George Clooney.Photo: Warner Bros/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock
George Clooney’s iconicBatman & Robincostume, complete with the “bat nipples,” is going up for auction later this month.
The movie memorabilia, best known for its addition of very visible nipples, will be available as part of Heritage Auctions' Hollywood & Entertainment Signature Auction from July 22 through 23, with a starting bid of $40,000.
Heritage Auctionsmade the announcementon Wednesday, describing the 61-year-old actor’s costume from 1997 in great detail. It is “constructed of cast foam latex, vinyl, resin components, leather, and other mixed media elements all expertly painted, finished and assembled on a life-size pose-able mannequin with a hyper-realistic George Clooney head with prosthetic grade false eyes.”
“Costume pieces include hero signature cowl, full length superhero cape with 2-cape clips, muscle tunic with signature ‘Batman’ icon on the chest, muscled tights, peaked and finned gauntlet gloves, and knee-high character boots,” the description continued.
Heritage Auction’s executive vice president Joe Maddalena called the costume “easily the most famous and infamous Batman costume ever designed,” largely due to the addition of the nipples, which first occurred whenVal Kilmertook on the lead role in 1995’sBatman Forever.
Jose Fernandez, the costume designer on theBatmansequels who was responsible for the nipples idea, recently recalled the decision in an interview withMELMagazine.
“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. 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.”
Fernandez said the nipples were “subtle” in the Kilmer movie but directorJoel Schumacher, who died in 2020 at the age of 80, “loved the nipples” and wanted to “showcase them” in the Clooney sequel.
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One person who was not a fan of the nipples idea though isTim Burton, who directed the twoMichael KeatonBatmanmovies: 1989’sBatmanand 1992’sBatman Returns.
Vanessa Carvalho/Brasil Photo Press/Splash
Burton said he dealt with complaints about his tone being “too dark” for theBatmanfranchise. “[Back then] they went the other way,” the 63-year-old toldEmpiremagazine. “That’s the funny thing about it. But then I was like, ‘Wait a minute. Okay. 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,” he added. “So yeah, I think that’s why I didn’t end up [doing a third film]….”
In addition to Clooney’s Batman suit, more iconic props from the franchise will be available to purchase, includingJim Carrey’s Riddler cane fromBatman Forever, which has a starting bid of $8,000, andJack Nicholson’s purple Joker suit from Burton’s 1989 filmBatman, which has an auction bid beginning at $65,000.
source: people.com
