The Trailer For Michael Keaton’s “Birdman” Is Quite Shockingly Absurd

Have you heard about “Birdman“? It’s an upcoming dark comedy that, according to Rolling Stones, stars Michael Keatson as a washed-up actor, Riggan Thomson, who used to play a superhero known as Birdman. The film basically tells the story of how the actor tries to “revive his career by writing, directing and starring in a Broadway play”:

“The [Birdman] trailer offers a bit of background on the story, showing [Michael] Keaton’s character as he deals with skepticism from everyone in his life – including his daughter (Emma Stone) and a hot-headed rival actor played by Edward Norton. Mostly, though, the clip previews exactly how insane this film will be – with guns, explosions, backstage make-out sessions, a screaming Zach Galifianakis and Keaton jumping off a tall building.”

Plus, fellow director Jon Favreau revealed to the Indiewire that the film appears to have no cuts, in that all the scenes were stitched together to give a seamless appearance. Note that he himself played no role in the production and direction of Birdman.

Regardless, the task of setting up and starring in a Broadway play winds up placing a lot of pressure on Michael Keaton’s character Riggan Thomson. So much so, in fact, that he struggles to simply maintain his sanity. The latter is fairly obvious via the many fantastical scenes depicted in the trailer. For instance, the Birdman trailer shows Thomson floating in his underwear – something that is impossible! The trailer also features his former superhero persona Birdman chasing after him. It is as if the character is trying to detach himself from his past work, but can’t.

Speaking of which, why did Michael Keaton sign up for such a zany film in the first place? HitFix reports that he signed up for Birdman partially to do what Thomson wants to do – exorcise himself of his past:

“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.”

For instance, did you know that Michael Keaton used to perform stand-up comedy?

Overall, Birdman is about a man trying to deal a plethora of inner demons. Will he manage to overtake them? Will he manage to put on his Broadway play? And will he manage to settle his family problems? Unfortunately, you’ll have to wait until October 17 to find out!

In the meantime, check out the trailer for Michael Keaton’s Birdman below:

Image via [Google Images]