Michael Uslan, a producer who's worked on every Batman film from "The Dark Knight" to the first 1989 movie, is coming to Virginia Tech on March 31 at 7:30 p.m. The talk, titled "Pow! Zap! Oy! How Jewish Immigrants Created Super-Heroes," is sponsored by VTU and Hillel and will be given in Squires' Colonial Hall at no charge.
Collegiate Times: I understand you've worked on every single Batman film from Tim Burton's 1989 film to 2008's "Dark Knight" by Christopher Nolan. Which film has been your favorite to watch again after working on it?
Michael Uslan: In terms of going back and looking at them, Tim Burton decided to create his own universe in the world of Gotham City. If you go back and look at that film, you'll see technology and cars that look like the past, future and present, all mish-mashed together. The great thing about today is that you don't look at it today and say "that's a 1980s film" because he took a timeless approach, and that allows that picture to stand out. In terms of Nolan's more recent film, I could sit and watch both over and over again. What's been particularly spectacular is that people have had the opportunity to see the "Dark Knight" not only on DVD, but on IMAX. Not only is it larger experience, it's also a more interactive experience.
CT: Which of the six Batman films took the most work and production time?
MU: The first Batman movie took 10 years from the time Ben and I acquired the rights from DC Comics to when the movie came out in theaters. That was virtually a human endurance contest; it tests your mettle as a person when you're so convinced and you believe in your work, but everyone's telling you it's crazy and it's awful. It really tests what you're made of and how strong your commitment is to your work.
CT: I understand you originally wanted the series to be darker and more serious. Do you think that with the "Dark Knight" you've arrived at your goal?
MU: Everything that I've hoped to with a Batman franchise - with the bookends being Batman in 1989 and now "Batman Begins" and "The Dark Knight" - I think you have to take them together, with "Batman Begins" being the payoff with "The Dark Knight," with genius due to Christopher Nolan. I wanted to eradicate from the vocabulary the words "pow," "zap" and "wam." In the afterglow of the "Dark Knight," we've almost succeeded. We've gotten way further than we did at the beginning.
CT: Why did you choose to take on the first project, and what keeps you coming back for more?
MU: It goes back to when I was in seventh grade, and the Batman television show debuted. I was simultaneously thrilled and horrified by what I was seeing. At that point in time, except for the "Adventures of Superman," you didn't see comic books and super heroes on TV. I felt like somebody was spending a lot of money because the cars were super cool, and the sets were extravagant, and that was exciting. However, I realized people all over the world were laughing at Batman. Now, I have a collection of 60,000 books dating back to 1936, and I was at the first comic book convention ever held - in New York in 1964. I had a passion and love for comics since I was little. And as a true-blue comic fan, I decided to take what I loved in life and turn it into my work, because I wanted to restore the integrity of Batman and bring him to the world the way he was brought in 1939. I thought it was a noble mission, and it was that passion that helped me endure the 10 years of being rejected by every single studio in Hollywood. They told me it was crazy; it was the worst idea they've ever heard. Now, looking back, all I can say is it was worth it.
CT: Not including any actor who has played Bruce Wayne already, who would you say would make the best Batman in a hypothetical 2010 film?
MU: I think we've achieved the perfect batman and the perfect Bruce Wayne with Christian Bale coupled with the genius of Christopher Nolan, who deserves all the credit in the world. The key question in all the films, though, isn't what actor is playing Batman, but who's playing Bruce Wayne. The complete interpretation of the character comes through Bruce Wayne. Tim Burton saw how, back then, there has never been a serious, dark, comic book movie, and he had the enviable mission of being the first one to try and get the audience to believe that a guy could get dressed up in a bat suit and fight crime. There are two bits of genius that people needed to understand. First is that Gotham City was the third most important character. With the 20th anniversary of the first film coming up in June, if the audience couldn't believe in Gotham City, they would never believe in the character. When Tim wanted to bring on Michael Keaton, I thought he was crazy. I had spent 10 years trying to get this going, and now a director wants Mr. Mom to play Batman. It's all about the character and what makes him tick. Keaton portrayed a Bruce Wayne so driven that he knew he could get the audience to believe in the character. With Val Kilmer, it was a darker, aloof and coolly romantic Batman, which likened back to Dracula for me, bringing this dark romanticism to the role. George Clooney was more boy-next-door; with Bale he's nailed it. It doesn't matter what generation you're from, what version of Batman is on TV or in cartoons that you've grown up with, but Bale really fills the bill. People can identify with it.
CT: The title of your lecture is "Pow! Zap! Oy! How Jewish Immigrants Created Super-Heroes." What are you trying to convey to students? What is your main message?
MU: I was a blue-collared kid from New Jersey who had no money to buy his way into Hollywood. I knew nobody and my last name's not Warner. The whole thing is about how you make your dreams come true. I'm a living testament that it's possible; you can do it. What I'm going to be able to talk to people about is to just follow your passion. My dad was a mason, so if it's bricks and stones, that's great. Mine was comic books. Market yourself. You can have the greatest ideas in the world, but if nobody sees it what's the point? You've also got to have a high threshold for frustration. The only guarantee I can make is that doors will slam in your face. What are you choices then? You can go home and cry about it or you can keep knocking until your knuckles bleed. One day you will be knocking on the right door at the right time. Always have a plan B, maybe even a plan C. Sometimes you have to take calculated risks, and roll the dice. The worst thing I could be sitting here is wondering what if. At least 90 percent of the people sit back on their butts and wait for life to come to them. Something around 10 percent of people get out there and take what they want. You have to take what you want.
CT: I understand you are the professor of a course called "The Comic Book and Society." What was that all about?
MU: My three main points in the course were that, one: comic books are a legitimate American art form, just as important as, say, jazz music; two, comic books have reflected a changing American culture. They are mirrors of our current society; and three, comic books are contemporary American folklore - it's basically modern day mythology.
CT: If you could teach any one class here at Virginia Tech, what would it be?
MU: I would be a history professor; I'm a history buff. One of the productions I did was for PBS Playhouse called Three Sovereigns for Sarah, which was a 100-percent historically accurate perception of the Salem Witch Trials of 1962. One of the courses I would teach would be the history of rock 'n' roll. I spent two years with Dick Clark and wrote "The First 25 Years of Rock'n'Roll." I'm a big fan and scholar of rock 'n' roll and its emergence.