Original BIRDMAN Ending Hilariously Included Johnny Depp
Birdman was one of the best films of 2014, and I’m betting that Michael Keaton will take home the trophy for Best Actor at the Oscars. In the film, Keaton plays an actor whose most iconic role, Birdman, haunts him as he attempts to put on a stage play that would help boost his career back to the top.
The film was heavily inspired by Keaton and the fame he saw from Tim Burton’s Batman. But director Alejandro González Iñárritu and writer Alexander Dinelaris had a very different ending for Birdman planned than what they ended up using. I thought the way the film ended was great, but the original ending moved the story to another actor and character: Johnny Depp and his Pirates of the Caribbean alter-ego, (Captain) Jack Sparrow.
Here’s what Dinelaris had to say about the original ending during Jeff Goldsmith‘s annual discussion with Oscar-nominated screenwriters:
"So we had one other ending that was satirical. The other ending was that he shoots himself on the stage. The camera comes around to the audience and their standing ovation — all the way around, like Chivo [Emmanuel Lubezki] and Alejandro did the whole time — and the segue was back on to the stage and on the stage was like James Lipton or Charlie Rose and Michael [Keaton] was sitting across from him and he’s sort of reading the review. He’s saying, ‘Oh my God, you got this tremendous review’ and Michael is like, ‘Yeah.’
"…Then the camera prowled like it did the whole film, went back stage through the halls we’ve seen the whole time and we’d get to the dressing room where literally Johnny Depp would be sitting looking in the mirror and putting on his Riggan Thomson wig and then the poster of Pirates of the Caribbean 5 would be in the back. In Jack Sparrow’s voice [it would say], ‘What the fuck are we doing here, mate?’ It was going to be the satire of the endless loop of that."
That would have been amazing! Unfortunately Depp or Disney weren’t interested playing with them on the idea. Dinelaris added:
"We couldn’t get Johnny Depp or even the poster."
That was such an awesome idea for an ending, and there's no doubt audiences would have loved it. What do you think of the original ending they had planned?
Via: The Film Stage