Though Michael Keaton has denied that Birdman is a semi-autobiographical role, it’s hard not to see parallels between Keaton’s character Riggan Thomson in Birdman and his actual career.
In this career retrospective interview with DP/30, Keaton covers all the ground that he covered on the way to stardom, including his early career as a stand-up comic (and why he preferred that to doing theater), why he decided not to star in Batman Forever, and why working with Birdman director Alejandro González Iñárritu was such a thrill (plus, for some reason the latter half of the interview has a siren blaring in the background).
It also includes this key piece of advice from Keaton on making decisions as an actor: “I still bet on me. I always bet on me. If you don’t bet on you, you’re kind of fucked.”
