Michael Keaton Pursues the American Dream in ‘The Founder’

There’s also no chance he’ll return as the caped crusader, a role that has seen many Hollywood hunks—such as George Clooney, Christian Bale and, most recently, Ben Affleck—fill the role since he officially ceded his mask and codpiece in 1992. Since then, Keaton hasn’t been keeping up with the Jones’— or the Afflecks, either. It’s nothing personal, though. “I’ve seen bits and pieces of them. It’s not that I don’t like them, I just never got around to it. Christian Bale is such an amazing actor and [that director Christopher Nolan] is so great that they must have at least been pretty good, but I have no idea.”

Burton is responsible for Keaton’s two caped crusader films—Batman and Batman Begins—but, when the director left, so did his star. “I was all into it if Tim was going to stick around, and if they would have gone down the road I preferred,” he says, noting, “Chris Nolan ended up doing basically what I said I would prefer if there was a third movie. [The powers-that-be] didn’t hear it: they were going for bigger, more color. I just didn’t get it at all. If Tim had pitched me that idea [I might have considered it]. My overall sense, what I hear from what people tell me, is that for some reason [none of the following films] ever got Batman’s charm. He’s a quirky dude. He’s screwed up. He’s odd.”

This is not how Keaton would describe himself. If you push him, he’ll tell you that it depends on the day, but mostly he’s “fortunate” and “lives a varied life.” Both statements are true. Though he clearly has a place in the Hollywood machine (and a home in Pacific Palisades), he prefers to spend time at his ranch near Big Timber, Montana, where he fly-fishes, hikes, plays tennis, walks his dogs and rides horses. He is a man in constant motion, shifting imperceptibly, but often. He claims he doesn’t know how to be indoors for too long, and we believe him.

On this unusually grey day in Pacific Palisades, Keaton (born Michael Douglas, strangely enough), is the one bright spot in an otherwise dark room. His expressive, ocean-colored eyes become brighter as he gets more animated. He has the energy of a dozen men, easily moving from topic to topic, sometimes shifting conversations upon themselves like Jenga pieces. He has already read his customary two newspapers, taken a meeting, completed a fashion shoot and still found time to discuss the current political climate.

Because we’ve topic-hopped and landed on exercise, he confides that one thing he truly misses is playing team sports; softball and basketball are his top choices. “I was always in a league somewhere, and I really miss that—I miss it a lot,” he says. “I miss the whole notion of teams. I never liked the idea of clubs though. Clubs are exclusionary, like you’re not good enough or cool enough.”

Which, in his opinion, is a good way of describing Hollywood itself. “I think it was Steve Martin who coined the phrase, ‘It’s like high school, with money.’ You know, [Hollywood] is clubby: who’s cool, who’s pretty, who’s too fat, who’s the groovy guy… it’s so fucking stupid. I never really dug that [aspect of the business], but I love teams, and filmmaking is a real team sport.”

Unless you’re benched, that is. “I went stretches where I didn’t work, and most of that was my choice, but also, sometimes, [it was] because nobody was making any offers. That’s a problem that I’m going to change. I’m also more in the mood, more interested in work than I have been in a long time,” he says.

Keaton isn’t sure what prompted this renewed career vigor, but he’s going to continue riding the wave and see where that crest takes him. “I think that happens to people,” he muses. “It’s a good thing I didn’t quit because [everything] comes around again. I’ve heard this happen to people—not just in show business—[where] all of a sudden, you get interested in work.” He adds, “I like that my opportunities are there now that weren’t there before. I’ve always had offers, but there were certain periods where the offers weren’t necessarily great, or some were really good but I was picky and choosy about them. Most of the time, I made decent choices. I look back at certain films [though] and I have no idea. [If someone said] ‘Tell me why you did that movie or I’ll pull the trigger,’ I would say ‘Pull the trigger, because I have no idea.’”