Why did Michael Keaton stop playing Batman after only two movies?

Answer 1

When art-school overachiever goth Tim Burton left the project- the screenwriters for "Batman Forever" and new director Joel Schumacher decided to lighten things up. While the first two films seemed to have been conceived in the unique mindchild of Burton himself- the later two films seemed to owe a lot to the ludicrously campy 1960's television series starring Adam West and Burt Ward.

The new movie seemed to be aiming for laughs more than anything else. So Michael Keaton got a look at the script for the third film and of course decided "no". He even turned down the $20 million dollar-plus salary. Instead- he signed on to appear in the forgettable romantic comedy "Speechless" and Rob Reiner's "The Paper". He was on the Warner Bros. set one day during filming and saw some of the production.

Keaton was quoted as saying:

"I was waiting in line for another movie and just kind of poked my head in. I watched about 10 minutes and saw enough to know that I made the right decision."