Trivia / Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)

• Absurdly Short Production Time: The film reportedly took anywhere from two months to make, owed to a prolonged and meticulous rehearsal period built around its continuous-take cinematography.
• Career Resurrection: While this was Riggan's goal In-Universe, critics hailed Michael Keaton's performance as one of his best performances, putting him back into the spotlight (together with his follow up hit and fellow Best Picture winner Spotlight). Ever since this film, Keaton has been working consistently in big projects and earning high praise.
• Darkhorse Victory: While most people had the film and Alejandro González Iñárritu as their predicted runner ups for Picture and Director, general consensus was that Boyhood and it's director Richard Linklater would be taking home those prizes. In a cruel twist of irony, despite the film taking home these top prizes alongside another major win in Original Screenplay, Michael Keaton did not win the Oscar, even though he was considered the favorite for most of the awards season.
• Enforced Method Acting: The infamous Times Square sequence was only shot twice, so as not to arouse the suspicion of tourists. Apart from Michael Keaton and a few extras that pass by close to his character, everything else around them is very real.
• Fake American: Englishwoman Andrea Riseborough portrays Broadway stage actress Laura Aulburn.
• Irony as She Is Cast: Ralph is described as a horrible actor, and his work in rehearsal does little to help his case. His portrayer Jeremy Shamos is a Tony nominated stage veteran. Even more funny is how Riggan can't stand Ralph's acting, while Michael Keaton was very complimentary of Shamos's talent.
• One-Take Wonder: By nature as an entire film done in one take, had to nail each sequence on the first try, or else set the production back significantly. Apparently, Zach Galifianakis was particularly talented at this—though he did mess up occasionally, he was able to save messed up takes through improvisation.
• Playing Against Type:
  • Zach Galifianakis in a serious role.
  • Moody, cynical, former drug addict Sam is quite different from Emma Stone's usual roles.
• Reality Subtext: The film is a clear analogy for Michael Keaton's struggles with escaping his I Am Not Spock status as the man who played Batman in the first two entries in the 1989 film series. The premise itself, in which an actor attempts to escape his typecasting as the titular superhero by taking the lead in a play, is an almost note-for-note calling card for Keaton's attempts at escaping the mantle of the Caped Crusader.
• Starring a Star as a Star: Famous actor Michael Keaton (well-known for having twice played Batman in the 90s) portrays Riggan Thomson, a famous actor well-known for having twice played in-universe superhero Birdman).
• Throw It In!:
  • The first sound heard in the film is score drummer/composer Antonío Sanchez asking director Alejandro González Iñárritu a question in Spanish, and then detuning his drums as desired by the director, who was sitting in on the sessions and helping to direct the score. Iñárritu can also be heard in the background of the closing credits.
  • Zach Galifianakis was praised for being especially skilled at improvising whenever he messed up during the film's long takes, saving everyone from having to start over.
• Wag the Director: While filming the scene that introduces Mike (Norton), Norton began to argue with Gónzalez about the script. Mike is a hard-to-work-with method actor whose main character trait is arguing with directors. Supposedly, he didn't even see the irony of the situation until it was explicitly pointed out to him.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Margot Robbie turned down the role of Sam to film Focus. Emilia Clarke, Lily James, and Blake Lively auditioned for the role before Emma Stone was cast.
  • Sean Penn turned down the role of Mike in order to star in The Gunman.
  • The movie was originally going to have a different ending - right after Riggan pulls the trigger on stage, the scene would have cut to him sitting in front of either James Lipton or Charlie Rose, who would tell him that his play was getting good reviews, before moving to a dressing room occupied by Johnny Depp, who would be sitting next to a poster of Captain Jack Sparrow, which would come to life and ask Depp "What the fuck are we doing here, mate?"

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