‘Birdman’ Star Michael Keaton Snaps at Reporter: “That’s Lazy and a Cliche”

This story first appeared in the Jan. 9 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine.

Since when has Michael Keaton not been breaking rules?

During the mid-1980s, he walked away from a third Batman film despite a reported $15 million payday when director Tim Burton dropped out over creative differences. Nor does Keaton, 63, regret passing up the role in J.J. Abrams‘ Lost that went to Matthew Fox. “I go from one thing to the other, and sometimes I stop acting altogether,” explains the actor. “Sometimes I raise a kid, and sometimes I build a house in Montana.”

Late last year, Keaton wrote an ESPN blog about his hometown team, the Pittsburgh Pirates. Now, he’s poised to earn his first Oscar nomination (having snagged Golden Globe and SAG noms) for Birdman, Alejandro G. Inarritu‘s dark comedy about a washed-up superhero-movie star who attempts a comeback by mounting a Broadway show.

But if you think Keaton took the part of Riggan Thompson because it bears a resemblance to his past, think again. “I’ve never related less to a character,” says Keaton, who adds that he signed on for the challenge of shooting a film in a series of long takes. (Birdman has soared since its limited debut in October, earning north of $20 million to date at the box office.) “This movie is thick with humanity,” he says before dismissing the idea of his own comeback narrative: “That’s lazy and a cliche. It’s not me at all.”