Michael Uslan is adapting his memoir, The Boy Who Loved Batman, into a stage play with the working title Darknights and Daydreams. The production will host invite-only development readings June 29 and 30 in NYC, with the intention to eventually bow on Broadway.
Uslan is the originator and executive producer of the Batman movie franchise, including the Tim Burton, Joel Schumacher, and Christopher Nolan films. His memoir tells the story of a self-described comic book fanboy from a blue collar New Jersey family who dreamed of saving his superhero from years of kitschy mockery. A lifelong Batman fan, Uslan believed in the darker version of the character rather than the light-hearted pop art lens of the ‘60s TV series. Determined to restore the darkness to Batman, Uslan convinced Hollywood to make the first modern Batman film (Tim Burton’s 1989 take)
“The play is not about Batman [the character], not about Batman movies, and it’s not about me... it’s about finding joy and passion in life,” says Uslan. “[It] is for people who feel lost—whether because of COVID, work, human relationships or the lack thereof. Darknights and Daydreams tells a story of burning with a passion, dreaming big, painful perseverance, getting up off the damn couch, knocking on doors till your knuckles bleed, overcoming obstacles, and then changing the world culture’s perception of comic books and superheroes.”
Darknights and Daydreams is produced by Bob Nederlander Jr. and Nederlander Worldwide Productions, LLC, with entertainment studio Legion M attached as associate producer. The latter will draw on its fan-owned business model to offer behind-the-scenes opportunities via the show’s Indiegogo page.
