According to a recent interview Michael Keaton doesn’t want his turn in the 2014 satirical comedy Birdman a comeback, but there’s no denying that the actor experienced a complete career resurgence after the film’s release. The performance led to Keaton’s first Oscar nominationand after some of his larger roles previously faded, he began appearing in mainstream and prestige projects that cemented his place in the industry.

The comeback label may not have been something Keaton wanted, but given the film’s subject matter and the fact that the actor was increasingly appearing on the big screen, Birdman definitely gave his career a boost.

Michael Keaton’s mainstream roles are starting to dry up

After the success of BatmanKeaton remained busy in various roles, including the thriller role Pacific highsthe drama My lifeand a return as Bruce Wayne in Batman returns. However, In the mid-90s, the actor began to appear in a number of films that were not well received by either audiences or criticslike for example Speechless, Variety, Jack Frost, And Desperate measures. Although this period was confused by working with Quentin Tarantino Jackie Brownhis subsequent performance was also lacking, following roles in First daughter, White noiseAnd Herbie: Fully loaded. He was still busy at the time, but did not achieve the box office results of Batmanand his more mainstream roles began to dry up.

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Even if he lent his voice to box office successes like… Cars And Toy Story 3, Keaton’s true resurgence came when he appeared in 2014 Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)a dark satirical comedy directed by acclaimed director Alejandro González Iñárritu. In the film, Keaton portrayed a washed-up actor named Riggan Thomson, once world-famous for playing the superhero Birdman in a trilogy of films from 1989 to 1992. There’s no denying that this reflected some of Keaton’s own life.

You’d probably never say he was washed up, even when he appeared in smaller roles, but he was famous for playing a superhero during his tenure in the 1989s Batman and ended in 1992 Batman returns. The film features Riggan trying to make a comeback by writing, directing and starring in a Broadway adaptation the short story What we talk about when we talk about love by Raymond Carver and the pitfalls that come with ensuring a proper comeback, especially alongside his snarky inner monologue that comes with him as the Birdman character, his recovering drug addict daughter and assistant Sam (Emma Stone), his lawyer and best friend Jake (Zach Galifianakis), who also produces the play and Method actor Mike Shiner (Edward Norton).

The Hollywood satire in Michael Keaton’s Birdman

Birdman deftly talks about life in Hollywood, how the industry can celebrate you and tear you down, and how it all might affect your psyche when the shine of celebrity wears off. It also shows that one’s own worst critic is evident in the critical inner voice that Riggan expresses in his own head. Nothing suggests that Keaton went through such an aggressive state of self-loathing because of his acting career, but The performance shows that he can identify with aspects of the rolewhich makes his work in the film so incredibly powerful.

Birdman features some of the best work the actor has done in years, drawing on the comedic chops that made him a star in the first place, but also doesn’t ignore some of the darkness of the role. After being at the top for a while, it takes a mess of your mind to suddenly lose your grip on success. Birdman is always mostly funny, but it speaks to how some actors maintain a certain level of fame and what they will do to regain that sense of satisfaction.

Keaton certainly felt the satisfaction Birdman by critics who generally praised his performance. Variety called it that “Comeback of the century” while Richard Roeper said: “Keaton made a serious case for an Oscar nomination for Best Actor. Many critics shared this opinion, and his performance earned him arguably the best reviews of his long career, and all that talk of Oscar nominations was soon to become a reality.

“Birdman” led to critical and box office success for Michael Keaton

Release date

October 17, 2014

Duration

119

Birdman became a commercial and critical successwhich grossed over $103 million worldwide on a budget of $18 million. It also became the impetus of awards season, and Keaton himself led that push. The actor received his first Oscar nomination for Best Actor. Although he didn’t win, he did snag his first Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy, and he won a SAG Award when the film ensemble took home the award for Outstanding Cast in a Motion Picture . In addition to these nods, Birdman was nominated for several Oscars and won Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay and Best Cinematography.

Keaton felt the glow of success Birdman almost immediately. The following year, the actor played the role of Walter V. Robinson in Tom McCarthy’s critically acclaimed drama Headlight. Keaton was surrounded by a strong ensemble cast including Mark Ruffalo, Rachel McAdams, John Slattery, Stanley Tucci and Liev Schreiber. While Keaton did not receive an Oscar nomination for his work, the film itself was nominated for six Oscars, including Best Picture, which it ultimately won. The actor also nabbed another SAG Award when the film won Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture. For his performance, James Berardinelli spoke about Keaton and Ruffalo in his review by saying them “Both deliver powerful, compelling performances that, according to the accounts of the men who play them, are uncannily true.”

In a funny moment, everything came full circle when Keaton appeared in another superhero film, this time as a villain, portraying Adrian Toomes, aka Vulture Spider-Man: Homecoming. The film was a commercial and critical success, grossing $880.2 million worldwide and scoring a 92% on Rotten Tomatoes. Keaton’s performance as Toomes was highly praised by some critics. Many pointed to a key scene between the actor and Tom Holland’s Peter Parker, in which he realizes that the little boy taking his daughter to the dance is actually Spider-Man.

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In a review of UPROXX, critic Mike Ryan said: “Michael Keaton is at his villainous best as Adrian Toomes.” He addressed a particular moment by saying: “There’s a scene about halfway through Spider-Man: Homecoming This puts the relationship between Peter and Adrian Toomes in perspective and is played brilliantly by both Keaton and Holland. This is one of my favorite scenes from any MCU film.”

Keaton has been an actor for most of his career, and perhaps that’s why he didn’t like it when the industry came calling Birdman his comeback vehicle. During his promotional run for Beetlejuice Beetlejuicewhich became another critical and box office hit for the actor Keaton was talking about Birdman chatter and expressed why it wasn’t a comeback for him.

“A really, really, really smart guy, a guy I really liked, said, ‘Comeback’ – that’s the story. I said, ‘Honestly, this is kind of bullshit… I thought I could do this story.’ But I knew I would be stupid every time I talked about it. I know I don’t mind the deal. If you are desperate, you are finished. Don’t ever get insecure and nervous and think, “Wow, boy, I’m not feeling so good right now.” But if you’re desperate, you’re dead.

Maybe it’s not fair to call it a comeback. Keaton never went anywhere and he was a working actor in Hollywood, which most would welcome with open arms. Maybe that’s the best way to describe it Birdman The best thing for his career was that it gave him an important role to sink his teeth into – something he could be truly passionate about. It also allowed the industry to see something it may have forgotten: that Michael Keaton is one of our finest actors on screen today. Birdman is now streaming on Hulu.