npr:
From ‘Batman’ To ‘Birdman,’ Michael Keaton Knows Suits And Superheroes
In the existential comedy Birdman, Michael Keaton plays Riggan Thomson, a washed up, insecure actor looking for a second shot at fame and success. In a last attempt to reignite his career, Riggan directs and stars in a Broadway play. Meanwhile, he is taunted by his alter ego, Birdman, the superhero role that made him famous.
Here’s Keaton on the professional risk of taking such an ambitious role:
“Day-to-day and doing the work and getting to that honest point, that for me is always about — and always will be as long as I do this — refining and refining and refining and refining the truth … constantly being as truthful and honest and raw and real as you can be. And this [role] was just the mecca of that.
I wanted to escape that. If I wanted to be cowardly about it — and not expose myself to it and kind of phone a little bit of it in — even if I wanted to, I couldn’t have. I chose not to because I think it was good timing at this point in my life and in my career. … Sometimes you fail, but to be frightened and to go down that hole and to be as raw as you can be — that’s a blessing to me to get that opportunity.
It could’ve failed miserably, people could’ve laughed at me and made fun of me for the rest of my life and honestly it probably would’ve hurt my feelings a lot and then I would’ve gotten by it and said, “‘You know what? It doesn’t really matter because I got a big set of balls.’”
Illustration by Peter Strain via The New Yorker
Check out Michael Keaton’s interview on Fresh Air! –Tajha