It’s weird to think that at this year’s NYCC there were three Batmen in the house. Adam West, George Clooney and Michael Keaton. It’s the last one listed that will be the focal point of this panel write-up along with his co-star Edward Norton to promote and talk about their upcoming new film Birdman, directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu.
Moderated by Chris Hardwick, the panel opened up with a screening of the first 10 minutes of the film. Within the first 10 minutes we get to know exactly what this film’s going to be about, the wacky tone its going for, and how the film will visually move us. What I mean by that is that the film was shot and edited to look like it was all done in one take. It’s incredible to watch. I was lucky enough to see the film the next morning and trust me when I say it’s one of the best films you’ll see this year.
After the first 10 minutes were up we had a chance to listen to Michael, Ed and Chris discuss the technical aspects of the film and how it was such a different experience shooting really long takes. There was a ton of rehearsal time prior to the shoot, which doesn’t happen much in film, but due to the nature of the shots and the theater-like production, it’s the only way it could have worked and both were truly happy for it. For those wondering, the guy that shot this film is also the one that shot Gravity, so you know you’re getting something special. The guys also made it a point to say that this film is not a superhero film, so don’t expect that. The reason they made this clear is because they showed a clip from another scene which was a CG-heavy action scene that looked like it was straight out of a comic book movie.
The only issue with this panel is that a lot of the film is experiencing it without knowing too much, so the panelists and Hardwick had to dance around details as much as possible so as to not ruin the experience for people. They did a decent job of that and were able to get some laughs from the crowd but there wasn’t too much substance or solid information that we could get from Keaton and Norton. They specifically never answered if they would do anymore superhero movies in the future, not ruling out the possibility but not ever stating clearly that they would or wouldn’t.
When the panel ended, the audience members were given a pretty sweet 18″x24″ poster for the film. It’s sort of hybrid poster, combining the theatrical poster for the actual movie and promoting a potential “Birdman 4” in Japanese, a film which his character declined to play in the actual film.
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