Shall I count the reasons we should all be massively excited for Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Birdman? It boasts an incredible cast, hails from a truly brilliant director and tells the darkly comedic tale of a washed-up actor mounting a comeback, to name a few of many.
Additionally, the trailers have painted the picture of a film that’s both ambitious in terms of its story (which may well double as a meta commentary on both Keaton’s career and the foolhardiness of superhero worship) and its style (like Rope, it appears to have been shot in several massive long takes woven together to make it appear unbroken). Now, a full-length international trailer for Birdman has hit – and it’s pretty spectacular.
The trailer emphasizes the great lineup of actors, which includes Lindsay Duncan, Zach Galifianakis, Edward Norton, Andrea Riseborough, Amy Ryan, Emma Stone and Naomi Watts in addition to Keaton. It also showcases some of the film’s immersive visuals, shot by Gravity cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki. The biggest feature of the new preview, though, is a sense of the mania and delusion that drives the central character (Keaton) as he attempts to prove he’s more than just the actor behind has-been hero Birdman. We see him confront a mechanical bird on the sidewalk, attempt flight, deal with the stresses of mounting a Broadway production and even run through Times Square in his underwear. Needless to say, the actor isn’t going to have an easy time in this movie.
Birdman is set to open the Venice Film Festival in a little over a month, so reactions to the film will likely be coming soon. It’s also been announced as the closing film for the New York Film Festival, so us general audiences will have plenty of time to watch it being extolled before it hits theaters on October 17th.
