Singer Seal has shared a heartfelt tribute to the late filmmaker Joel Schumacher, after he used his track Kiss From a Rose over the end credits of Batman Forever.
Schumacher, 80, lost his battle with cancer on Monday and, taking to Instagram, Seal performed a short acoustic rendition of his signature song, before explaining how the director managed to turn his flop second album, Seal II, into a massive hit.
According to the star, Schumacher reached out to see if Seal had any music that might fit a love scene between Val Kilmer’s Bruce Wayne and Nicole Kidman’s Dr. Chase Meridian. While Seal said he didn’t, his manager, Bob Cavallo, sent Schumacher a copy of Seal II, and placed an asterisk next to Kiss From a Rose.
“The next day, Joel came back and said, ‘Look, I’ve temped it in the love scene, it doesn’t work, but I love the song so much, I’m just gonna stick it on the end credits.’ And four Grammys later and another eight million albums, we always knew,” Seal joked, adding: “Well, the reality of the situation is, nobody knew, except I guess for Joel, who had faith in the song.”
Along with adding Kiss From a Rose to the end credits of the Batman flick, Schumacher directed the video for the song, mixing leftover footage from the film with shots of Seal under the iconic Batlight.
Seal quipped: “Subsequently, kids thought I was Batman because the song was so big!”
“I owe my career I guess in large part to Joel Schumacher, who took a chance," he concluded. "Who took a song that was always a good song, but a kind of unconventional one, so it wasn’t immediately palatable.
“I just want to say, I love you, Joel, thank you so much for everything you’ve done for me and the joy and the love that you brought to millions of people around the world. One day we’ll all meet again back home.”
