YES!, Batman Returns is a Christmas Movie.
Let me explain...
My Batman Returns - Teaser Poster 27" x 41"
1991 was a pretty eventful year for yours truly. My daughter Zoe was born in August and I was set to start a new job in California at Disney Imagineering (my dream job), September 16th. My wife and I had recently relocated from Philadelphia to Rhode Island and moved in with the in-laws while we awaited the arrival of our little bundle of joy; who was due any moment. The plan was, to drive out to California the end of August, get situated with the new job, while crashing on the sofa of my best friend from college, Dan Platt, and THEN make arrangements for the family to come to California and start our lives in beautiful California.
Well, as Robert Burns once said, "The best laid plans of mice and men go awry." couldn't have been more true for me. I arrived in the San Fernando Valley Tuesday, September 3rd at around 10:30-11:00pm at Dan's front door, with a mutual friend -Tony Corso. We had driven like fucking maniacs the entire 3000 miles, and as a result, did it in 2 1/2 days...which is a story for another time. Needless to say, I was excited as hell to start my dream job in two weeks. Tony & I spent the next week and a half being chauffeured around LA and the surrounding area by our gracious host, seeing all the sights etc. Dan even drove me to Burbank & Glendale and showed me where the Disney Studio & Imagineering complex was located, so I would be able to find it when it was time to show up for work.
The Hallowed Halls of Disney Imagineering - 1401 Flower Street, Glendale, California
Well, to make a really long and boring story short (for your sake), I showed up for my first day of work, dressed in my finest 'professional attire', notebook & lunch in hand, vibrating in my shoes because I was so damn excited AND nervous as shit -eager to begin my career as a Disney Imagineer! Well, my bubble was soon to be burst when the expression on the receptionist's face suddenly changed from pleasant to confused...and then she said, "I'm sorry, didn't anyone contact you? There was a freeze placed on ALL new hires across the entire company (Imagineering) and that I should have been contacted in writing AND phone call, prior to today. Well, I kindly explained (without losing my shit) that I had NOT been notified of this information since my last phone conversation that took place on Aug.14, when it was confirmed that my start date was Sept.16, and that I was in the process of moving from Rhode Island to California! She appeared to be a little uncomfortable with the conversation and wanted it to end as soon as possible...imagine if you will, the scene in Trains, Planes &Automobiles, where Steve Martin loses his shit in the airport at the car rental desk...and that pretty much sums up the scene/vibe of my conversation...minus the expletives - because I was at Disney and was still hoping it was all a misunderstanding. But it wasn't. So I sat in my car for about 30 minutes dry heaving, wanting to die and trying to figure out-how in the hell I was going to explain this to my wife. I was fucked. ROYALLY. I was in pure panic mode. So I went back to Dan's place, told him what happened and he said not to worry, we'd figure something out...and HE did. I don't know how the hell he did it, but he fucking did.
Let me explain, Dan came out to California, immediately after college to pursue a career in Special Effects makeup and had established himself as the guy who sculpted stop-motion puppets for various films: Terminator-2, Army of Darkness etc. and was currently working on Batman Returns in the model shop sculpting all sorts of detailed scaled items for the miniature Gotham City set. I don't know how, but he was able to convince somebody there to hire me as a painter, even though I had ZERO experience in the film industry-which proves, as long as you know someone in this God-forsaken industry AND you're not a total dick, someone will give you a shot to prove yourself...now I had to prove myself.
The Boss Films, Batman Returns Model Shop Crew, 1991.
So, instead of a career as a Disney Imagineer, I began a new and unexpected career in Hollywood Special Effects! It officially began one early morning, the first week of October, in the old Douglas Trumbull's Entertainment Effects Group facilities (renamed Boss Film Studios) down in Marina del Rey. I walked into the sound stage with Dan (and his girlfriend, Paula, who was also a painter) and was immediately blown away by what was being created by this team of talented artisans, mouth open and wide-eyed - I immediately felt intimidated and like a total fraud. But once Dan had introduced me to everyone, the nerves/jitters seemed to go away. We were all film/art nerds that spoke a similar language and that helped to put my mind at ease, now all I needed was a project to focus on and I'd be fine.
Well it seemed my very first project was going to be painting bricks (in 3 different shades of brick red) complete with weathering...fucking kill me now. So I spent the first few days on a ladder with my shitty Utrecht Acrylic brushes #0, #1 painting bricks on the infamous Leaning building, that was held up by a metal 'crutch' and was located next door to the Shrek Department store building. Evidently, there was going to be a camera 'fly-by' so the details had to be pumped up for clarity. So that meant everything on the rooftop had to be sharp and crisp...so, I was going to be busy for awhile.
Me, pretending to be Michelangelo, painting the Sistine Chapel
Once I completed that projected, I was tasked with painting a few other buildings of various background importance.
Then I helped paint a few figures for the crowd scene in front of Shrek's Department Store
Then I got to paint a small part of a major piece- Max Shrek's office that held the giant revolving 'Cat' Head (I forget who got to paint that...I REALLY wanted to paint that one, but I was low man on the totem pole so it went to someone else, unfortunately, I think Paula may have painted that.) But I was glad to be off painting figures-Paula banged the rest of them out and then went on to the church.
Here I am concentrating like a preschooler while Dan busted my balls and took the photo. While this was happening, I remember John Eaves kit bashing a small Zamboni-type snowplow that he ended up hiding on the miniature set-behind the Batman merchandise store that was located next to the church...it was fucking amazing, and you never see it in the film, unfortunately.
Doing some touch up work on the office after installation.
Early test with the revolving head mounted and lit up.
One fun little detail I got do, was to add the Shrek Logo decals and snow, to the awnings that Selina Kyle crashes through, when she becomes Catwoman....but I don't think you ever see any of this in the film...
I also learned that almost everyone was hiding little details on the models...so I did too. You never see any of them on film, but that didn't matter-I know they were there, and it would be something I could tell my wife and daughter (when she was older). There was assorted graffiti and messages hidden in the snow etc.
All I can say is that it was a pretty exciting experience, I worked my ass off and put in long hours and met someone at the wrap party who happened to work at Mattel Toys. We spent a great deal of time talking about toys, like a couple of nerds and he asked if I ever thought of doing that for a living. He told me they were looking for a designer for their Disney Preschool department, as if I was interested-he'd give me a name to contact...I told him, HELL YES!! and the rest is history. A few weeks later I found myself at Mattel in an interview, and you can read about that in an earlier post.
...Oh yeah, I want to thank Dan for: 1) Getting me the gig when I needed it the most 2) Introducing me to some incredibly talented people which resulted in my future career as a toy designer AND 3) taking all these photos so I have a record of this memorable experience...you have to remember, this was a time before 'phones' with cameras included, so if you didn't have a camera with film-you were shit out of luck.
...and SEE, Batman Returns IS a Christmas Movie, there's a friggin' Christmas tree in it!
Here's my poster that I had Tim Burton & Danny Elfman sign at an event that took place at the Shrine Auditorium in LA after the film wrapped. I ended up being a total fanboy and started collecting all kinds of crap, as a result of my involvement with this film.
Batman Returns Lobby Cards 11" x 14"
After the premier of the film, Dan had taken me to this movie memorabilia store in downtown Burbank (I forgot the name) that was FILLED with rows of metal filing cabinets and various racks of drawers that contained THOUSANDS of film photographs, lobby cards and movie posters. It was there, where I purchased two sealed sets of Batman Returns Lobby Cards-one which I opened, and one that I kept sealed. I also bought a set of mini Lobby Cards, a few posters AND bunch of B&W stills for my personal scrapbook/binder. What can I say...I'm a total movie geek/fanboy.
Batman Returns Mini Lobby Cards 8" x 10"
Batman Returns B&W 8" x 10"
Batman Returns - Oswald Cobblepot for Mayor Campaign Poster 29.5" x 63"
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