This cowl master was created for Michael Keaton’s portrayal of “Batman” in the 1992 film, “Batman Returns”. This master was generated from an original clay sculpt of the Batman cowl and is constructed out of fiberglass. The exterior finish was originally sanded, polished, and painted with a high gloss lacquer to create a mirror like finish. A case mold was placed over this master and secured with bolts. Silicone was poured into the cases of the matrix forming the negative silicone impression. The negative silicone form was used to create all of the screen used foam latex cowls. Evidence of silicone is embedded in the cracks near the bolt-holes.
Steve Wang was the Batsuit sculptor for Batman Returns, however the cowls pulled from Wang’s sculpt did not fit Mr. Keaton properly. José Fernandez was asked to sculpt the second cowl and the foam positive cowls from his sculpt were worn by Mr. Keaton on screen.
In post-production, this master was used for mapping the three dimensional data of the cowl. The master was painted matte black to avoid distortion in the 3D scanning process. A web grid was hand drawn on the left hand side of the master. This grid was digitally mapped by a mechanical arm, which down loaded each connecting point of the grid to a computer. The digital map was converted into a three dimensional form and the partial image was mirrored, making Mr. Keaton’s face and the cowl whole. This rare piece of Batman history is in excellent production used condition and is accompanied by a letter of authenticity from Jose Fernandez.
“Batman Returns” is the sequel to the original blockbuster film by visionary director Tim Burton. Due to the success of the initial Batman film in 1989, Burton was brought back to direct and continue his vision for the iconic Dark Knight as portrayed by Michael Keaton. This film featured the villains Catwoman (Michelle Pfeiffer) and The Penguin (Danny Devito) as they teamed up to rid Gotham of Batman. The film was nominated for two Academy Awards and went on to gross $266 million dollars at the box office, the third highest grossing film of 1992.
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