When most people hear the name Joel Schumacher, their mind instantly turns to the near-irreparable damage he did to the Batman franchise, taking the Gothic aesthetic established by Tim Burton and turning it into a neon and nipples extravaganza designed to sell as many toys as possible and banishing the Dark Knight to cinematic purgatory for close to a decade.
However, The Lost Boys director’s legacy stretches much further and wider than simply making two Batman movies, and his filmography is about as diverse and varied as you’d expect from anyone that spent over 40 years in the business. Two of his first credits were for writing Car Wash and Michael Jackson musical The Wiz, both of which went on to become firm cult classics.
Schumacher was also responsible for two of Hollywood’s finest John Grisham adaptations in The Client and A Time to Kill, directed the best performance of Michael Douglas’ career in Falling Down and gave Colin Farrell his first-ever leading role in 2000’s forgotten and sorely underrated war drama Tigerland.
Tributes have been pouring in from all over Hollywood since it was announced that Schumacher had passed away yesterday at the age of 80, and his Batman Forever star Jim Carrey added his own touching tribute on social media, which you can see below.
https://twitter.com/JimCarrey/status/1275156929443008512?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1275156929443008512&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fheroichollywood.com%2Fjim-carrey-tribute-batman-forever-joel-schumacher%2F
Carrey’s time on the superhero sequel may have caused plenty of friction between the rubber-faced comedian and co-star Tommy Lee Jones, but the Ace Ventura actor has never had anything but praise for Joel Schumacher, with the two reuniting over a decade later for mystery thriller The Number 23. Batman & Robin may have turned out to be the defining movie of Schumacher’s career, but his impact on the business was a lot bigger than most people seem to remember.
