Did You Hear About Batman?

“Val Kilmer is a gorgeous human being in a way that filmed representations only begin to indicate; he has beautiful hands, he has a beautiful mouth, he has a beautiful voice . . . not to put too fine a point on it, but he is a major, major fox. . . .”

That’s Harper’s Bazaar, putting a super-fine point on the physical glories of “Batman Forever” star Val Kilmer. And speaking of the men and boys of “Batman,” they are everywhere! Kilmer is not only profiled in Bazaar, but’s he’s the cover guy on Movieline and Details. His co-star, Chris O’Donnell, a.k.a. Robin, gets eight pages in the June GQ, and he’s the cover of the youth-oriented YM mag.

Media blitz? You bet. And it’s just beginning. Wait until Mr. Box Office, Jim Carrey, who plays the Riddler, starts to get his “Batman” push.

And here’s this nugget: One of the reasons the original Batman, Michael Keaton, didn’t make this third film was his feeling that the villains always steal the movie. Well, if Keaton had stayed aboard, he would be plotzing now over Carrey’s super-emergence!

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“Mr. and Mrs. Larry Fortensky are alive, well, thriving, happy and having a hell of a good time!”

And that, gentle readers, is the word from Elizabeth Taylor’s press rep, Chen Sam. Sam, who usually prefers to say “no comment,” was driven to give us a fuller statement in the wake of endless rumormongering around L.A. There are stories to the effect that Miz Liz and Larry have been secretly separated since March . . . that she was once again addicted to pills and booze . . . that Elizabeth’s health and outlook were so deteriorated she would never be seen in public again.

Chen says: “Every time I go to Los Angeles to see Elizabeth, people think I’m about to make some sort of dire announcement--I mean, I get calls from the AP! I’ve been with Elizabeth for her new Black Pearls perfume shoot. She looks great.”