Batman Returns writer spills details on scrapped Catwoman spinoff

Michelle Pfeiffer is the best Catwoman, and it’s not even close. Fight me. After the release of Batman Returns, screenwriter Daniel Waters and director Tim Burton began developing a Catwoman spinoff which would have seen Pfeiffer returning to the role. The project was ultimately scrapped, but Waters spilled a few details during a recent screening of Batman Returns in Los Angeles.

“[Burton] wanted to do an $18 million black and white movie, like the original ‘Cat People,’ of Selina just lowkey living in a small town,” Waters said via IndieWire. “And I wanted to make a ‘Batman’ movie 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.’ But he got exhausted reading my script.” Sounds like two very different visions, but I can’t help but wonder what could have been.

The project fizzled out as those involved took on other projects, so by the time Warner Bros. finally got around to the Catwoman spinoff, we were handed the 2004 reboot starring Halle Berry. I think we all lost that day.

Although Batman Returns is considered to be one of the best DC movies, some fans at the time took issue with how it created new backstories for several of the characters. Waters admitted that was due to his complete lack of knowledge of the comic-book characters. “It was a weird assignment in that I didn’t need to please anyone but Tim Burton,” Waters explained. “Before the internet, you didn’t have to go before a tribunal and say what you were doing — it was just two guys in a room riffing. We didn’t know shit about Batman villains. We didn’t really understand the whole comic book thing. I just found out DC Comics stands for Detective Comics.“

Michelle Pfeiffer was asked about returning to the role prior to the release of The Flash and responded, “It would depend on the context but, yeah, I’d consider it.“