Insisting that he was not 'being cute or coy,' the actor who has played the Caped Crusader in two Tim Burton films claims he was too occupied with the pandemic that he has yet to take a look at the script.

• Mar 23, 2021

AceShowbiz - Michael Keaton is refusing to confirm he'll be putting the Batman suit on again for "The Flash", because he's too concerned about COVID-19 to take a look at the script.

It has been reported that both he and Ben Affleck will portray Bruce Wayne and his alter ego in the upcoming DC Comics blockbuster, but Keaton, who played the Caped Crusader in two Tim Burton films in 1989 and 1992, insists he has yet to officially sign on.

"I am needing a minute to think about it because I'm so fortunate and blessed," he tells Deadline in a new interview. "I got so much going on now. I'm really into work right now... To tell you the truth, somewhere on my iPad is an iteration of the whole Flash thing that I haven't had time yet [to check]..."

"I called them and said, 'I have to be honest with you, I can't look at anything right now. I'm so deep into this thing I'm doing. Also, I'm prepping a thing I'm producing and getting ready to do down the road in the fall that I'll be in, and I feel responsible to that'."

"I'm not being cute or coy, but if I talked about it, I'll be just bulls**tting you. I don't really know. I have to look at the last draft. To be honest with you, you know what worries me more than anything about all this stuff...? It's COVID."

"I'm more concerned. I keep my eye more on the COVID situation in the U.K. than anything. That will determine everything... I'm staying away from everybody, because the COVID thing has got me really concerned. So, that's my first thing about all projects. I look at it and go, 'Is this thing going to kill me, literally?' And you know, if it doesn't, then we talk."

Keaton adds, "I'm going to see what happens here... You want to say, like Joe Pesci from 'My Cousin Vinny'..., 'It's a thing, but it's not a thing'."