Original Birdman ending would have featured a Johnny Depp cameo

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

Last month while being interviewed by The Playlist, director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu revealed he had a different ending planned for his Oscar-nominated movie BIRDMAN, however he decided to change it in the middle of filming because he "knew it was a piece of shit." Inarritu didn't describe the original conclusion of the movie, but said "It was bad," and would've been very embarrassing.

So what was the "piece of shit" ending for BIRDMAN? Co-writer Alexander Dinelaris shared the original plans for the film while appearing on Jeff Goldsmith's Q&A Podcast (via Screen Rant), and says the ending would have featured a cameo by Johnny Depp.

Warning: BIRDMAN spoilers ahead!

The end of the film would've shown Michael Keaton's Riggan being interviewed on a talk show after he shot himself on stage. I'll let Alexander Dinelaris explain the rest.

Then the camera prowled like it did the whole film, went back stage through the halls we’ve seen the whole time and we’d get to the dressing room where literally Johnny Depp would be sitting looking in the mirror and putting on his Riggan Thomson wig and then the poster of ‘Pirates of the Caribbean 5′ would be in the back. In Jack Sparrow’s voice [it would say], ‘What the f*** are we doing here, mate?’ It was going to be the satire of the endless loop of that.

Besides Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu not being too high on the Johnny Depp ending, Alexander Dinelaris also says it didn't happen because the production team couldn't land Depp or a mock PIRATES 5 poster. I think it's hilarious Inarritu even contemplated using this as the final BIRDMAN scene, but I'm glad he decided to go with a more ambiguous ending for his film.