A washed-up superhero actor attempts to revive his fading career by writing, directing, and starring in a Broadway production.A washed-up superhero actor attempts to revive his fading career by writing, directing, and starring in a Broadway production.A washed-up superhero actor attempts to revive his fading career by writing, directing, and starring in a Broadway production.
- Won 4 Oscars
- 193 wins & 291 nominations total
Videos14
Storyline
Actor Riggan Thomson is most famous for his movie role from over twenty years ago of the comic book superhero Birdman in the blockbuster movie of the same name and its two equally popular sequels. His association with the role took over his life, where Birdman is more renowned than "Riggan Thomson" the actor. Now past middle age, Riggan is trying to establish himself as a true artist by writing, directing, starring in and co-producing with his best friend Jake what is his Broadway debut, an adaptation of Raymond Carver's story, What We Talk About When We Talk About Love. He is staking his name, what little artistic reputation that comes with that name and his life savings on the project, and as such will do anything needed to make the play a success. As he and Jake go through the process of the previews toward opening night, Riggan runs into several issues: needing to find a replacement for the integral supporting male role the night before the first preview; hiring the talented Broadway name, Mike Shiner, for that role, Mike who ends up being difficult to work with and who may end up overshadowing Riggan in the play; having to deal potentially with a lawsuit based on one of his actions to ensure success; needing to be there for his daughter, Sam, who he has hired to be his production assistant and who has just come out of drug rehab; and pleasing the New York Times critic, Tabitha Dickinson, who wants to use any excuse to give the play a scathing review which in turn would close the show after the opening night performance. But Riggan's biggest problem may be his own insecurities, which are manifested by him constantly hearing what he believes to be the truth from the voice of his Birdman character, who he often battles both internally and externally. —Huggo
- Taglines
- You're Anything But Invisible
- Genres
- Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)
- Rated R for language throughout, some sexual content and brief violence
- Parents guide
Did you know
- TriviaBecause the movie was carefully rehearsed and shot in sequence, editing only took two weeks.
- GoofsWhen Riggan goes back to the theater after a drunk night out, right after he's touching ground beneath his feet again, there can a couple be seen walking from the left side of the frame to the right, away from the camera (we can only see them from behind). When Riggan passes the couple the right man can be seen making a very sudden quick (and very unnatural looking) hand-movement in direction to Riggan's back. This movement might have been necessary to detach the cables from Michael Keaton's back that he needed to be attached to for the flying scene.
- Quotes
Mike Shiner: Popularity is the slutty little cousin of prestige.
- Crazy creditsBegin and end credits are presented in a peculiar style with the rhythm of the drums
- Alternate versionsSundance TV recently released an edited version which removes the swearing and crops the scene featuring Edward Norton's butt so it is not shown.
- SoundtracksBirdman Blind Melody
Composed by Joan Valent
Top review
for once the academy got it right
With all due respect to Eastwood's American Sniper, the academy actually got it right with this pick for best picture. Every actor and actress in this given the space to breathe life into characters, every monologue and dialogue hits like a ton of bricks, every scene tries to get towards some fundamental truth of human nature only to have the next scene undermine that character and that purported truth. It's amazing that in the era of comic book universe movies that something like this can get made at all. An absolute must see before you die movie.
helpful•18151
- PIST-OFF
- Sep 19, 2018
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Official sites
- Language
- Also known as
- Birdman
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $18,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $42,340,598
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $424,397
- Oct 19, 2014
- Gross worldwide
- $103,215,094
- Runtime
- 1h 59min
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1

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What is the streaming release date of Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (2014) in Canada?
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