00:00Hello and welcome to a bat-packed episode of Hollywood Report.
00:04This week America has gone Batman bonkers, so we talk to Val Kilmer and Chris O'Donnell about their roles as Batman and Robin.
00:13Who's your tailor?
00:14Jim Carrey and Tommy Lee Jones, who stars the Riddler and Harvey Two-Face.
00:19And Nicole Kidman, who plays Dr. Chase Meridian.
00:23Well, I wish I could say that my interest in you is purely professional.
00:28Holy blockbuster, Batman.
00:31The countdown to the British opening of Batman Forever is underway following the U.S. opening last week.
00:37The film smashed the record for the biggest box office opening by raking in a whopping £35 million in its first weekend.
00:44That's £3 million more than Jurassic Park.
00:46This, the third Batman movie, has more action stunts and gadgets than ever before and is sure to woe moviegoers over here too.
00:54Val Kilmer debuts as a caped crusader, having taken over from Michael Keaton.
00:58Hollywood Report persuaded him to peel off his rubber suit and talk to us about his role as the coolest, sexiest superhero yet.
01:08Can I persuade you to take a sandwich with you, sir?
01:11I'll get drive-thru.
01:17For the first time since I've been acting, I agreed to the job before I read the script.
01:22Although Val Kilmer didn't need any persuading when asked to take on the role as Gotham's Dark Knight, getting into the Batsuit was a different story.
01:31It's very thick, it's very heavy, and it shrinks, and it doesn't breathe, and if you poke little holes in it, then they say, although I never really believed them, that you can see it.
01:41They will see it in the dailies, so they say, you can't have those air holes, only this little part of my mouth could breathe.
01:53My place, midnight.
01:55I had a lot of fun with Nicole, particularly when we were together with Chris, because he was very gullible, and she was very mean wit.
02:04She'd get them going for half an hour, an hour, with something absurd.
02:09For Val, nothing was more absurd than the antics of Jim Carrey.
02:14Probably the hardest thing about working on the move was not laughing while Jim was working.
02:21Who is Batman?
02:23He's a trillionaire in his condescending to believing that dressing up funny is okay, or at least worth considering.
02:32Well, let's just say I could write a hell of a paper on a grown man who dresses like a flying rodent.
02:39Bats aren't rodents, Dr. Meridian.
02:41Is there something really elemental that Bob Kane created that fascinates people?
02:50What is it about the wrong kind of man?
02:53It's the car, right? Chicks love the car.
02:54Legitimately part of the attraction of the character is that he is a guy, because of his wealth,
03:02that he can afford to make up these weird things to fight crime with.
03:07And thanks to merchandising, now you don't have to be a wealthy superhero to have some bad things of your own.
03:13The Bat 8-track player that I had to approve on its way to Taipan, that was hard.
03:22The life-size cookie jar was...
03:24I don't know, you think about the people that are going to buy a Bat refrigerator.
03:30I don't know.
03:32I don't need one, but someone out there in Consumer Land does.
03:35But the people in Consumer Land need Batman?
03:38Yes, now more than ever, and if you don't see the film, this could become Pompeii.
03:46Chris O'Donnell is new to Gotham City as well.
03:49Fresh from the set of Circle of Friends, he stars as Dick Grayson, the Ernest Colley student,
03:55whose alter ego is Robin the Boy Wonder.
03:58I need a name. Batboy, Nightwing.
04:01I don't know, what do you think? What's a good sidekick name?
04:04How about Dick Grayson, college student?
04:06While filming Batman Forever, Chris O'Donnell wasn't just studying lines for his role as Robin.
04:12He was also cramming for exams.
04:14I was going through finals right before Christmas break.
04:17I was sitting there at Tinko's Copies at 3 in the morning trying to type a paper on Sunset Boulevard.
04:23I was ridiculous, and then getting up, going to work.
04:26I just saved your life. You owe me.
04:27You are totally out of control. You're going to get yourself killed.
04:30You're looking at your new partner.
04:31I was always a big fan of Batman growing up.
04:33Of course, I think when I was a kid, I probably, if I could have chosen, would have been Batman, you know, as opposed to Robin.
04:41But playing Robin does have its advantages, like full use of all the bad equipment.
04:48Don't underestimate the Batboat.
04:49You can get like six people water skiing behind that thing.
04:51It's got jets like you wouldn't believe.
04:53Wearing a bath suit, on the other hand, was not as much fun.
05:00Who's your tailor?
05:01I lost all the skin around my face here from wearing that mask.
05:05They had it glued onto me, which was not comfortable.
05:09I kind of had like a permanent rash around my eyes.
05:11People say, you getting any sleep?
05:12And then you go home, and you couldn't get all the eye makeup off.
05:17And, you know, you just look like a male slut or something, with this heavy eyeliner on.
05:22You forgot the part where you kissed the girl.
05:25You know, it's fun, because I'm running around in these sets, and these cars, and these costumes.
05:29It really is.
05:31You're kind of getting paid to play around.
05:33I think it's more fun for my nephews that came to visit me on the set.
