STACK Jun #128

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egotistical Method actor
(Edward Norton) threatens to
derail the production before
opening night.
“It was new territory, and I was
definitely out of my comfort zone,”
Iñárritu admits. But the transitory nature
of success and the lengths an actor will
go to remain relevant was something he
was eager to explore, and the character
of Riggan Thomson provided the perfect
conduit.
“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,” he
says. “When you think
you want to empower
the people to validate
you, when you finally get
them, you soon find an
impermanence in that joy.”
Flawed characters driven by doubts and
contradictions are a staple of Iñárritu’s films,
and the director saw in Riggan a quixotic
and profoundly human figure whose ego
has run amok – a condition expressed in the
film by segues into magic realism and inner
monologues, delivered in the growling tones of
Riggan’s Birdman persona.
“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,”
offers Iñárritu. “From Riggan’s perspective,
it’s Birdman that has lost his mind. From the
perspective of the era, both are irrelevant.
“The modern definition of accomplishment
– people want to be famous immediately, not
from a body of work developed over years,”
he continues. “The immediacy of social
media can easily distort the reality of one
person, especially Riggan, who has to fulfill
expectations of what it is to be famous. And
all this is new to him, that crossover is difficult.
This is the story of a man trying to prove that he
is more than that, more popular than the ‘liked’
guy. But in today’s world, where irony is king,
anybody who wants to be earnest or honest
is crucified. It’s an absurd, surreal
world. In the end, I just tried
to recount in a funny way
the disasters of our human
nature to reconcile, if not
with the defects or faults of
the world and our nature, with
the way we approach and live
them.”
B irdman: Or (The Unexpected Virtue of
Ignorance) represents a radical
departure for Mexican-born filmmaker
Alejandro G. Iñárritu, whose penchant for
non-linear narratives in which tragic events
unite disparate characters made him a favourite
of the arthouse circuit with films like Amores
Perros (2000), 21 Grams (2003) and Babel
(2006).
Iñárritu’s first black comedy is set in a
Broadway theatre, where former screen
superhero Riggan Thomson (Michael Keaton)
is mounting an adaptation of Raymond
Carver’s story What We Talk About When We
Talk About Love, in the hope of reinventing
himself as a serious actor. But the arrival of
his daughter (Emma Stone) who’s just out
of rehab, his ex-wife (Amy Ryan), and an
038 JUNE 2015 JB Hi-Fi
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Alejandro G. Iñárritu, the director of dark dramas
like Amores Perros, 21 Grams and Babel, ventures
out of his comfort zone with the Oscar-winning,
backstage black comedy BIRDMAN.
No matter how successful
you are... it's always an
illusion, it's temporary
ALTER
FEATURE
EGO