Random 'Batman & Robin' Was A Much Bigger Behind-The-Scenes Nightmare Than You Ever Realized (15 items)

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  (#1) Arnold Schwarzenegger Got Battery Acid In His Mouth

  Arnold Schwarzenegger's costume is insane in Batman & Robin. He's spray-painted silver and wears giant silver Transformers parts. Even though Schwarzenegger was covered in a toxic, flammable substance, the worst part was the LED light that had to go in his mouth during close-ups.

  The LED had batteries in it that would leak acid into Schwarzenegger's mouth when his saliva hit the casing. 

  Makeup artist Jeff Dawn explained the oral nightmare:

  When you put it in Arnold's mouth, Arnold's saliva would creep into the seams of this thing and attack the batteries. The batteries would immediately start disintegrating and start putting out battery acid into Arnold's mouth.
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  (#2) Major Parts Of The Film Were Created By A Toy Company

  Outside interference is one of the biggest threats to tentpole franchises. Undesired influence can lead to a "too many cooks..." situation, which inevitably results in an overstuffed piece of cinema.

  The pre-production for Batman & Robin sounds like a disaster. The toy company working on merchandise started giving input on the film and even helped design the Batmobile. In a commentary piece released after the fact, director Joel Schumacher said Warner Bros. didn't care if he made a good movie, as long as it was “toyetic.”  The behind-the-scenes reel also features Chris O'Donnell claiming that while Batman Forever was a "real movie," Batman & Robin felt like a "toy commercial."
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  (#3) Alicia Silverstone Was Body Shamed By A Story Artist

  For 20-year-old Alicia Silverstone, Batman & Robin should have been a huge steppingstone for her career. Unfortunately, her body was subject to an intense level of scrutiny by the media, fans, and crew.

  It's hard to identify the worst indignity Silverstone had to face while filming, but at one point, a storyboard artist drew an illustration of Batgirl trying to squeeze into a corset that left the young star mortified. The artist said, "I did it as a movie poster, Clueless 2: The Casting of Batgirl. It was a private joke, just for the guys in the art department."

  That's where the "joke" should have ended, but unfortunately, a PA decided to make copies to hang around the office. The lead costume designer saw it "and had a sh*t fit. I think the quote was, 'She is trying so hard!' Luckily for me, I never signed it. So I got to keep working." 

  Silverstone did, however, admit that she "stopped loving acting for a very long time" after her experiences on set for Batman & Robin. In an interview with The Guardian, she said, "I knew that it was not right to make fun of someone’s body shape, that doesn’t seem like the right thing to be doing to a human." Luckily, she also knew acting was what she "was meant to do." She continued, "I love it so much, I need to find a way... to be able to be an actress and be an activist at the same time." 
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  (#4) Arnold Schwarzenegger Was Paid A Million Dollars A Day While On Set

  Not only did the guy playing Mr. Freeze get top billing, but he also received a $25 million salary - which works out to around $1 million per day - while on set. Producer Peter MacGregor-Scott later claimed "The cast ate the money up. It's tough when you wake up in the morning and just spent $25 million!"

  No one else was demanding a salary that rivaled the GDP of a small nation, but Schwarzenegger's take still put a dent in the film's budget.
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  (#5) Val Kilmer Dropped Out Of The Movie At The Last Second

  If you've seen enough Batman movies, you know there are only two actors that have played Batman once: Val Kilmer and George Clooney. As it turns out, Clooney didn't have a choice in the matter; he filled the role after Kilmer split.

  Kilmer's reason for splitting is so actor-ly, it hurts. Director Joel Schumacher explained:

  Batman Forever, when we were on the world tour, it just really went to [Kilmer's] head. I'm not going to get into that. He wanted to do Island of Doctor Moreau because Marlon Brando was going to be in it. So he dropped us at the 11th hour.

  Clooney filled in as a favor to Schumacher, and the rest is bad movie history. 
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  (#6) Clooney Peed In His Batsuit

  It's not easy being an actor. You have to sit in makeup for hours, and repeat dumb lines like, "Freeze, Freeze!" Then, there is the lack of bathroom breaks... Clooney's Batsuit was made up of multiple pieces that were hard to put on and remove, and the entire thing weighed about 90 pounds. Rather than go through the process of getting in and out of his suit to relieve himself, Clooney ended up peeing his pants a few times.

  If only he knew that walking around in a soggy Batsuit really wasn't worth it. 
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  (#7) The Set Was Mobbed By Unwanted Guests

  It may seem ridiculous now, but people were really excited about Batman & Robin before the film was released. The fervor of Batfans led the paparazzi to start sneaking onto the set to try snagging pics of Arnold Schwarzenegger. Producer Peter MacGregor-Scott claimed, "They were getting $10,000 for a picture of Arnold... we had [to put] a fabric tent around him when he would walk from his trailer to the stage."

  It wasn't just paparazzi running amuck; Schwarzenegger had a bunch of friends who would regularly stop by the set to say hello. At one point, Jon Bon Jovi came by to drop off some cigars for the star. Schwarzenegger liked them so much that he ended up smoking one in the movie. 
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  (#8) The Release Date For 'Batman & Robin' Was Set Before Filming Began

  It's not unheard of for a big budget superhero movie to receive a release date before it begins shooting, but in the case of Batman & Robin, there simply wasn't enough time to make sure the film was actually good.

  According to director Joel Schumacher, after the success of Batman Forever, Warner Bros. was keen on getting some more of that sweet Wayne family money:

  You are going to open whether you have something or not. Because those spots in the summer are so sought-after and so juggled around that you've got to piss on your ground or you're not going to have dates in the summer. And then it's like, "Oh my God, I'm opening. But now I have to make something to open with."
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  (#9) Joel Schumacher Was In Over His Head

  Rather than place the blame on someone else, or get angry at people for not liking his Batman movie, Joel Schumacher constantly takes the blame for the quality of Batman & Robin.

  Whenever he's asked, he admits to being in over his head. He told Variety:

  They immediately wanted a sequel, but I said yes. There’s nobody else to blame but me. I could have said, "No, I’m not going to do it." I just hope whenever I see a list of the worst movies ever made, we’re not on it. I didn’t do a good job. George [Clooney] did. Chris [O’Donnell] did. Uma [Thurman] is brilliant in it. Arnold is Arnold.
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  (#10) Chris O'Donnell And Arnold Schwarzenegger Never Filmed A Scene Together

  Something many people don't know about major motion pictures is there are often multiple teams working on a single film. While the film's director, in this case, Joel Schumacher, is working with the first unit, a second unit director will be taking care of crowd scenes, exteriors, and "less important" shots. Many people who worked on Batman & Robin said they were making the movie on a short timetable, and, to get all the shots they needed, the actors were split up between units to film. 

  In a making-of documentary, Chris O'Donnell said he can't remember filming many of the scenes he was in because his stunt double was used. Regarding his scenes with Arnold Schwarzenegger, O'Donnell said, “I was in a lot of scenes with Mr. Freeze, but I didn’t work a single day with Arnold. Not a single day."
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  (#11) Schwarzenegeger Was Hiding A Heart Surgery During The Film's Press Run

  In his autobiography, Total Recall, Schwarzenegger reveals that he scheduled heart surgery in between finishing his work on the film and beginning his promotional duties. He didn't want anyone, including his wife, to know about the surgery, and goes on to say that he is an "expert" in secrecy.

  Why would he do something like this? At the time of filming Batman & Robin, Arnold Schwarzenegger was a huge star, even bigger than Clooney, who was best known for E.R. at that point. Schwarzenegger likely felt he was carrying the entire project on his shoulders, so to make sure everything looked like it was running smoothly, he hid his medical issues. 
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  (#12) It Took Forever To Get Schwarzenegger Into Costume

  Many consider Arnold Schwarzenegger great in Batman & Robin. Instead of snoozing his way through the movie and collecting his check, Schwarzenegger chews the scenery up like it's made of cotton candy. Unfortunately, it took 11 people four hours every morning to put Arnold Schwarzenegger into his costume.

  No one says how long it took to get him out of costume, but the time spent was likely comparable. Normally, this wouldn't be a big deal, but the star had a hard 12-hour rule written into his contract that wouldn't allow him to stay on set any longer. That didn't give him a lot of time to film. 

  Remember, Schwarzenegger got paid one million dollars a day for his work on the film, even if the cameras were only rolling for a couple of hours. 
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  (#13) There Was A Lot Of Money Wasted On 'Batman & Robin'

  After spending $25 million on Arnold Schwarzenegger, you'd think Warner Bros. would want to crack down on additional spending. According to star Chris O'Donnell, that was not the case. Twenty years after Batman & Robin was released, O'Donnell was incredibly open in an interview with ET, detailing how the studio seemed more than happy to solve their problems with money.

  O'Donnell recalled what happened immediately after finishing Batman Forever:

  All of a sudden it was like, boom here’s another one. There was a lot of waste. I felt it wasn’t tight and it wasn’t thought out. People just got greedy. That being said, I had a great time doing it.
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  (#14) Writer Akiva Goldsman Thinks The Script Was Awful

  When a movie goes belly up, the writer usually blames the rest of the crew for ruining their art. In this case, Akiva Goldsman, the writer for the film, claims the issues with Batman & Robin weren't started by Warner Bros. throwing a truck full of money at the production, or by adding George Clooney to the mix at the last second. 

  According to the writer, the film was awful because it had a terrible script. In 2009, he told the Los Angeles Times:

  What got lost in Batman & Robin is the emotions aren't real. The worst thing to do with a serious comic book is to make it a cartoon. I'm still answering for that movie with some people.
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  (#15) The Bat-Nipples

  The stand-out complaint about Batman & Robin is the titular stars have suits that are a little too anatomically correct, complete with visible nipples. When asked how he feels about the response the costume detail has received, director Joel Schumacher said:

  "Yes, I was like, 'Are you kidding me?' I think that will be on my gravestone. It’s how I’ll be remembered."

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