Alejandro González Iñárritu broke down the incredible behind-the-scene details while filming Michael Keaton’s Birdman. The Batman actor saw himself transform into a washed-up Hollywood actor who was famously known for his superhero role, Birdman.
The movie was widely acclaimed for its genius and creative portrayal of several themes, including man’s inner conflict, ambition, mental stability, and ego. On top of that, it won four Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Cinematography.
Birdman Director Reveals How They Filmed An Intense Scene In One Shot
During a sit-down interview with GQ, Mexican filmmaker Alejandro González Iñárritu reveals the grueling experience of filming 2014’s Birdman starring Michael Keaton. The movie is notably known for its one-shot approach, and it only took them 30 days to finish production.
“The reason I think I got into this different kind of approach or design of making films was because of need. Sometimes, the restrictions and limitations are your best, at least creatively. I didn’t have enough money. I didn’t have enough time. The St. James theater only allowed us to shoot for five days because they are always booked all year for years.”
They rehearsed everything from the movements to the lighting set-up. They had to do the scenes in one take. But then, a problem that was out of the director’s control occurred. A scene would take place in the middle of a busy street.
“But when he comes out of the Times Square there was no way to design or. I have money for 30 extras, and that’s it. And I could not close Times Square, I need to shoot it with people and not in a, you know, not at 3:00 AM.”
Like a heaven-sent answer, a band of musicians were also playing in the area and that was just the distraction they needed. They pulled off the scene with Keaton traversing the crowd in his undergarments.
“And it worked. I don’t know how it worked because I thought it would be Michael Keaton in underwear. It’ll be 1000 people looking to the camera and saying stupid things. And everybody got, seeing these kids. And if you see the film, it’s exactly that. We just have 30 extras, and we distract them with like bees with honey, while we were getting away with murder.”
As to why Iñárritu put himself through such trouble of painstakingly filming with a one-shot, he explained that the scenes in the movie are happening inside the consciousness of the character who was dealing with his own ego.
Michael Keaton Felt Proud Of His Performance In Birdman
Michael Keaton explained to Variety the physical demands of making Birdman. He remarked that the tight schedule and the filming style were crucial to his spotless performance.
“You would have to go from funny to disturbing to deeply sad back to darkly funny, and because of the nature of how it was shot, you didn’t have the luxury of edits, where you can do 15 takes of that one line from that angle. You had to get it all in one and be word perfect, and in the right place physically to accommodate the camera.”
The actor admitted Birdman was quite an exhausting work, but he was happy and satisfied with the efforts he made for the project.
