The much-maligned, but commercial banger Batman Forever is getting some renewed love. The film became the top-grossing movie of the year back in the mid-90s due to an all-star cast. Val Kilmer played Batman, while Jim Carrey and Tommy Lee Jones teamed up to take down the bat as The Riddler and Two-Face, respectively. Chris O'Donnell stepped into the role of Robin while Nicole Kidman played Bruce Wayne's love interest. The death of Joel Schumacher this year has caused fans to reexamine his movies, including his two attempts at Batman films (Batman Forever and Batman and Robin). Batman and Robin was both a commercial and critical failure, and essentially caused DC to shut down and abandon the Bat franchise until Christopher Nolan came along.
According to Variety, a source close to the movie confirms that Schumacher did create a longer cut of Batman Forever. It was deemed "darker" and features, "a sequence involving the villain Two-Face (Tommy Lee Jones) escaping from Arkham Asylum, and features extended scenes with the Riddler (Jim Carrey) when he invades the Batcave and uses his signature cane as a weapon." The film also chose to focus on the emotional and psychological seeds that cause Bruce Wayne to become Batman. Most of that was cut out, although we do see a little of Bruce's segments with a shrink in the film. Right now, Warner Bros. has no intention of releasing the longer cut, nor do they even know if it still exists.
