'Batman' Screenwriter Spills Secrets about Unmade Michelle Pfeiffer 'Catwoman' Movie

If not for differing takes between director Tim Burton and "Batman Returns" screenwriter Daniel Waters on the direction of the superhero film franchise, Catwoman actor Michelle Pfeiffer might have starred in her own film based on the classic DC character, Variety Reports.

Waters revealed how his idea for a 1990s "Catwoman" project rubbed Burton the wrong way, with the director wanting to revisit the character of Selina Kyle from 1992's "Batman Returns" with an arthouse movie, while Waters yearned for more colorful fare making fun of Hollywood and the superhero genre.

Waters "spoke about the proposed Catwoman spinoff and revealed some behind-the-scenes tidbits about both films during a recent Los Angeles screening of 'Returns' on December 22 at the Egyptian," detailed IndieWire, which broke the story.

"He wanted to do an $18 million black and white movie, like the original 'Cat People'," a classic horror film from 1942 that was the work of director Jacques Turneur, Water recalled, adding that Burton's film would have found "Selina just lowkey living in a small town.

"And I wanted to make a 'Batman' movie," Waters continued, "where the metaphor was about 'Batman.' So I had her move to a Los Angeles version of Gotham City, and it's run by three asshole superheroes.

"It was 'The Boys' before 'The Boys'," Waters added, citing the Amazon series that skewers the genre. However, he added, Burton "got exhausted reading my script."

It wasn't the first time Waters had wanted to go the parodic route, only to be shot down. "Batman" star Michael Keaton, who had also starred in the 1989 Burton film written by Sam Hamm and Warren Skaaren, demanded that Waters strip "Batman Returns" of critiques Waters had written into his original script that went after the tie-in marketing that drives profits outside of the cineplex.

"'Batman Returns' was originally set to open on the Batman logo," IndieWire explained, "which would pan out to reveal an in-universe merchandise store, with Batman making several references to exploitative merchandising during the film."

"Keaton said, 'This is very clever. Cut it'," Waters told his audience.

But comics fans were not universally impressed with "Batman Returns," and Waters admitted that at the time of writing the film he "didn't really understand the whole comic book thing."

"Batman Returns" "did not faithfully adapt the backstories of Catwoman or The Penguin (Danny DeVito)," Variety recalled, and as a result, Waters said, "we got attacked by Batman fans because they thought, 'This is only the second Batman movie, what the fuck are you doing? You're already going off-road.

"Now there's like 50 Batman movies, it's like, 'Hey. That was pretty interesting'," he went on to add.

A lighter, campier sensibility did find its way to the franchise for the next two films, both directed by Joel Schumacher. Neither featured Catwoman. Halle Barry played the role in a 2004 standalone movie, "Catwoman," that was directed by the mononymic Pitof; Anne Hathaway appeared as the feline super-villain in 2012's Christopher Nolan-directed "The Dark Knight Rises," the third in Nolan's trilogy starring Christian Bale as Batman; and Zoe Kravitz took on the part in Matt Reeves' 2022 film "The Batman," which saw Robert Pattinson portray the Caped Crusader early in his crime-fighting career.