Did You Know?

Danny DeVito was forbidden to describe the Penguin's makeup to anyone, including his family.

Christopher Walken's character is named Maximillian Shreck. In addition to the fact that "schreck" is the German word meaning "terror," the actor Max Schreck played the first-ever vampire depicted on film in the silent-era classic Nosferatu.

Composer Danny Elfman was one of the off-screen tomato and lettuce throwers during the Penguin's botched speech.

Paul Reubens and Diane Salinger from Pee-wee's Big Adventure reunite briefly at the beginning of the film as The Penguin's father and mother.

The first film made in Dolby Digital.

Sam Hamm's original screenplay draft had the Penguin and Catwoman going after hidden treasure. Dissatisfied with that, Tim Burton brought in Daniel Waters, writer of Heathers, who came up with the concept of an evil business mogul backing a bid for the Mayor's office by the Penguin.

The set for the Penguin's decrepit underground lair at the abandoned Gotham City Zoo was filled with a half-million gallons of water and a simulated ice floe island.

The massive Gotham City sets were all constructed to be mobile, and were often shifted between days of filming. Michelle Pfeiffer routinely got lost on her way to filming each day.

Security was so tight on the production that even Kevin Costner was refused permission to visit the set. Warner Brothers employed a private investigator firm when some shots of Danny DeVito in costume made it into the tabloids.

The production wanted to use King Penguins but the only tame ones in captivity were at a bird sanctuary in the Cotswolds deep in the English countryside. So the birds were flown over to the States in the refrigerated hold of a plane, they were given their own refrigerated trailer, their own swimming pool with half a ton of fresh ice every day, and had fresh fish delivered daily straight from the docks. Even though the temperature outside frequently topped 100 degrees, the entire set was refrigerated down to 35 degrees. The birds also had a round-the-clock bodyguard. Clearly the birds enjoyed the experience as, following their stint in Hollywood, most of them had mated and produced eggs - the sure sign of a contented penguin.

It made $47.7 million in its first 3 days, a record at the time.

In order to get the cats to surround Selina when she's knocked out, the filmmakers put tuna on a dummy version of Selina and tuna on Selina's suit.

The first script draft of Batman Returns was intended to be a direct-sequel to the previous film. As a result, sub plots and continuity from the first film that would have been addressed included gift shops selling fragments of the destroyed Bat-Wing, further revelations into the past of the now deceased Jack Napier AKA Joker, and even Bruce Wayne proposing to Vicki Vale by the end of the film. However, Tim Burton was uncomfortable in making a direct sequel and as a result, the script was rewritten. However, several plot elements from the original script did make it into the final draft. This included the Penguin and Catwoman's alliance, their framing of Batman, and the Dark Knight's escape via Bat-Glider. Further elements even made their way into the third film, Batman Forever, most notably the storming of Wayne Manor and the Batcave.

The Penguin's line: "I am an animal. I am *not* a human being," is a work on John Hurt's line: "I am not an animal! I am a human being! I am a man!" as John Merrick in The Elephant Man.

Lena Olin and Madonna were considered for the role of Catwoman.

When Selina is seated at her desk in Shreck's office, the lamp casts a shadow through her eyeglass frames, creating an outline of the pointed "cat's eye" mask that was worn by Catwoman in the original DC comic series and had also been featured as part of the costumes donned by Lee Meriwether and Eartha Kitt in the late 60's film and television series, respectively.

In Tom Mankiewicz's script for the first movie which featured the Penguin, he was described as "a tall, proper-looking, thin man".

Warner Bros. had to constantly submit new Catwoman posters for various cities as many of the bus stop ads were being stolen. It soon got so bad that police officers had to patrol bus stops in order to catch perpetrators before they could break the Plexiglas containers. Today the large scale Catwoman bus ads are worth a great deal of money.

Danny DeVito refused a stand-in during the scene where the Penguin gets pelted with rotten food by an angry mob.

In another version of the script, Max Shreck was discovered to be the Penguin's older brother.

Originally classified '12' for the UK cinema, the film was upgraded to the '15' certificate for video release because the '12' certificate was not used for videos until 1994. See also: Batman.

During one scene, Michelle Pfeiffer had to put a live bird in her mouth.

Dustin Hoffman was Warner Brothers' first consideration for "The Penguin" in Batman Returns.

A UK trailer for the film credited the screenplay to Daniel Waters and Wesley Strick.

The only Batman sequel up to and including The Dark Knight to feature the same Batman actor from the previous film, with no supporting characters having been recast (Gordon, Alfred). Though Christian Bale reprises the title role in The Dark Knight, the characters of Rachel Dawes and Barbara Gordon are played by different actresses.

The Penguin's flipper-like hands are suggestive of syndactyly, a condition where two or more digits are fused together.

Danny DeVito remained in character between takes.

Burgess Meredith, who played the Penguin on the TV series, was asked to play the Penguin's father in the opening of the film but illness prevented him from it.

When asked during a 2007 talk show appearance if she ever felt nostalgic and put on cat suit to amuse her husband, Michelle Pfeiffer stated that once filming was over, she never wanted to see the costume again for as long as she lived.

Bruce Wayne chastises Alfred, saying "Who let Vicki Vale into the Batcave?" This is actually writer Sam Hamm's none-to-subtle jab at the rewrites give to his script by Warren Skaaren. Hamm's script never included a scene where Alfred leads Vicki into the cave, and as the script was re-written during production, Hamm felt this was a particularly sloppy revision.

The final Christmas ball scene is quite symbolic: since it is a masque party all the guests are in disguise. The only two exceptions are Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle. This implies that their real personalities are Batman and Catwoman respectively, and that their public appearance without a costume is just a disguise for the society.

The note given to Penguin by the monkey from Batman is in Tim Burton's handwriting.

At Max Shreck's masquerade, "Batman" and "Catwoman" are the only ones not wearing masks.

In-joke: Penguin is in the Hall of Records searching through birth certificates. The second birth certificate flipped is for WILLIAM PETROTTA. The movie's Property Master is William A. Petrotta.

Tim Burton:  [music]  music by Danny Elfman

The final shot of the film, in which Catwoman is seen looking at the Bat-signal, was added as an afterthought, literally weeks before the film opened. The shot had to be filmed on a weekend, less than a day after conception, with a double for Michelle Pfeiffer. That single shot cost $250,000.

In the scene where the Penguin is being persuaded to run for mayor, Josh (Steve Witting) - one of Shreck's hired image consultants - places a cigarette holder in his mouth, which he promptly spits out. This not only serves as a reference to previous incarnations of the Penguin from both the TV show and comic book series, but also, with the corresponding line - "Reclaim your birthright." - hints at what is more explicitly revealed in the back-story: that Tucker Cobblepot, the Penguin's birth father, once occupied a high-level political office in Gotham City (of course, not to disregard the obvious, this particular character is also seen smoking a cigarette in a holder at the beginning of the film).