We have all been entranced by the mysteriously cool teaser for Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu’s BIRDMAN starring Michael Keaton, Edward Norton, Emma Stone, and Zach Galifianakis. The unique story of an actor on the verge of a mental breakdown didn’t provide much in the way of plot in the first teaser and yet we were all curious as to the editing, or lack thereof. Some have indicated the movie may be filmed as a single take while others have disputed that.
During a recent event called “Movies in Your Brain: The Science of Cinematic Perception”, director Jon Favreau and editor Walter Murch discussed films like THE CONVERSATION. Favreau brought up BIRDMAN and said the film does have cuts, but they are virtually undetectable which makes the movie look like a single long take. This looks like a pretty cool technique and we can see it put to use in the latest international trailer for the film.
The new trailer also bears the subtitle THE UNEXPECTED VIRTUE OF IGNORANCE. We now also get a little more background on the events of the film and see that Emma Stone plays Keaton’s daughter, Galifianakis appears to be his agent/manager, and the voice-over from the teaser sounds like the internal monologue of Keaton’s Riggan Thompson. This new trailer looks a lot funnier and a lot darker than we have seen along with a very Charlie Kaufman-like blending of dreams and reality as Keaton’s subconscious invades the real world.
BIRDMAN looks very different from what Inarritu has done to date but it also looks like it could be one of the most unique movie experiences in a long time. I cannot wait to see it when it hits theaters on October 17th.