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Same Bat-time. Same Bat-channel. Different Bat-attitude. That's the word on Batman and Robin, flick No. 4 in the series, which starts filming this fall. According to director Joel Schumacher, the atmosphere around Gotham has lightened up. For one thing, George Clooney is a cooler batdude than his predecessor, Val Kilmer, who made filming last summer's Batman Forever a dark knightmare. ''I was told that Val was difficult and wasn't [right] for me,'' says Schumacher. ''Clooney has a sense of humor. With some people, what you see is what you get.''

It turns out Kilmer wasn't the only pain in the cowl. Schumacher says Tommy Lee Jones was a heavy as well. ''Jim Carrey was a gentleman, and Tommy Lee was threatened by him. I'm tired of defending overpaid, overprivileged actors. I pray I don't work with them again.'' Of course, this being a Batman film, the project hasn't been complaint-free. ''George wanted a new Bat-suit,'' Schumacher says. ''He did fit into Val's, but he likes to say that the codpiece had to be made bigger.''


Posted Jul 12, 1996 | Published in issue #335 Jul 12, 1996 | Order Article Reprints