Michael Keaton jumped at chance for Tim Burton reunion

Michael Keaton didn’t hesitate to reunite with Tim Burton for the live-action remake of Disney’s Dumbo because he would do anything to be in the filmmaker’s creative “sphere”.
The two old friends are frequent collaborators, having previously teamed up for 1988’s Beetlejuice, 1989’s Batman, and 1992’s Batman Returns, and now Michael is preparing to play Vandemere, the ruthless circus boss who exploits the flying elephant and his mother in Dumbo.
The Birdman star entered talks for the gig in April (17), and Keaton admits deciding whether or not to board the project was an easy one.
“I am reuniting with Tim Burton…,” he told U.S. breakfast show Good Morning America. “I’m telling you man, you just wanna be around that guy. You wanna be in his sphere because he’s original and unique, and an artist.”
Dumbo will also co-star Colin Farrell, Eva Green, and Danny DeVito.
It’s the latest blockbuster on Keaton’s slate, and his second big role as a movie villain, after tackling comic book bad guy Adrian Toomes, aka Vulture, in the upcoming Spider-Man: Homecoming.
Keaton had a blast channelling his dark side for the “really fun” movie, but earlier this year (17), he admitted a filming conflict almost cost him the lucrative gig.
“You think you can do it or want to do it and in fact I said no, because I couldn’t, it didn’t work in my schedule,” he told Variety.com. “Then, I’m glad to say, they (Spider-Man: Homecoming bosses) kind of shifted the scheduling and it worked out. So it fit in and I’m glad I did it.”
The 65-year-old features opposite Tom Holland as the web-slinging superhero in the new release, which hits theatres next month (Jul17).