Michael Keaton

He played the title character in Tim Burton's 1988 horror-comedy Beetlejuice, earned Keaton widespread acclaim and boosted him to movieland's A list. He originally turned down the role, then reconsidered like most of the cast. He now considers Beetlejuice his favorite of his own films.

In 1988, however, Keaton proved his range as a performer with two very different films. He starred as a mischievous demon who helps a pair of ghosts (Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis) get rid of a family that moved into their old house in Beetlejuice. Directed by Tim Burton, the supernatural film that also starred Winona Ryder became a popular hit. "Tim and I both have the same sensibility. He has this darkness and melancholy about him that's kind of funny. People weren't ready for that at the time," Keaton later explained to the Guardian newspaper.

Keaton's career was given another major boost when he was again cast by Tim Burton, this time as the title comic book superhero of 1989's Batman. Burton cast him because he thought that Keaton was the only actor who could believably portray someone who has the kind of darkly obsessive personality that the character demands. Warner Bros. received thousands of letters of complaint by fans who believed Keaton was the wrong choice to portray Batman. However, Keaton's performance in the role ultimately earned widespread acclaim from both critics and audiences, and Batman became one of the most successful films of that year. According to Les Daniels's reference book Batman: The Complete History, Keaton was not surprised when he was first considered as Batman as he initially believed the film would be similar to the 1960s television series starring Adam West. It was only after he was introduced to Frank Miller's comic book miniseries, The Dark Knight Returns, that Keaton really understood the dark and brooding side of Batman that he portrayed to much fan approval.

Keaton later reprised the role for the sequel Batman Returns (1992), which was another critically acclaimed success. He was initially set to reprise the role again for a third Batman film, even going as far as to show up for costume fitting. However, when Burton was dropped as director of the film, Keaton left the franchise as well. He was reportedly dissatisfied with the screenplay approved by the new director, Joel Schumacher. According to the A&E Biography episode on Keaton, after he had refused the first time (after meetings with Schumacher), Warner Bros. offered him $15 million, but Keaton steadfastly refused and was replaced by Val Kilmer in Batman Forever (1995).

Keaton starred alongside Zach Galifianakis, Edward Norton, Emma Stone, and Naomi Watts in Birdman (2014), playing Riggan Thomson, a screen actor, famous for playing the iconic titular superhero, who puts on a Broadway play based on a Raymond Carver short story, to regain his former glory. He won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy for his portrayal of Thomson and received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor.

In 2016, Keaton entered negotiations to appear as a villain in Spider-Man: Homecoming, which will be released in 2017. Producer Kevin Feige confirmed that November that Keaton would be playing the supervillain the Vulture.