I'm pretty sure that, unless Michael Mann's latest slides into the season vis a vis a qualifying run, “Birdman” is at the very top of my list of anticipations this Oscar season. How could it not be at this point? Michael Keaton is back in the saddle in an absolutely bold vision from Alejandro González Iñárritu. Add to that the fact that the film is apparently set up to look like one single “take,” well, I'm just ready to be dazzled.
A new international trailer has landed, and at nearly three minutes in length, it's an awesome taste ahead of the film's Venice bow (which will happen in just under a month). There's more focus this time on what Keaton is doing, and yeah, it's still amazingly trippy. I love the undertones of Keaton's own career. Here's a guy who came up in comedy and one day decided, sure, I'll play Batman. And that was sort of the end of it as far as how he would be remembered.
Keaton has expressed a bit of sadness in the past over the fact that when he's out and about, it's, “Hey, Batman.” Let alone that he has a whole career of other work: people just see the pop culture iconography he once dabbled in. “20 years ago I said no to 'Birdman 4,'” his character says in the film. To which an international press member gets giddy at the misunderstanding: “'Birdman 4!' You do 'Birdman 4?'”
That kind of meta angle is going to be candy for me, personally. And I'm sure Iñárritu and Emmanuel Lubezki will bring plenty of visual splendor to accompany the whole experience.
Check out the new international trailer below.
“Birdman” opens Oct. 17 and I can't wait.