display of mastery to really breathe’ 13 . It is difficult to deny Romney’s analysis, and yet Birdman
had enough of a reception to merit four Academy Awards amongst numerous other accolades.
One of the main identifiers of the film’s success, however, is how it still continues to reach into
reality. Since the film’s release, Marvel has cast Keaton as the super-villain Vulture in Spider-
Man: Homecoming (2017) 14 . This may be purely coincidental, but the simulacral implications
of a character based on another character is something that seems to endure as cinema
continues to reach out into reality, and films like Birdman can continue to help enlighten their
viewership to this fascinating phenomenon.
f play that one might expect
e face of a medium whose
unlike most Brechtian plays,
reality, I will now go on to
ment Jackson speaks of.
n comparison to a character
es tied up in the actors who
use actors with their fictional
d within Birdman. Ellis takes
e of the fiction’ 8 . From these
yle of the performer tend to
tu exploits this idea to its full
the characters that they are
g a notoriously difficult actor
nown to significantly change
Michael Keaton is the most
ugh not necessarily being a
ed by his career-defining
(1989) and Batman Returns
rhero and has received little
ch of the film out into wider
ematic success is celebrated
rse, the argument of what
key, and it is explored within
Jonathan Romney, ‘Birdman Review – Michael Keaton Goes a Long Way to Restoring His
Reputation’, The Guardian, 4th January 2015, [Accessed 10 th October, 2017].
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/jan/04/birdman-alejandro-gonzalez-inarritu-review-michael
keaton.
mour Hoffman... 14
Spider-Man: Homecoming. Film. Directed by J. Watts. (USA: Columbia Pictures Corporation &
Marvel Studios: 2017).
13
47