The Batman suit that George Clooney wore in Joel Schumacher's 1997 "Batman & Robin" is going up for auction with the opening bid set at $40,000.
The costume might be the most ridiculed get-up in superhero movie history because of its pronounced plastic nipples, but that hasn't stopped it from being a sought-after item at Heritage Auctions' Hollywood & Entertainment Signature Auction, taking place July 22-23, according to Variety.
"This is easily the most famous — and infamous — Batman costume ever designed, as evidenced by the fact that all these years later, it continues to make headlines every time Tim Burton and George Clooney get asked about it," Heritage Auction’s Executive Vice President Joe Maddalena said in a statement. "But to his credit, Joel Schumacher never apologized for the 'Bat-nipples.' In fact, he once told Vice, 'I'm still glad we did it.' And I am just as glad we have the chance now to offer this piece of cinema history to someone who can appreciate the costume as much as Schumacher clearly did."
Tim Burton, who directed the original "Batman," earlier this year slammed Warner Bros. for approving the suit. The studio was resistant to Burton's "Batman Returns," which had a darker tone, and did not want him to continue with a third movie.
In the end, Burton left and was replaced by Schumacher, who took a completely different direction with "Batman Forever" and "Batman & Robin."
"[Back then] they went the other way," Burton told Empire. "That’s the funny thing about it. But then I was like, 'Wait a minute. OK. Hold on a second here. You complain about me; I'm too weird, I'm too dark, and then you put nipples on the costume? Go f*** yourself.' Seriously. So yeah, I think that's why I didn't end up [doing a third film]."
Jose Fernandez, the franchise's lead sculptor, who along with Schumacher decided to add the nipples to the suit, told Mel Magazine in June that he based the idea around Roman armor.
"And, in the comic books, the characters always looked like they were naked with spray paint on them — it was all about anatomy, and I like to push anatomy," he said. "I don't know exactly where my head was at back in the day, but that’s what I remember. And so, I added the nipples. I had no idea there was going to end up being all this buzz about it."
Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
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