What do you get when Batman, the Hulk, Gwen Stacy, and Alan from ‘The Hangover’ team up in a superhero movie that isn’t exactly a superhero movie from the director of ‘Babel’ and ’21 Grams’? That would be Alejandro González Iñárritu’s ‘Birdman’ (or ‘BiRDMAN OR (THE UNEXPECTED ViRTUE OF iGNORANCE)’), a dark comedy about a washed up actor that played an iconic superhero who is looking to revive his career by appearing on Broadway. However, as we soon learned from the discussion and the clips at their New York Comic Con panel, it’s about much more than that.
Besides Brad Bird and Damon Lindelof’s ‘Tomorrowland’, the most mysterious film to make an appearance at NYCC this year had to be ‘Birdman’. Stars Michael Keaton and Edward Norton graced the Empire Stage to talk with moderator Chris Hardwick and shed some light on the highly anticipated and “uncompromisingly bold” somewhat superhero movie.
Although, no one was really able to fully talk about what ‘Birdman’ is actually about. When asked about the filming, after praising cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki for making the film appear as one continuous shot, Norton said that it does the film a disservice to talk about the process. However, he did say “film schools will be dissecting the film for years to come”. Keaton reiterated the same sentiments when he said, “It’s not like anything you’ve seen before. No I literally mean that it’s nothing you’ve seen before. Man I love this movie.”
Later on in the panel, the two actors opened up a little bit more about the film. You can check out some of the highlights from their discussion in the video below:
Judging by the reactions of the crowd to the exclusive clips and the panel as a whole, there are a lot of new people excited about this film that has already garnered critical acclaim. I know that I’m curious to see how ‘Birdman’ explores the superhero genre without being a superhero film. But are you excited too? Do you look forward to catching the movie in a theater near you? Let us know in the comments below.
‘Birdman’ starring Michael Keaton, Edward Norton, Zach Galifianakis, Emma Stone, and Naomi Watts opens on October 24, 2014.
