Everybody has that one thing in their life that just "got away." For some, that thing is a long-lost love that they never got to rekindle. For others, it might be a failed audition attempt in a Fantastic Four movie. But for Matt Damon, it seems as though that one tiny regret involves not 1, but 2 Batman movies, and he has finally deemed it time to tell the fateful tale of a Robin that audiences almost had.
Way back in the day, Damon (whose new film Stillwater is now playing in theaters) ended up in the audition phase for 2 very different Batman films and tried out for the role of Robin in both of them. As evidenced by older people's memories and younger people's Google searches, he did not get either role. But interestingly enough, one of the movies he auditioned for ended up not even featuring Robin as a character. That must have stung considering his good buddy Ben Affleck eventually ended up playing Batman himself.
On a recent episode of Josh Horowitz's Happy Sad Confused podcast, Damon spoke out about the elusive role that evaded him in his teenage years. In New York during the late 1980s, the fledgling actor showed up to an audition for Tim Burton's then-upcoming film Batman. Those familiar with the movie may be confused, as they know full well that Robin never showed up in Burton's take on the caped crusader. Well, apparently they hadn't figured out that part yet, and everyone was super hush-hush about the whole thing.
"I remember that we didn't have sides," Damon said, "it wasn't like you're reading a scene with Batman. It was so secretive that you're reading this other scene from some other movie." Were the audition folks just that worried about keeping things on the down-low? Or was it perhaps so early in production that they didn't even have a proper script to work with yet? Either way, Robin was eventually removed from the movie entirely, giving Damon a prime opportunity to say he totally would have landed it if the character wasn't cut.
Damon eventually got another shot at the role, though it wasn't exactly a fair fight this time. During the production of Joel Schumacher's underrated Batman Forever, he was flown in to read for the very much not-cut role of Robin (which ended up being played by Chris O'Donnell), but it turned out the audition was more of a formality. "Chris O'Donnell already had the part," Damon explained, "but they were haggling over money. The studio was flexing, basically, by flying in two other people to screen test. They wanted Chris, but they just wanted him for a price." So he took part in the audition, knowing full well that O'Donnell had the role. But it was still early in his career, and he went anyway for the experience. What a trooper.
It's interesting to think of what kinds of films these 2 might have been if Robin had not only remained part of Burton's movie but if Damon had played the part both times. Maybe then he'd have been much more suited to play Fake Loki in Thor: Ragnarok.
Batman Forever is now available to stream on HBO Max.
Source: Josh Horowitz