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Alejandro G. Iñárritu's <em>Birdman</em> With Michael Keaton, Ed Norton To Close New York Film Festival
By
Jen Chung
Published Jul 21, 2014
Modified Jul 21, 2014
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By
Jen Chung
Published Jul 21, 2014
Modified Jul 21, 2014
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Michael Keaton playing an actor famous known for portraying an iconic superhero? And with Ed Norton, Emma Stone, Naomi Watts and Zach Galafinakis—directed by Alejandro G. Iñárritu? We're down with all of that, and so is the Film Society of Lincoln Center, which has chosen Iñárritu's Birdman or the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance as its closing night film this October.
Here's the description of the film:
Birdman centers on one-time action hero Riggan Thomson, played by Keaton, who attempts to be taken seriously as an artist by staging his own adaptation of Raymond Carver's What We Talk About When We Talk About Love. Thomson, however, must contend with a resentful daughter (Stone), a scene-hogging narcissist (Norton), a vulnerable actress (Watts), and an unhinged girlfriend (Andrea Riseborough) for co-stars, a manager who is coming undone (Galifianikis), as well as his own inner demon—the superhero that brought him fame, Birdman.
New York Film Festival Director and Selection Committee Chair, Kent Jones, said, "Birdman is a knockout. It’s consistently surprising and inventive—you think the movie is going in one direction and then Iñárritu shifts gears and takes you somewhere else completely unexpected: the movie is like an intricate machine generating greater and greater amounts of beautiful radiant energy. The entire cast is amazing and they mesh perfectly, but I have to say that Michael Keaton is astonishing. He’s always been a terrific and, in my opinion, underrated actor. Here he gets the role he deserves, and he makes the most of it. And, it’s a great Broadway movie."
And here's the teaser trailer:
The opening night film is David Fincher's Gone Girl and the centerpiece film is Inherent Vice, Paul Thomas Anderson's adaptation of the Thomas Pynchon novel. Tickets for this year's NYFF go on sale to the general public at noon on Sunday, September 7, but members of the Film Society of Lincoln Center get to pick movies during a member pre-sale period.
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Birdman or the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance
michael keaton
new york film festival
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Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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