Birdman Director Alejandro González Iñárritu Goes Mad Over Superheroes

Director Alejandro González Iñárritu's latest film, Birdman paints a grim portrait of Hollywood and the movie industry, from studios, to producers, to critics, as well as to what fame does to one's identity.

Deadline recently sat down with the director and his three co-writers to discuss the film. In the middle of the interview, Deadline asked the director how coincidental was it to cast three actors whom all have starred in superhero movies, with two of them playing the actual superhero.

"It got stranger than that. While we were shooting, there were Superman billboards all around us. When we were filming that rooftop scene, atop the theater with Emma and Edward, we look down and there’s the premiere of Lucky Guy with Tom Hanks. And Edward texts him and he looks up and is like, what is going on? Is the girl from Spider-Mangoing to jump? Don’t jump, Emma! It was hilarious. There was Tom Hanks, basically doing what Michael Keaton’s character is trying to do, which is to go from Hollywood to Broadway. There’s a scene where the first co-star leaves and Keaton says, bring me a good actor. He names names, like Fassbender, and they’re all off making superhero movies. It invited parody because it’s become like, a bunch of whores. We are all that way."

The director was then asked if making fun of Hollywood and its superheroes would damper his chances at ever making one?

"I would be terrible. I think there’s nothing wrong with being fixated on superheroes when you are 7 years old, but I think there’s a disease in not growing up. The corporation and the hedge funds have a hold on Hollywood and they all want to make money on anything that signifies cinema. When you put $100 million and you get $800 million or $1 billion, it is very hard to convince people. You tell them, you will put in $20 million and you will get $80 million. Now, that is a fucking amazing business, but they say, “$80 million? I want $800 million.” Basically, the room to exhibit good nice films is over. These are taking the place of all those things."

But does he like superhero movies?

"I sometimes enjoy them because they are basic and simple and go well with popcorn. The problem is that sometimes they purport to be profound, based on some Greek mythological kind of thing. And they are honestly very right wing. I always see them as killing people because they do not believe in what you believe, or they are not being who you want them to be. I hate that, and don’t respond to those characters. They have been poison, this cultural genocide, because the audience is so overexposed to plot and explosions and shit that doesn’t mean nothing about the experience of being human."

The director then said that "philosophically" he just doesn't like them.

"That’s what I am saying. Superheroes…just the word hero bothers me. What the fuck does that mean? It’s a false, misleading conception, the superhero. Then, the way they apply violence to it, it’s absolutely right wing. If you observe the mentality of most of those films, it’s really about people who are rich, who have power, who will do the good, who will kill the bad. Philosophically, I just don’t like them."

And to top it all off he says that the films are about nothing.

"Ultimately, it’s about nothing. It’s a package, and you open the box, and there’s another box, and another, and it doesn’t lead you to the truth."

I like some of Iñárritu's films, and would have liked to see what he could have done with a superhero property, but it's safe to assume that the director won't be helming any superhero movies anytime soon.

Just a funny bit of trivia, Birdman had a panel at this recent New York Comic-Con, where two of the film's stars, Michael Keaton and Edward Norton, dropped to talk about the film and there superhero exploits.

What do you take from Mr. Iñárritu's comments, besides his disdain for the genre?

Source - Deadline

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