5555 Joel Schumacher is nearing a deal with Warner Bros. to direct his third Batman, sources say. It's a little hard to believe after the drubbing "Batman & Robin" received both critically and at the box office two summers ago, but director Joel Schumacher is reportedly in discussions with Warener Bros. to direct another "Batman" film; his third and the studio's fifth caped crusader film. Schumacher, who directed the hugely successful third film (1995's "Batman Forever") as well as the disappaointing fourth (1997's "Batman and Robin") in the lucrative franchise, is close to commiting to returning behind the cameras with the still-untitled fifth film, although it would be unlikely to start production this year, studio sources say. Actor Kurt Russell reportedly had been approached about taking over the starring role. However, sources close to Warner Bros. and Russell now say that Clooney will once agian portray the dark knight.

"I can tell you I have no plans to do a "Batman" right
now," Schumacher said. "But I have received so many
calls in the past few days about this, it's
amazing....I plan to start shooting "Dream Girls" for
Warners in October so reports of a start this fall
would be a bit of a tight schedule, don't you think?
This whole Batman issue is insane. It doesn't stop."

Both the studio and Schumacher suspect that interest has recently skyrocketed because Warners has postponed a sequel for another comic-book caped crusader: "Superman". That movie was supposed to have been released this past summer but was pulled because of a problematic script. And Schumacher himself recently approached Warners co-chairman Terry Semel about the idea for a fifth "BATMAN" film and neither Schumacher nor Semel would discuss it. After "Batman & Robin" opened two summers ago to negative reviews and disappointing results, Schumacher took it hard. At the time, he wasn't sure wether he would ever want to direct another "Batman" or wether the studio would even offer another turn to him.

"You know, I'm still very proud of what we did with
that one, even though I took a big hit from the
critics," he said. "But parents had asked me to make a
Batman that little kids could enjoy, that wasn't as dark as
the others and I felt like we did. You can't win."

The rumored plot of the new film is said to be darker and much like that of the first. It involves Dick Grayson going away to college and while there his proffesor, Jonathan Crane gets arrested for doing fear experiments on his students. He is sentenced to Arkum Asylum after being found to be mentally unstable. Unfortunately, he doesn't stay there long. He escapes and dons the persona of The Scarecrow for which to terorize the city with his fear gas that he used in his studies on students. After he uses this gas on Batman - Batman's greatest fear and enemy comes to life in his mind -The Joker. Harley Quinn is also a possible villain but this seems more and more unlikely because of constant talk of returning to just a one villian picture. Another rumor is that Dick Grayson will ditch the Robin character and become Nightwing at some point in the film.