Val Kilmer reported to be a top contender, though just days after Keaton dropped out, Kilmer was cast. Kilmer took the role without even knowing who the new director was and without reading the script. Released in June 1995, "Batman Forever" was a success at the box office, despite receiving mixed reviews from critics. There was debate about Kilmer's performance: some critics, like "The New York Times" Janet Maslin, thought Kilmer was a poor successor to Keaton in the part; while others, such as Roger Ebert, had kind words for Kilmer. "Batman" creator Bob Kane said in a "Cinescape" interview that of
Michael Keaton Letters in France. He is also a visiting scholar at Carnegie Mellon University. Michael John Douglas, the youngest of seven children, was born at Ohio Valley Hospital in Kennedy Township, Pennsylvania, on September 5, 1951. He was raised between Coraopolis and Forest Grove, Pennsylvania. His father, George A. Douglas, worked as a civil engineer and surveyor, and his mother, Leona Elizabeth ("née" Loftus), a homemaker, came from McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania. Keaton was raised in a Roman Catholic family, and is of half Irish descent through his mother. His father was of English, German, Scottish and Scotch-Irish descent and was originally