Michael Keaton recently shared to The New York Times a bit of regret over his performance in Tim Burton‘s 2019 live-action “Dumbo” film. The Oscar nominee played a greedy amusement park owner in the film opposite a cast that included Colin Farrell, Eva Green and Danny DeVito. “Dumbo” earned mixed reviews from critics and was seen as a financial disappointment for Disney with just over $350 million at the worldwide box office.
“I love working with Tim so much, but I don’t think we ever really analyzed why we work pretty well together; we just do,” Keaton told The Times. “I think I let him down on one movie, but that’s just me, and it bugs me to this day. I was clueless on ‘Dumbo.’ I sucked in ‘Dumbo.’”
Burton joined Keaton in The Times interview and butted in to say: “I don’t even know what you’re talking about, but whatever.”
Critics were divided over Keaton’s villainous turn in the movie. Variety’s Owen Gleiberman wrote in his review that “Keaton’s performance as the dastardly Vandevere is disappointingly thin; he’s a bad guy with a sandpaper voice but no layers.”
Keaton’s disappointment in “Dumbo” mirrors that of Burton, who has been quite honest in the years since the film’s 2019 theatrical release about how making a Disney tentpole of that size was not the most enjoyable experience. In a recent interview with Variety, Burton said he contemplated ending his directing career after the film.
“Honestly, after ‘Dumbo,’ I really didn’t know,” Burton said. “I thought that could have been it, really. I could have retired, or become… well, I wouldn’t have become an animator again, that’s over.”
Burton credited the upcoming “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” for “reenergizing” his interest in filmmaking, adding: “Oftentimes, when you get into Hollywood, you try to be responsible to what you’re doing with the budget and everything else but sometimes you might lose yourself a little bit. This reinforced the feeling for me that it’s important that I do what I want to do, because then everybody will benefit.”
Speaking at the 2019 at the Lumière Festival, Burton said, “The thing about ‘Dumbo’ is that’s why I think my days with Disney are done. I realized that I was Dumbo, that I was working in this horrible big circus and I needed to escape. That movie is quite autobiographical at a certain level.”
Keaton and Burton have been longtime friends and collaborators having worked together on “Beetlejuice,” “Batman,” “Batman Returns,” “Dumbo” and “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.” The latter is opening in theaters Sept. 6 from Warner Bros.
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