Michael Keaton Wins Golden Globes' Best Actor Award for “BIRDMAN”
This year’s Best
Actor at the Golden Globes was recently awarded to Michael Keaton for his
portrayal as an aging actor bent on pushing further his feats by starring
directing in a play in the dark comedy “Birdman.”
Keaton, who also played the
iconic Dark Knight in previously released blockbuster “Batman” movies, flies
and dares to fight all odds to prove himself worthy of acclaim in his winning
performance in the highly-lauded and celebrated “Birdman” movie.
“Birdman,” directed by Alejandro
G. Iñárritu with whom he also co-wrote with Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander
Dinelaris, Jr. and Armando Bo was also awarded this year’s Best Screenplay for
a motion picture at the Golden Globes.
In
“Birdman,” Riggan Thomson (Michael Keaton) hopes that by spearheading an
ambitious new Broadway play he will, among other things, revive his moribund
career. In many ways, it is a deeply foolhardy move – but the former cinema
superhero has high hopes that this creative gambit will legitimize him as an
artist and prove to everyone – and himself – that he is not just a Hollywood
has-been.
With the play’s opening night
looming, Riggan’s lead actor is injured by a freak accident during rehearsals
and needs to be replaced quickly. At the suggestion of lead actress Lesley
(Naomi Watts) and the urging of his best friend and producer Jake (Zach
Galifianakis), Riggan reluctantly hires Mike Shiner (Edward Norton) – a loose
cannon who is guaranteed to sell tickets and get the play a rave review. As he preps for the stage debut, he must deal
with his girlfriend and co-star Laura (Andrea Riseborough), his
fresh-from-rehab daughter and personal assistant Sam (Emma Stone), as well as
his ex-wife Sylvia (Amy Ryan), who appears every so often to check-in with the
intent to stabilize things.
Iñárritu notes that elements of
Riggan’s story resonated with him, particularly the ephemeral nature of success
and the question of relevance. “I was interested in exploring the battles with
the ego, the idea that no matter how successful you are, whether in money or
recognition, it’s always an illusion. It’s temporary. When you are chasing the
things you think you want and empower the people to validate you, when you
finally get them, you soon find an impermanence in that joy.”
Keaton says of his character: “I
just looked at Riggan as a person. However, being an actor – that’s a job that
requires a specific type of personality. It’s already subject to extreme
self-consciousness, ego, all that. And in this case, here’s a guy who has all
those qualities run amok, to say the least.”
There is something tragic, and
something funny, and something very real, and also something very surreal about
it,” Iñárritu explains. “Birdman is
Riggan’s super ego, and from Birdman’s
perspective, Riggan has lost his mind by doing this play that is clearly
beneath them. From Riggan’s perspective, it’s Birdman that has lost his mind.
From the perspective of the era, both are irrelevant.”
Like all of Iñárritu’s films,
“Birdman” takes an acute look at the human existence as seen through the
characters, anchored by Riggan, but it walks a tonal tightrope between comedy
and pathos, illusion and reality, allowing for multiple interpretations.
“Birdman” opens very soon this
January nationwide in cinemas from 20th Century Fox to be
distributed by Warner Bros.
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