Director Dante Has No Regrets About Batman Snub

Veteran filmmaker Joe Dante has no regrets about turning down the chance to direct an early Batman movie, because he is convinced the "period" film would have been a disaster.
The Gremlins moviemaker was approached by studio executives at Warner Bros. in the late 1980s to make a film based on the comic book superhero.
Dante initially agreed to take on the project, but pulled out because he didn't believe in the storyline.
The film never got made and Tim Burton was later hired to bring the Caped Crusader to the big screen, with Michael Keaton in the lead role.
But more than 20 years on, Dante still stands by his decision.
He tells MovieHole.net, "After Gremlins started making money, (Warner Bros. bosses) came to me and asked 'Would you like to do our Batman?'. So I signed on.
"It was a good project, I grew up with Batman - but the problem was, I didn't really believe in Batman. I just couldn't swallow the idea of the guy living up on a Hill, dressing up as a bat... Robin and all that... I didn't feel right about it so I went in and told them that I didn't think I was the right guy for the movie. They, of course, said 'You must be crazy!', but I seriously believed, and still do, that I wasn't the right choice for the movie.
"It wasn't the movie that Tim Burton did, it was much more period. I don't regret not taking it on."