The next film from Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Birdman or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance, has its first full trailer expanding on the teaser released in June. Birdman will premiere at the New York Film Festival on October 12th before releasing in theaters on the 17th. Inarritu directed and co-wrote along with Nicolas Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, and Armando Bo.
Birdman stars Michael Keaton as washed up fictional actor Riggan Thomson, best known for starring in a superhero movie many years ago, attempting a career comeback on Broadway. Keaton may know a thing or two about having one role from the good old days overshadow the rest of one’s career, though thankfully he has avoided the downward spiral his character in Birdman has experienced. Emma Stone appears in the trailer as Thomson’s daughter. Zach Galifianakis, Edward Norton, Andrea Riseborough, Amy Ryan, and Naomi Watts will round out the cast.
While Birdman is arguably a superhero movie (at the very least it owes its existence to the popularity of superhero movies right now), it is not based on any comic book or other existing property. The film will mostly follow Thomson’s journey as he deals with both his inner demons and external pressures from fans of his superhero films. That said, given the nature of comic books to seize on background details and characters, it does not seem unreasonable that someone may decide to expand on the Birdman comic-with-in-the-movie and produce a reverse-adaptation of sorts. This is pure speculation for now of course, though if Inarritu would like to establish a tentpole franchise similar to Guillermo del Toro’s Pacific Rim, it’s a possibility he may want to consider.
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