True confession time: you can keep your gravelly-voiced Christian Bales and your nipple-suited George Clooneys – my favorite Batman will always be Michael Keaton. In fact, Keaton raises the bar in just about every good, bad, or indifferent role he’s ever played. In his latest film, Birdman, from director Alejandro Gonzalez Iñarritu, it looks like the actor might finally be getting his critical due.
Birdman tells the story of a former movie superhero star Riggan Thompson who gets a chance to stage his comeback via Broadway in an adaptation of Raymond Carver’s What We Talk About When We Talk About Love. Family, friends, and ego get in the way as opening night approaches, and Thompson finds himself faced with personal and professional challenges. In addition to Keaton, the film stars Edward Norton, Zach Galifianakis, Emma Stone, and Naomi Watts – so if Keaton’s name was not enough to get you into the theater, than that cast list should be.
Keaton himself thinks that Birdman is one of his best roles, as he informed the L.A. Times (via The Playlist):
I’ve got to tell you: This is a once-in-a-lifetime kind of role. You spend your whole career waiting for your pitch, hoping you’ll be ready when it comes because you don’t get something like this again.
Birdman has really been lighting up the festival circuit since its premiere at the Venice Film Festival in August. It is now on its way to the New York Film Festival, having garnered solid critical response and even rumors of Oscar. While we will all get to make our choice about the film when it opens in select cinemas on October 17, I think it safe to say that this one is one of the anticipated films of the year.
You can whet your appetite further for Birdman by checking out some new images along with a poster below. If you are not excited for this movie by now, I really don’t know what else to say.
