Michael Keaton Takes Flight In This Behind The Scenes Image From BIRDMAN

Alejandro González Iñárritu’s 2015 masterpiece, Birdman Or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) is more than a movie – it’s a cinematic mission statement, showing us everything that is wrong with movies today. It lets us know what cinema could be… and what it should be.

Michael Keaton stars as Riggan Thomson is an actor unhappy that his career has been overshadowed by Birdman, the comic-book character he played in a trilogy of movies in 1980s and 1990s. The film takes on new meaning now that Keaton is once again returning to the role of Bruce Wayne/Batman – a part he last played in Batman Returns in 1992. 

At one point in Birdman, Keaton literally takes flight. As this image shows, Keaton was lifted on wires, which were then digitally removed. 

Budgeted at $18 million, Birdman Or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) grossed $42.3 million at the US box office and $60.8 million in other territories for a global total of $103 million.