Is this story about Superman Lives true?
There was a rumour doing the rounds in 1997 or 1998 (on Corona's Coming Attractions website) that Warner executives asked Burton back to Batman whilst he was working on Superman Lives. This was after B&R had opened to dismal reviews and finished its run with disappointing box office. The rumour went that Burton laughed himself silly, then turned serious and bit their heads off about their poor handling of Superman 5 and how dare they offer him Batman 5 having ditched him after Returns? The executives were reportedly shocked at the outburst and told him he'd never work in Hollywood again.
Is the story true? I don't know. It was never repeated on any other website. But Burton did indeed leave Superman 5 (or got pushed, I don't know) and didn't work with WB again until Charlie and the Chocolate Factory nearly a decade later.
The Job Interview Poem https://youtu.be/MtkmC4kCSTs