Cameo with AI: Tim Burton has voiced criticism about Nicolas Cage as Superman and Michael Keaton as Batman in 'The Flash'
Tim Burton has expressed his displeasure over Nicolas Cage's appearance as Superman in 'The Flash', recalling the cancelled 'Superman Lives' project he worked on as director.
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"I’m in quiet revolt against all this" - Burton shared his feelings watching Cage's appearance as Superman and Michael Keaton as Batman in "The Flash" in a fresh interview with the British Film Institute.
After a successful series of Batman films from Warner Bros. offered Burton to helm the Superman Lives project, where Nicolas Cage was to play the Man of Steel in the late 1990s. However, the film was cancelled after nearly two years of preparation and never saw the light of day.
Nevertheless, Cage made a surprise appearance as Superman in The Flash, where he battled a giant spider amidst a multiverse on the verge of collapse. This 2023 superhero film also sees the return of Keaton as Batman, who Burton worked with in 1989's "Batman" and its 1992 sequel "Batman Returns."
The director expressed his impressions comparing these cameos to the recent trend of reimagining films and characters using artificial intelligence.
"But also it goes into another AI thing, and this is why I think I’m over it with the studio. They can take what you did, ‘Batman’ or whatever, and culturally misappropriate it, or whatever you want to call it." Burton explained. "Even though you’re a slave of Disney or Warner Brothers, they can do whatever they want. So in my latter years of life, I’m in quiet revolt against all this.".
Burton also criticised Disney's artificial recreations of characters, in an interview with The Independent, saying: "What it does is it sucks something from you. It takes something from your soul or psyche; that is very disturbing, especially if it has to do with you. It’s like a robot taking your humanity, your soul.".
When asked about the cancelled project on "Superman," Burton said: "I will say this: when you work that long on a project and it doesn’t happen, it affects you for the rest of your life. Because you get passionate about things, and each thing is an unknown journey, and it wasn’t there yet. But it’s one of those experiences that never leaves you, a little bit."
Source: Variety