert referred to the film as resembling "an art-deco garbage disposal," and there often appears to be a consensus that it remains, to this day, one of the worst comic book movies ever made. Director Schumacher has even gone on record apologizing to anyone who might have felt disappointed by his film.

"Batman & Robin," while following the same Batman continuity that began in 1989 with Tim Burton's "Batman," couldn't be farther from the original. Burton's film took visual cues from 1930s German expressionism film, and was shot using shadows and steam. "Batman & Robin" looks like a Las Vegas dance spectacular, rife with bright colors, swirling lights, and neon tubing. Even the film's central villain, Mr. Freeze (Arnold Schwarzenegger), has glittery silver skin, a glowing blue mouth, and a busy, light-up suit of armor.

Screenwriter Jeb Stuart joins hosts Josh Olson and Joe Dante to discuss a few of his favorite movies.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

Die Hard (1988)

The Fugitive (1993)

Sword of Sherwood Forest (1960) – Charlie Largent’s Blu-ray review

The Face of Fu Manchu (1965) – Charlie Largent’s Blu-ray review

The Detective (1968) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

Dirty Harry (1971) – Alan Spencer’s trailer commentary, Josh Olson’s trailer commentary

Rear Window (1954) – John Landis’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

Vertigo (1958) – Dan Ireland’s trailer commentary, Brian Trenchard-Smith’s review, Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

North By Northwest (1959)

The Trouble With Harry (1955)

Casablanca (1942) – John Landis’s trailer commentary

Wait Until Dark (1967) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

Switchback (1997)

Jeremiah Johnson (1972)

The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary

The Getaway (1972) – Larry Karaszewski’s trailer commentary

The Thin Man (1934)

Another 48 Hrs (1990)

Commando (1985) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary

The Long Riders (1980)

The Warriors...

Peter Macgregor-Scott, producer on director Andrew Davis’ “The Fugitive,” the Joel Schumacher-helmed “Batman Forever” and “Batman & Robin,” and three Cheech & Chong flicks, died Wednesday following a recent traffic accident in Manhattan. He was 69. “We were like brothers who supported and relied on each other in an industry where that is rare. I will miss him dearly,” Davis told The Hollywood Reporter, when confirming the longtime Warner Bros. producer’s passing. Aside from projects with Davis and Schumacher, the producer’s credits include “The Jerk” (1979), “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas” (1982), “Revenge of the Nerds” (1984), “Troop Beverly Hills” (1989),...

Peter Macgregor-Scott, who produced the Andrew Davis-directed The Fugitive, the two Batman films helmed by Joel Schumacher and three movies starring Cheech & Chong, has died. He was 69.

Macgregor-Scott died Wednesday in New York after being involved in a recent taxi accident in Manhattan, Davis told The Hollywood Reporter.

"We were like brothers who supported and relied on each other in an industry where that is rare. I will miss him dearly," Davis said.

Macgregor-Scott's producing résumé also included Carl Reiner's The Jerk (1979), The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (1982), Revenge of the Nerds (1984), Troop Beverly Hills...

Although not many of us remember Batman & Robin as being one of the better entries in the film franchise, a bright spot, in my view, was that of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Mr. Freeze. Okay, I admit he wouldn’t have been on my shortlist to portray the character, but the ice puns that populated his goofy dialogue were about the only things in that movie capable of making me smile.

As it so happens, the entry that put the Batman line of films on ice for eight years is now celebrating its 20th anniversary and, not surprisingly, various interesting factoids are coming to light. In addition to recently learning that Joel Schumacher dreamed of directing a flick centered on Arkham Asylum, Arnie’s paycheck has also now been spoken of publicly, and from the sounds of it, he made a killing.

Knowing what a huge star Schwarzenegger was at the time of production, it shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise that he was paid handsomely. Unfortunately, they didn’t pay him in diamonds that could power his mechanical suit, but he did make off with a cool $25 million. In other words, $1 million per day on set.

Producer Peter MacGregor-Scott certainly wasn’t shy when discussing the matter with The Hollywood Reporter:

“The cast ate the money up. It’s tough when you wake up in the morning and just spent $25 million! Oh dear. But he was great.”

Another interesting tidbit to surface is that of rewrites occurring, effectively changing Mr. Freeze from being a thespian’s dream to someone with a penchant for puns. At least, that’s according to storyboard artist Tim Burgard:

“All the dialogue was for Mr. Freeze, you could tell it was meant for somebody who would deliver it in a Shakespearean fashion. It was hysterical; in my head, I was reading Freeze’s dialogue as Schwarzenegger.”

For much more on Batman & Robin, be sure to check out our extensive retrospective.

Rob Leane Jun 19, 2017

Joel Schumacher has just apologised (again) about Batman & Robin, a film that lots of talented people are sorry about...

It may have shifted a fair few toys and given us some great Arnie lines to recite, but Joel Schumacher’s Batman & Robin will mainly be remembered as a franchise killer. What Tim Burton began with the luscious, gothic brace of Batman and Batman Returns, Schumacher well and truly wrote off with the colourful crapness of Batman & Robin.

The Bat-franchise managed to live on after Jim Carrey and Tommy Lee Jones chewed the scenery into tiny little pieces during Batman Forever, but Bat-nipples, “cool party!”, and Alfred making a skin-tight costume for his niece was just too much for the series to survive.

Nowadays, if reviewers savage a film, the cast and crew come out and defend it. They say things like ‘we made this for the fans,...

It doesn’t take a close read of Alec Baldwin’s new, dishy memoir Nevertheless, to notice the thinly-veiled animosity he holds for for Harrison Ford, who replaced him as Jack Ryan following The Hunt For Red October. As Baldwin tells it, he had no idea that he was being ousted from the Tom Clancy franchise, and Ford was curtly unsympathetic to his situation. Ford had dropped out of a film with Hunt director John McTiernan in order to play the part that Baldwin had once had. “John told me he spoke with Ford and asked if he was aware that Paramount was in active negotiation with me,” Baldwin writes. “Ford’s reply, according to John, was ’Fuck him.’” (For what it’s worth, this is not the first time that Baldwin has shared this story, and studio exec David Kirkpatrick has disputed his account of how things went down...

Simon Brew Sep 2, 2016

Premiere magazine highlighted 10 movie executives to watch in 1990. So what happened to them?

In its May 1990 issue, the sadly-missed Us version of Premiere magazine published an article, highlighting ten young movie executives, and suggesting that these were people with very big futures ahead of them in the industry.

Given that much is written about movie executives, without actually digging much deeper to find out who they actually are, I thought it was worth tracing what happened to these ten, and – 26 years later – whether Premiere was correct in saluting them as the future of the industry. So, er, I did...

Lance Young

Senior production VP, Paramount Pictures

Pictured in the article on an office swivel chair with some snazzy purple socks, Lance Young, Premiere wrote, had been “groomed for big things since joining Paramount at the age of 23”. He was 30 at the time the article was published, and...

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Gorilla suits in Batman & Robin were made from old Santa wigs. And that cape swoosh? It was some old tarp...

It’s less of a thing now, but in the 1980s and 1990s, major blockbusters were sometimes accompanied by a making-of book. Sure, these tended to be quite glossy and promotional, but they also had to fill 100-200 pages with something. And in the case of Batman & Robin, one of 1997’s two notorious blockbuster flops (Speed 2 being the other), Michael Singer penned a 128 page guide to what was supposed to be the biggest film of the year.

It’s interesting, too, digging in far more detail than you might expect into the technical details. Here are 25 of the things that we found out from reading it…

1. Bob Kane was involved with the script

Batman co-creator Bob Kane is one of the many interviewees for the book, and...

What sort of hoops would you jump through in order to take home a piece of movie history? Would you pay $1 a year? That.s what Arnold Schwarzenegger continues to do to keep one of his Mr. Freeze costumes. The folks behind the George Clooney-led Batman & Robin had to keep tabs on all the props and costumes left over from the shoot, because just about everyone wanted to take something home, including Arnold Schwarzenegger. In a recent feature published in The Hollywood Reporter, the film.s director (Joel Schumacher), screenwriters (Lee Batchler and Janet Scott Batchler), producer (Peter Macgregor-Scott), production designer (Barbara Ling) and cinematographer (Stephen Goldblatt) recounted tales from the infamous production. Among the stories told, Macgregor-Scott revealed Schwarzenegger.s odd deal to keep his hands on his character.s suit.  Arnold Schwarzenegger wanted a costume of Mr. Freeze. It went all the way up to the top...

Citing the Eastwood Scoring Stage at Warner Bros. Studios, producer Peter Macgregor-Scott said, “If Clint Eastwood can have a have one, then Donald Mitchell should have a dubbing room -- the Mitchell Room.” Macgregor-Scott co-produced The Fugitive -- a film that earned re-recording mixer Mitchell one of his 14 Oscar nominations for best sound. Mitchell won an Academy Award for Glory, and received nominations for films including The Paper Chase, Raging Bull and Top Gun. The producer made his comments Saturday night at the Sheraton Universal Hotel for Motion Picture Editors Guild Fellowship & Service Award dinner,

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Andrew Davis Returns To Stony Island

By Alex Simon

Director Andrew Davis made his name with hard-hitting action blockbusters like The Fugitive, Under Siege and The Guardian, but like most filmmakers, his first effort was a small film with a modest budget and a lot of heart. Davis’ directing debut Stony Island was shot in 1977, helmed by the then 30 year-old who had made a name for himself as a cinematographer, and conceived as a love letter to the South Chicago neighborhood where he grew up. Based loosely on the story of Davis’ younger brother Richie (starring as a fictionalized version of himself), who grew up as one of the few white kids in a largely African-American neighborhood, Stony Island follows a group of young musicians who try to form an R&B group in their racially-mixed neighborhood. Featuring the film debuts of now-notable names such as Dennis Franz, Susanna Hoffs,...