Birdman Ending Explained! What Does The Ending Of Birdman Mean?
by Aishwarya R
Updated Feb 22, 2023
What Does The Ending Of Birdman Mean?
The American black comedy-drama Birdman, also known as "The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance" or simply "Birdman," was directed by Alejandro González Iárritu in 2014. Armando Bó, Alexander Dinelaris Jr., Nicolás Giacobone, and Irritu wrote it. Michael Keaton plays the faded Hollywood actor Riggan Thomson, who is best known for his role as the superhero "Birdman" and is struggling to stage a Broadway production of the short story written by Raymond Carver. Zach Galifianakis, Edward Norton, Andrea Riseborough, Amy Ryan, Emma Stone, and Naomi Watts are also in the film's supporting cast.
With one brief exception, the film appears to have been shot in one take throughout the previews leading up to the opening of the play, an idea Irritu had from the beginning of the project. Emmanuel Lubezki, a cinematographer, was of the opinion that the recording time required for Birdman's long-take approach could not have been achieved using earlier technology. The film had a $16.5 million budget and was shot in New York City in the spring of 2013. It was co-financed by Fox Searchlight Pictures, Regency Enterprises, and Worldview Entertainment. The following year, in August, it made its debut at the opening of the 71st Venice International Film Festival.
On October 17, 2014, Birdman had a limited theatrical release in the United States, and on November 14, it had a wide release. The film received widespread critical acclaim, with praise for its screenplay, direction, cinematography, and cast performances. It grossed more than $103 million worldwide. From a total of nine nominations, Birdman won the Academy Award for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Cinematography, tying The Grand Budapest Hotel for the most nominations and awards at the 87th Academy Awards. It also won Best Screenplay and Best Actor for Keaton at the 72nd Golden Globe Awards, as well as Outstanding Cast in a Motion Picture at the 21st Screen Actors Guild Awards.
Birdman Ending Explained
After a fruitful first follow-up on Premiere night, Riggan talks smoothly to his ex Sylvia about an endeavored self-destruction. He tells her how much he loves her, how much he loves their daughter Sam, and how he wishes he had been more present with her when they were married. Riggan seems strangely calm, Sylvia observes. As he performs vocal warm-ups and loads a real gun, we watch as this calm takes over. He performs his final monologue in front of adoring fans with this gun instead of the prop he was supposed to use. The audience claps in adoration as he then shoots himself in the head.
In a hospital room, Riggan hears that he has survived his suicide attempt and that his "stunt" was a huge success, with rave reviews for his play. Additionally, he has blown out his nose. When the camera pans to him, his face is covered in bandages that make him look like Birdman. When Sam visits her father at the hospital, they hold hands for a brief moment, as if everything had been forgiven and forgotten.
Riggan sees Birdman reappear on the toilet after removing the mask to reveal a blue and black face with a swollen nose resembling that of a beak. As classical music swells in the background, Riggan walks over to the hospital window. He smiles as he watches the birds soar above the city. The moment he opens the window and steps onto the ledge, the camera pans away from us. Sam enters an unoccupied hospital room and sprints to the window to look down. She looks up at the heavens. She grins. While Sam giggles in awe, the camera cuts to black.
Birdman Plot
Riggan Thomson is a fading actor best known for his role as Birdman, a superhero, in a film trilogy that ran from 1989 to 1992. Birdman's mocking and critical internal voice haunts him, and he frequently imagines himself performing telekinesis and levitation. By writing, directing, and starring in a Broadway production of the short story "What We Talk About When We Talk About Love" by Raymond Carver, Riggan is attempting to regain recognition. However, the Birdman voice insists that he is essential to Riggan's identity and wants Riggan to return to big-budget films.
The play, in which Riggan's girlfriend Laura and Broadway debutante Lesley co-star, is being produced by Jake, Riggan's best friend, and lawyer. Sam, Riggan's recovering drug addict daughter, is working as his assistant. He is trying to get back in touch with her. Ralph, Riggan's hapless co-star, is hit by a light fixture the day before the first preview. Riggan replaces Ralph with her boyfriend, the brilliant, volatile, and self-centered method actor Mike Shiner, at Lesley's suggestion. The first glimpses are a disaster: Mike breaks character when he drinks water instead of gin, tries to rape Lesley during a sex scene, and says the prop gun doesn't look natural. After reading a New York Times interview with Mike in which Mike steals Riggan's personal reason for doing a Raymond Carver play, Riggan and Mike get into a fight. Riggan agrees to the play's continuation thanks to Jake. After discovering Sam using marijuana, Riggan berates Sam in an insulting manner, claiming that he is irrelevant and that the play is about his own vanity.
After seeing Sam and Mike kiss backstage during the final preview, Riggan accidentally locks himself outside with his robe stuck in the fire escape door. In order to perform the final scene, he is forced to enter through the audience and walk through Times Square in his briefs. After the performance, a worried Sam is waiting in his dressing room; she thinks the performance was unusual but interesting. She tells him how this actually helps him and shows him the Times Square footage that is going viral.
Riggan goes to a bar for a drink and approaches cynical and influential theater critic Tabitha Dickinson. Without having seen the play, she promises to "kill" it with a demeaning review. Riggan purchases a pint of whiskey on the way back, consumes it, and eventually collapses on a porch. He imagines Birdman attempting to persuade him to abandon the play and make a fourth Birdman film as he walks to the theater the following day with a severe hangover. Before getting to the theater, Riggan then imagines flying through the streets of Manhattan.
The play is doing very well on opening night. A strangely calm Riggan tells his ex-wife Sylvia in his dressing room that he tried to drown himself in the ocean several years ago after she caught him having an affair. He likewise enlightens her concerning the Birdman voice, which she overlooks. Riggan acquires a real gun for his character's final suicide scene following Sylvia's departure. Riggan shoots himself in the head on stage at the climax. There is a standing ovation for the play.
Riggan wakes up in a hospital because the suicide attempt only destroyed his surgically reconstructed nose. The suicide attempt, according to Tabitha's glowing review of the play, was exactly what American theater needed. Sam visits with blossoms and snaps a photo of him to impart to the soaring number of devotees on the Twitter account she has made for him. Riggan enters the bathroom, removes the bandages that reveal his swollen new nose, and bids farewell to Birdman, who is seen seated on the toilet, while she steps outside to find a vase. He opens the window, looks up at the birds flying outside his room, and then climbs out onto the ledge. Sam returns to a room that is empty and rushes to the window, scanning the ground before smiling as she slowly looks up at the sky.
Birdman Cast
Many actors starred in this movie. Here we share the Birdman cast below in the tabular column:-
Cast
Character
Michael Keaton
Riggan Thomson
Benjamin Kanes
Young Riggan / Birdman
Zach Galifianakis
Jake
Edward Norton
Mike Shiner
Andrea Riseborough
Laura Alburn
Amy Ryan
Sylvia Thomson
Emma Stone
Sam Thomson
Naomi Watts
Lesley Truman
Lindsay Duncan
Tabitha Dickinson
Merritt Wever
Annie
Jeremy Shamos
Ralph
Bill Camp
Crazy Man
Damian Young
Gabriel
Paula Pell
Lady in Bar
Donna Lynne Champlin
Broadway Lady
Craig muMs Grant
Broadway Man
Jackie Hoffman
Mary Lady on Balcony
Susan Blackwell
Intermission Woman
Birdman Ending Explained - FAQs
Birdman is a 2014 American black comedy film directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu. It follows the story of Riggan Thomson, a fading actor known for playing a superhero named Birdman in a movie trilogy. The film explores themes of identity, art, and celebrity culture.
No, Birdman is a fictional film. The story and characters are not based on real people or events.
Birdman features an ensemble cast, including Michael Keaton as Riggan Thomson, Emma Stone as his daughter Sam, Edward Norton as Mike Shiner, Naomi Watts as Lesley, and Zach Galifianakis as Jake.
Birdman was critically acclaimed and won several awards, including four Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Cinematography. It also won the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy.
The title "Birdman" refers to the superhero character played by Riggan Thomson in the film's fictional movie trilogy. However, it also has deeper symbolic meaning, representing Riggan's struggle to let go of his past success and create a new identity as a serious actor and director.