Hours after Joel Schumacher’s death was reported on June 22, his friend Seal posted a lovely remembrance of the filmmaker on his Instagram page. Recalling how he was still a relatively struggling singer and songwriter in the early ’90s, Seal said that Schumacher gave him his biggest break when he called him and asked to test out some of his music for a Batman Forever love scene. While the director picked a different song for the scene, he was so infatuated with “Kiss From a Rose†that he chose it to soundtrack the end credits — cementing it as one of the all-time greatest soundtrack songs in film history. Seal went on to win several Grammys, sell millions of albums, and marry a model.
“I owe my career I guess in large part to Joel Schumacher, who took a chance — who took a song that was always a good song, but a kind of unconventional one, so it wasn’t immediately palatable,†Seal explained. “But the difference was that everyone who went to see that movie, when they came out of that theater, the last they heard was, ‘Baby!’ And I guess it kind of stuck. 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.â€
Seal also performed a short acoustic version of “Kiss From a Rose,†again remarking how Schumacher saw his talent. “The reality of the situation is, nobody knew, except I guess for Joel,†he said, “who had faith in the song.â€