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Birdman
a Alejandro G. Inarritu film
Plot (Spoiler Alert)Riga Thomson was an actor once known for playing an iconic superhero known as Birdman. He tries to get an artistic ability with his own Broadway play while having to deal with his drug addicted daughter, Sam and a professional stage actor, Mike, who takes the job too seriously. From Left to Right: Andrea Riseborough, Naomi Watts, Emma Stone, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Michael Keaton and Edward Norton 
Blaine: Alejandro described the project as wanting to explore human nature and the chasing of an illusion that we have been fed by the value system of this world. “Birdman” was also an opportunity for Alejandro to explore his own personal eagle and he believes everyone has there own Birdman, or as I like to put it conscious, talking to us. The character is not living in reality, he is living in his own head with this fantasy of his. Emma Stone said she had never worked with a director like Alejandro, who is so tuned into his actors that he is able to tell them when you get into your head. The Riggan Thomson character was written for Michael Keaton and he was the only person on Alejandro's mind to play the role and if it wasn't going to be him, Alejandro wouldn't make the film. “Birdman” reminded Michael Keaton of the kind of work he wanted to do when he become an actor and be around a director who really knows what he is doing and feel comfortable around like what Tim Burton did for Michael when he was Batman. Michael says the job of being an actor is subject to extreme self involvement, subconsciousness, ego and all that so I don’t think Michael had to explore much for this role because the character is an actor. When it came to the scene where Michael has to run through Time Square in his underwear, it never occurred to him to look back when he read the script for the first and not knowing if he could do that scene. He just trusted Alejandro with everything he was doing because for Alejandro it was all about the project, the story, about it being really good, heart filled and really mean something. Michael Keaton would stay focused for his role and at the same time have fun with it and Alejandro loved that Michael was able to do a performance that is a combination of comedy and drama. “Birdman” was shot in a real theater, the St. James and Alejandro said it has a lot of reality to it. According to the production designer, two women were passing the theater and saw the fake posters with Riggan Thomson character’s name and they thought he was a real person. It was after the first ten minutes that I started to notice that the shot was continuing without cutting to another shot. I was very impressed because never before have I seen that in a film where the shot just keeps on going and going and going without taking a break. The cinematography was done by Alejandro's friend Emmanuel Lubezki. Because the cinematography was supposed to look like this one long continues shot, Alejandro, Emmanuel and the actors would have to do a lot of rehearsing on a stage floor in L.A for each scene they were going to shoot. They would practice where they would walk, where they would stand, where they were lying down or getting up and where the camera would be and it must have been really exhausting doing a full scene without breaking out of character, especially for Michael Keaton since he's the lead of the film and he gets the most scenes. If there was one screw up during the scene then all the work on the shot would be ruined. One of the things that makes the performances in this movie so great is that the actors would have to act through a whole scene without breaking character. It was also stressful for the actors to make those scenes. They built a set of the backstage, dressing rooms and such that the actors and camera men could was around like a maze and there is not a lot of space like in the film that is in a New York theater. I love the characters of the film and how each one as a different personality from the other. Alejandro thought it would be perfect if the whole score was drums and he knew the perfect guy to do that. Alejandro met a drummer named Antonio Sanchez at a concert ten years ago and he liked the drum solo Antonio did. Antonio was excited, but also nervous because he didn't know how it could work and he tried to look up and see if there was any films to see how it's done, but there were none. Antonio then read the script and Alejandro would ask him how would that scene sound like in your head. At first I thought Riggan Thomson killed himself when he shot himself in front of that audience towards the end. And when he is in the hospital, I feel he is also becoming closer to his family than he has ever been in his life. My rating on “Birdman” is five out of five stars. Awards Birdman took home four Oscars for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay and Best Cinematography. I was really happy that Alejandro won the Best Director Oscar because he's such a talented director and I felt he deserved it more than Richard Linklater for "Boyhood". Michael Keaton was nominated for his first and probably only oscar, but lost to Eddie Redmayne for “Theory of Everything”, but I would have given it to Batman instead. Eddie Redmayne is young there’ll be other nominations for him where as Michael Keaton has been on this earth for more than sixty years and not once has he ever got an Oscar nomination until “ Birman”. “Birdman” also won three Independent Sprit Awards for Best Feature, Best Cinematography and Best Male Lead, Michael Keaton. The Screen Actors Guild for Best Ensemble. I would have given Emma Stone the awards for Best Supporting Actress because I liked her performance more than the other women she was competing against. Alejandro with his Best Director Oscar 
Team "Birdman" at the SAG Awards 
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