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Feature by: Jack Foley
FROM the period 1988 to 1992, Michael Keaton was practically
a household name following successful roles in Batman, its sequel
and the likes of Pacific Heights and Beetlejuice.
But the star then fell out of the limelight for some time during
the mid-to-late 90s for a number of reasons, most of which he
is happy to talk candidly about.
"I reached a point where I didn’t think I was that
great," he explained to journalists at the press conference
for his latest film, Herbie: Fully Loaded.
"I’m not being humble. I was looking at things and
thinking ‘Hmm, you’re really not that good in that’.
"I think I was becoming boring, as well as bored. It was
nobody’s fault except mine, probably. So it’s been
like that.
"I was getting scripts and I’d think ‘What’s
the point of this?’ So I turned an awful lot of films down."
Keaton did, however, record a sizable box office hit earlier
this year with the supernatural thriller, White Noise, while Herbie
was another nice earner at the US box office.
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In the film, the actor plays a racing
legend-turned-father who is forced to continue the family business
alone, while also raising a teenage daughter (Lindsay Lohan).
And he was attracted to the role because it contained many of
the classic Disney values, as well as reviving one of cinema's
icons.
"I thought when I read the script it was a nicely written
film. I really think this is a very nice film.," he continued.
"And when I saw it on the screen, I really admired what
Angela [the director] had done. I thought she positioned the movie
real nicely so that for the next hour-and-a-half you were on board,
as it were.
"I thought they created a natural character out of the car.
It was very charming... It’s also classically Disney."
That said, Keaton does confess to having missed the whole Herbie
phenomena when it first made its big screen appearance in The
Love Bug in 1968.
"I’ve been thinking about that and I thought ‘Did
I have a stroke?’," he joked.
"I vaguely remember a Bug with flowers on it, and Dean Jones.
That’s it.
"But I missed it, I don’t know what happened. I know
they existed as part of the culture but I didn’t know they
were this big. Jesus… I can remember where I was at the
moon landings or when Kennedy got shot, but I don’t remember
where I was when Herbie came out."
Related stories: Read
the Herbie review
Lindsay Lohan interview
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