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After Tim Burton pass on the torch to his friend Joel Schumacher and help out hiring Lee and Janet Scott Batchler to write the screenplay for Batman Forever, Warner Bros. wanted two villains again, and Joel told Lee and Janet that he wanted to do Two-Face for the movie, and he already knew he wanted Academy Award winner Tommy Lee Jones, and producer Peter MacGregor-Scott cannot make Forever without Jones. So, he called him up and he showed him the screenplay for Batman Forever. Tommy Lee read it, and he called him up and said "I don't get it." And Peter said to Tommy Lee on the phone, "Don't worry, reread the script and you'll get it, and remember, Academy Award winner Tommy Lee Jones is playing Two-Face." So, Tommy Lee reread it and said to Peter on the phone, 'Now I get it.' Tommy Lee accepted the role, because the character of Two-Face was his son's favorite character. So, the Batchlers made Two-Face Batman's enemy, because they made him as a guy who wanted to kill Batman for failing to save him.

The Batchlers chose The Riddler as the secondary villain and they're like 'Great, let's do The Riddler. What do we think about Robin Williams? We like Robin Williams!' Joel called Robin, and he said to him 'Play The Riddler' and Robin said to Joel 'I loved too, Joel.' The Batchlers made The Riddler Bruce Wayne's enemy and wrote their own origin for him. In the first two drafts, they gave Riddler the name of Lyle Heckendorf, not Edward Nygma. His company was not NygmaTech. His name was Lyle Heckendorf. So, the name of the company was HeckTech. And Joel came up with a scene that was not in the final film where Lyle stalks Bruce Wayne and Chase Meridian at the circus where they're about to see the Graysons die. And in order to get closer to Bruce, Lyle stole clothes from a fortune telling leprechaun, which form the basis of the Riddler outfit, and he has magenta hair. In the Akiva Goldsman draft, his real name was back to Edward Nygma, and Akiva wrote a scene where The Riddler tests the box on his landlady just like in the Batchler drafts, and Akiva talked to Robin in his kitchen when they're brainstorming on what The Riddler would do.

The Batchlers knew somebody who had worked with Robin and knew Robin that somebody had to talk to him about it. He read the script. He wanted to do it. And the Batchlers were like 'Uh, one of the best moments of our lives, Robin Williams in the one we wrote for.' Robin wanted to do it. And his agency said 'Don't worry. They'll have to come to you. Nobody else in town who does what you do.' The Batchlers did a wonderful job capturing his voice, because Robin Williams was a standup guy. And Robin's management said to Warner Bros. "If Michael Keaton is getting $15 million and the percentage of the gross and the percentage of merchandising, we'll be asking for our client too?" And Warner Bros. said to them, "Alright, forget the percentage of the gross, we're spending $30 million on the two actors and we didn't start filming yet. Let's think about recasting." And they made an offer to Jim Carrey that we get, and Robin found out about it when he read it in the trades.

Description
After Tim Burton pass on the torch to his friend Joel Schumacher and help out hiring Lee and Janet Scott Batchler to write the screenplay for Batman Forever, Warner Bros. wanted two villains again, and Joel told Lee and Janet that he wanted to do Two-Face for the movie, and he already knew he wanted Academy Award winner Tommy Lee Jones, and producer Peter MacGregor-Scott cannot make Forever without Jones. So, he called him up and he showed him the screenplay for Batman Forever. Tommy Lee read it, and he called him up and said "I don't get it." And Peter said to Tommy Lee on the phone, "Don't worry, reread the script and you'll get it, and remember, Academy Award winner Tommy Lee Jones is playing Two-Face." So, Tommy Lee reread it and said to Peter on the phone, 'Now I get it.' Tommy Lee accepted the role, because the character of Two-Face was his son's favorite character. So, the Batchlers made Two-Face Batman's enemy, because they made him as a guy who wanted to kill Batman for failing to save him.

The Batchlers chose The Riddler as the secondary villain and they're like 'Great, let's do The Riddler. What do we think about Robin Williams? We like Robin Williams!' Joel called Robin, and he said to him 'Play The Riddler' and Robin said to Joel 'I loved too, Joel.' The Batchlers made The Riddler Bruce Wayne's enemy and wrote their own origin for him. In the first two drafts, they gave Riddler the name of Lyle Heckendorf, not Edward Nygma. His company was not NygmaTech. His name was Lyle Heckendorf. So, the name of the company was HeckTech. And Joel came up with a scene that was not in the final film where Lyle stalks Bruce Wayne and Chase Meridian at the circus where they're about to see the Graysons die. And in order to get closer to Bruce, Lyle stole clothes from a fortune telling leprechaun, which form the basis of the Riddler outfit, and he has magenta hair. In the Akiva Goldsman draft, his real name was back to Edward Nygma, and Akiva wrote a scene where The Riddler tests the box on his landlady just like in the Batchler drafts, and Akiva talked to Robin in his kitchen when they're brainstorming on what The Riddler would do.

The Batchlers knew somebody who had worked with Robin and knew Robin that somebody had to talk to him about it. He read the script. He wanted to do it. And the Batchlers were like 'Uh, one of the best moments of our lives, Robin Williams in the one we wrote for.' Robin wanted to do it. And his agency said 'Don't worry. They'll have to come to you. Nobody else in town who does what you do.' The Batchlers did a wonderful job capturing his voice, because Robin Williams was a standup guy. And Robin's management said to Warner Bros. "If Michael Keaton is getting $15 million and the percentage of the gross and the percentage of merchandising, we'll be asking for our client too?" And Warner Bros. said to them, "Alright, forget the percentage of the gross, we're spending $30 million on the two actors and we didn't start filming yet. Let's think about recasting." And they made an offer to Jim Carrey that we get, and Robin found out about it when he read it in the trades.