George Clooney Says It “Physically Hurts” Him to Watch ‘Batman & Robin’

George Clooney feels Batman & Robin is such a stinker, he says it is “physically” painful for him to watch the Warner Bros. superhero installment.

Chatting with Howard Stern on his SiriusXM show this week, Clooney got candid about the experience and just how much he loathes the 1997 film. The Oscar-winning actor has made it no secret in the past he feels the film is weak, but dished even more to Stern, which included sharing his $1 million salary. He also noted Arnold Schwarzenegger, who played Mr. Freeze, landed a payday of $25 million.

“I couldn’t have done that one differently,” Clooney said when Stern asked about production regrets. “It’s a big machine, that thing. You have to remember at that point, I was just an actor getting an acting job. I wasn’t the guy who could greenlight a movie.”

Clooney took over the role of Batman after Val Kilmer played the character a single time in Batman Forever, following Michael Keaton’s successful run as Batman in two films directed by Tim Burton.

Clooney also noted that he and Schwarzenegger did not work together on the production, even though it appears they share screentime. “We never even saw each other,” Clooney said. “It’s a big, monster machine, and I just sort of jumped in and did what they said.”

Clooney admitted pretty much everyone involved was to blame for the massive dud.

“The truth of the matter is, I was bad in it. Akiva Goldsman — who’s won the Oscar for writing since then — he wrote the screenplay. And it’s a terrible screenplay, he’ll tell you. I’m terrible in it, I’ll tell you. Joel Schumacher, who just passed away, directed it, and he’d say, ‘Yeah, it didn’t work.’ We all whiffed on that one.”

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