Reminder.
>In 1997, BATMAN & ROBIN was expected to be a box office hit, and Warner preemptively greenlit a sequel starring George Clooney and Chris O'Donnell, and directed by Joel Schumacher. He was unhappy with how BATMAN & ROBIN turned and eager to make up for it with a "darker, emotionally complex" movie.
>Mark Protosevich ("Se7en") wrote the script, which featured Batman and Robin having a serious falling out. Meanwhile, biochemist Jonathan Crane swears revenge against Bruce Wayne for cutting his research funds for a deadly fear toxin Crane had secretly been developing. Upon learning Bruce's secret identity, Crane becomes The Scarecrow and joins forces with Harley Quinn, a toymaker who also wants revenge against Batman for the death of her father, the Joker, to use the fear toxin to drive Batman insane.
>The script culminates with Batman being lured into Arkham Asylum and facing toxin-induced hallucinations of past villains including Catwoman, Penguin, Two-Face, Riddler and the Joker himself. Robin eventually comes around and returns to help Batman conquer his fears, while Harley has a change of heart upon learning Crane is planning to expose the entire city of the fear toxin and helps the heroes stop him.
>Schumacher offered the role of Scarecrow to Nicolas Cage, with Howard Stern and Jeff Goldblum also in the mix. Meanwhile, Madonna and Courtney Love, among others, had meetings with Warner to discuss the Harley Quinn role.
>Furthermore, Schumacher wanted to bring Jack Nicholson, Danny De Vito, Michelle Pfeiffer, Tommy Lee Jones and Jim Carrey back for cameo appearances. However, once BATMAN & ROBIN came out and proved itself to be a major disappointment, the entire project was scrapped and Schumacher assigned the blame for the movie being a flop and fired from the franchise.
