The ‘ER’ episode that got George Clooney cast as Batman

George Clooney can thank — or blame — a single episode of his hit ’90s show ER for landing the starring role in 1997’s Batman & Robin.

Director Christopher Chulack, who was behind the camera for the medical drama’s Nov. 9, 1995, episode, “Hell and High Water,” told TV Insider that it was the one that secured the actor’s Caped Crusader role. Clooney’s character, Dr. Doug Ross, came to the rescue of a boy who was trapped in a storm drain.

“That episode got 45 million viewers,” Chulack said. “The next day, this is a true story — the next day, Bob Daley and Terry Semel, who were the presidents of Warner Bros. Television, came down and knocked on George’s dressing room door and told him, ‘You’re going to be the next Batman because of the heroism of that episode.’ So I figured it’s just going to go up from here, and it did.”

Yes, it really did, especially after Clooney left ER in 1999 to focus on movies full-time, becoming a high-profile star in films such as Michael Clayton, Up in the Air, Syriana, and the Ocean’s Eleven franchise.

But that probably wasn’t because of Batman & Robin.

Directed by Joel Schumacher, the superhero film had a stacked cast that also included Arnold Schwarzenegger, Alicia Silverstone, Uma Thurman, and Chris O’Donnell, but it underperformed at the box office and was eviscerated by critics. It currently holds an 11 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 95 reviews. Eesh!

And Clooney is well aware of the movie’s reputation.

“I did one superhero movie, and I f—ed it up so bad they won’t let me near the set,” the actor joked in October 2021 at an event for New York City’s Directors Guild of America, per PEOPLE.

Clooney has blamed himself for underperforming in the comic book-based flick other times, too. In December 2023, he told Entertainment Tonight that he didn’t plan to play Batman ever again.

“I don’t think there are enough drugs in the world for me to go back again,” the two-time Oscar winner cracked, although he did show up as Batman alter ego Bruce Wayne in that year’s The Flash.