Daily Dialogue — February 27, 2018
Young Birdman: It’s a beautiful day. Forget about the Times… everyone else has. Come on. Stand up! So you’re not a great actor. Who cares? You’re much more than that. You tower over these other theater douchebags. You’re a movie star, man! You’re a global force! Don’t you get it? You spent your life building a bank account and a reputation… and you blew ’em both. Good for you. Fuck it. We’ll make a comeback. They’re waiting for something huge. Well, give it to them. Shave off that pathetic goatee. Get some surgery! Sixty’s the new thirty, motherfucker. You’re the original. You paved the way for these other clowns. Give the people what they want… old-fashioned apocalyptic porn. Birdman: The Phoenix Rises. Pimple-faced gamers creaming in their pants. A billion worldwide, guaranteed. You are larger than life, man. You save people from their boring, miserable lives. You make them jump, laugh, shit their pants. All you have to do is…
Riggan snaps fingers, and explosions occur, shooting starts, soldiers get shot, choppers fly and shoot, one gets shot down.
Young Birdman: That’s what I’m talking about. Bones rattling! Big, loud, fast! Look at these people, at their eyes… they’re sparkling. They love this shit. They love blood. They love action. Not this talky, depressing, philosophical bullshit.
Birdman shoots laser in giant mechanical bird above the building, it screeches.
Young Birdman: Yes. And the next time you screech…
Riggan screeches.
Young Birdman: … it’ll explode into millions of eardrums. You’ll glimmer on thousands of screens around the globe. Another blockbuster. You are a god.
Riggan starts flying.
Young Birdman: See? There you go, you motherfucker. Gravity doesn’t even apply to you. Wait till you see the faces of those who thought we were finished. Listen to me. Let’s go back one more time and show them what we’re capable of. We have to end it on our own terms… with a grand gesture. Flames. Sacrifice. Icarus. You can do it. You hear me? You are… Birdman!
— Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (2014), written by Alejandro G. Iñárritu & Nicolás Giacobone & Alexander Dinelaris & Armando Bo
The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Walk and Talk.
Trivia: According to Alejandro G. Iñárritu, he had dinner with director Mike Nichols in New York two weeks before he began shooting the movie. Iñárritu told Nichols of his plan for how he was going to shoot the movie as one long take. Nichols predicted it would be a disaster, because not having the ability to use cuts in editing would inhibit the opportunities for comedy. Iñárritu said the meeting didn’t deter him, but was instead helpful in raising his awareness level of the difficulty of what he was about to do.
Dialogue On Dialogue: This is a one-sided conversation with an extended monologue from Young Birdman, a projection of a voice emanating from within Riggin’s own mind. It’s composition is consistent with the entire movie experience of the story in a single take, one of several ‘walk and talk’ scenes.
