Birdman (film)

Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance), of-ten referred to simply as Birdman, is a 2014 Ameri-can black comedy-drama film co-written, co-produced,and directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu. It starsMichael Keaton, with a supporting cast of Zach Gal-ifianakis, Edward Norton, Andrea Riseborough, AmyRyan, Emma Stone, and Naomi Watts. The story followsprotagonist Riggan Thomson, a faded Hollywood actorfamous for his role as superhero Birdman, as he strug-gles to mount a Broadway adaptation of a short story byRaymond Carver.Aside from a few shots near the beginning and end, Bird-man appears to be filmed in a single shot, an idea thedirector had since the film’s conception. This requiredan atypical production approach, with many elements ofpost-production needing to be considered before princi-pal photography. As a result the script took two yearsto write, the cast went through several weeks of meticu-lous rehearsals, and during shooting takes were cut for theslightest mishaps. It was filmed in New York City duringthe spring of 2013 with a budget of $16.5 million, jointlyfinanced by New Regency and Fox Searchlight Pictures.The film premiered the following year in August where itopened the 71st Venice International Film Festival.Birdman was given a limited theatrical release in theUnited States on October 17, 2014, followed by a widerelease on November 14, and has grossed more than $76million worldwide. It garnered critical acclaim, withpraise particularly directed to the cast’s performance andEmmanuel Lubezki’s cinematography. It is widely con-sidered to be one of the best films of 2014, and hasreceived multiple awards and nominations. These in-clude winning Best Screenplay and Best Actor at the 72ndGolden Globe Awards, Outstanding Cast in aMotion Pic-ture at the 21st Screen Actors Guild Awards,[4] and ninenominations at the 87th Academy Awards, the joint mostfor the ceremony with The Grand Budapest Hotel. Thefilm won four Academy Awards: for Best Picture, BestDirector, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Cinematog-raphy.[5]

1 Plot

Riggan Thomson (Michael Keaton) is a washed-up Holly-wood actor famous for playing the superhero Birdman inblockbuster movies decades earlier. Riggan is tormentedby the voice of Birdman, who criticizes him, and he seeshimself performing feats of levitation and telekinesis.

Riggan hopes to reinvent his career by writing, direct-ing, and starring in a Broadway adaptation of RaymondCarver's short story "What We Talk About When WeTalk About Love". The play is produced by Riggan’s bestfriend and lawyer Jake (Zach Galifianakis), and also starsRiggan’s girlfriend Laura (Andrea Riseborough) and first-time Broadway actress Lesley (Naomi Watts). Riggan’sdaughter Sam (Emma Stone), a recovering addict, servesas his assistant.During rehearsals, a light fixture falls onto Ralph, an ac-tor Riggan and Jake agree is terrible; Riggan tells Jake hecaused the light to fall so he could replace Ralph. Througha connection with Lesley, Riggan replaces Ralph with thebrilliant but volatile method actor Mike (Edward Nor-ton), refinancing his house to fund his contract. The firstpreviews go disastrously: Mike breaks character over thereplacement of his gin with water, and attempts to rapeLesley during a sex scene. Riggan reads early press cover-age and is incensed that Mike has stolen the attention, butJake encourages him to continue. When Riggan catchesSam using marijuana, she tells him he does not matterand his play is a vanity project.Backstage during the final preview, Riggan sees Sam andMike flirting. He accidentally locks himself out of thetheater and has to walk in his underwear through TimesSquare to get back inside; his popularity explodes online.Afterwards, he runs into influential critic Tabitha Dick-inson, who tells him she hates Hollywood celebrities who“pretend” to be actors, and promises to “kill” his play witha negative review. Riggan gets drunk and passes out inthe street. The next day, he hallucinates a conversationwith Birdman, who tries to convince him to make anotherBirdman film, and sees himself flying through New YorkCity back to the theater.On opening night, Riggan uses a real gun for the finalscene in which his character kills himself, and shoots hisnose off onstage. He earns a standing ovation from all butTabitha, who leaves during the applause. In the hospital,Jake tells Riggan that Tabitha gave the play a rave review,dubbing his suicide attempt as the creation of a new formof method acting she calls “Super-Realism”. After Samvisits Riggan, he dismisses Birdman and climbs onto thewindow ledge; when Sam returns, Riggan is gone. Shelooks down at the street, then up at the sky, and smiles.

2 Cast• Michael Keaton as Riggan Thomson / Birdman

1

2 3 PRODUCTION

• Edward Norton as Mike Shiner, an acclaimedBroadway actor

• Emma Stone as Sam Thomson, Riggan’s daughterand assistant

• Naomi Watts as Lesley, an actress and Mike’s for-mer girlfriend

• Zach Galifianakis as Jake, Riggan’s lawyer andfriend

• Andrea Riseborough as Laura, an actress and Rig-gan’s girlfriend

• Amy Ryan as Sylvia Thomson, Riggan’s ex-wife,Sam’s mother

• Lindsay Duncan as Tabitha Dickinson, a top theatrecritic

• Merritt Wever as Annie, the stage manager

• Jeremy Shamos as Ralph

• Frank Ridley as Mr. Roth

• Katherine O'Sullivan as Costume Assistant

• Damian Young as Gabriel

3 Production

3.1 Conception and writing

The idea of a comedy set in the theatre appearing to befilmed in one shot was conceived by González Iñárritu ina single thought. This said, there were influences behindits components. The comedic aspect came from Iñárrituwanting a change; all his previous films were dramas, andafter directing the depressing Biutiful, did not want to ap-proach a subject tragically again.[6] The choice to makethe film appear as a single shot, on the other hand, re-sulted from his realization that “we live our lives with noediting”. By presenting the film like this he could “sub-merge the protagonist in an 'inescapable reality' and takethe audience with him.”[7] Sharing his idea for a film,Iñárritu phoned Argentine writers/filmmakers ArmandoBo and Nicolás Giacobone, as well as playwright Alexan-der Dinelaris, who had all worked with him on his previ-ous film.[8][lower-alpha 1]

The screenwriters were concerned about the one-shot na-ture of the film, however, and their first reaction was totell him the movie couldn't work.[6] They weren't the onlypeople he faced resistance from though; “huge” and “im-portant” people told him to not even try the project,[8] andhe himself described it as “almost suicidal”, not know-ing whether the technique would be successful, and wor-rying that it would become a distraction.[10] Dinelarislater said that had they truly paused and considered the

idea, they may have convinced González Iñárritu out ofit. The project began nonetheless. With González Iñár-ritu in Los Angeles, Giacobone and Bo in Buenos Aires,and Dinelaris in New York, work on the script was donemainly through Skype calls and emails.[6] This wasn'tnecessarily bad however: Dinelaris said he believed thebest ideas in Birdman came from Skype sessions at twoin the morning where he and Giacobone were “crackingeach other up.” Incorporating the one-shot feature intothe script also made the writing process more involvedthan usual. Bo said “We wrote everything thinking ofthis one shot, and a lot of decisions that would mostly betaken in the editing room were taken before shooting.” Aconsequence of the one-shot approach was the inability totake out scenes or change their order, so they needed tobe “very, very sure about what was on the page.”[8] Thesefactors meant it took about a year and a half before thefinal draft was written.[11]

“You have to be an idiot to do it all in one shot. You haveto be an idiot to attempt it. It takes a great, great dealof ignorance to not pay attention to the difficulties and tothink you’re going to do this. Birdman looks like a goodidea now, but a year and a half ago we did not know howwe would land.”— Alexander Dinelaris[8]

While some aspects of the film – the first frame with Rig-gan, for instance – went unchanged from Birdman’s con-ception to release,[6] others went through several itera-tions. One of these was the sequence in which Riggan’sthoughts are completely taken over by Birdman. Thewriters knew it would occur at Riggan’s lowest point, soat one stage planned for it to happen after Riggan hearsthe initial negative press coverage and starts throwing andbreaking everything around his dressing room. Anotherversion of the moment saw Riggan trying to drown him-self in Central Park and flying out to save himself.[8] Thefilm’s ending was also changed halfway through filming.González Iñárritu strongly disliked the original ending,and rewrote it with Dinelaris and Giacobone after it cameto him in a dream.[12][13]When questioned about the orig-inal ending however, he explained he would never de-scribe it because it was “so embarrassing”. Dinelaris laterleaked the ending though, noting it was set in the the-atre instead of the hospital, and involved Johnny Deppsitting in Riggan’s dressing room. They would not havebeen able to shoot this version anyway, since Depp wasn'tavailable.[14]

The personal experiences of the writers informed as-pects of the script. Dinelaris’ exposure to Broadwayshaped the depictions of rehearsals and events backstage,though he admitted to exaggerating these. He also felthis background writing long scenes of dialog helped sincescenes in the film “were really more like play scenes.”[8]González Iñárritu influenced many of the film’s themes,saying, “What this film talks about, I have been through.

3.2 Casting 3

I have seen and experienced all of it; it’s what I havebeen living through the last years of my life.” Dinelarisdescribed this aspect as “a laughing look at oneself”, al-though noted it had to be done in a comedic way oth-erwise “it would have been the most unbelievably self-absorbed look at the subject.”[6] Themes from Carver’sshort story "What We Talk About When We Talk AboutLove" also influenced the script. During writingGonzálezIñárritu wanted to find the connection between the themesin Riggan’s story and those of Carver’s.[8] For this reasonit was important to González Iñárritu that Carver’s storybe the subject of the play, so found using his work terri-fying in case the rights to it were rejected, but no issuesarose. Tess Gallagher, the widow of Carver, loved thescript and gave the all-clear, saying that Carver would belaughing about the film.[6]

3.2 Casting

Michael Keaton was González Iñárritu’s first choice to play Rig-gan Thomson.

González Iñárritu had already cast several of the leadingroles before the film was financed.[2] Among these wasthe lead. Initially during writing, González Iñárritu didn'thave Keaton in mind,[7] but things had changed by theend: “When I finished the script, I knew that Michael wasnot the choice or option, he was the guy”.[15] GonzálezIñárritu cast him for his depth in a variety of actingstyles; he could handle up-close work, the demands of thestage, comedy and empathy, “with a profound depth toboth.”[16] Keaton knew about Birdman before GonzálezIñárritu contacted him though. He was in the middle ofproduction at another project when he received a call,advising him that González Iñárritu was making anotherfilm. Being a fan of his work, he flew home to find out

more.[17] González Iñárritu sent him the script, and dis-cussed it over dinner. The first thing Keaton asked thedirector was whether he was making fun of him, but afterGonzález Iñárritu explained the role, its technicalities andthe film’s production, Keaton agreed to play Riggan.[7]Casting Lesley was easier. Naomi Watts had alreadyworked with Iñárritu before on 21 Grams, and acceptedhis invitation. She was able to work on the movie sinceshe was living in NewYork at the time.[18] González Iñár-ritu called his decision behind casting Galifianakis as Jake“a bet”. Galifianakis met the director’s criteria of beinglovable and funny, but González Iñárritu also consideredhim sensitive, which scored him the role.[18] Emma Stonealready knew she wanted to work with González Iñárritubefore she was offered the role of Sam. The script thatGonzález Iñárritu gave her and the rest of the cast camewith the photoMan onWire, which featured Philippe Pe-tit crossing the Twin Towers on a tightrope. GonzálezIñárritu told the cast, “We are doing that”.[12][19]

The aforementioned actors were all on board beforeGonzález Iñárritu had secured funding. He first sentthe script to Fox Searchlight Pictures who loved it, butturned the offer down because the asking budget was toohigh.[2] At one stage Megan Ellison of Annapurna Pic-tures wanted to be involved in the project, but decidedagainst it because, unlike her other films, she had not beeninvolved since the beginning.[20] Iñárritu later approachedBrad Weston, president of New Regency. He acceptedthe offer,[21] but upon hearing about the deal productionexecutive Claudia Lewis of Searchlight now wanted to beinvolved. The two companies partnered, as they had justpreviously done in 12 Years a Slave, and financed the filmfor $16.5 million.[2]

The pair had a close relationship with González Iñárritu,editing the script with him and switching some of the ac-tors. When they joined production Josh Brolin was play-ing the role of Mike Shiner, but decided to switch himfor Norton because of scheduling conflicts.[2] GonzálezIñárritu found casting Mike Shiner difficult, because hewanted from his actors “a quality of reality in each ofthem that really projects to the film.” He said Norton’sexperience as a theatre actor combined with his self-confidence meant that “in a way there was some kind ofmental reality to Edward”,[18] but Norton believes he wasthe one who convinced González Iñárritu to take him on.Already a fan of the director’s work, and impressed withhis ability to push outside the boundaries,[22] Norton hadheard about González Iñárritu’s project from a friend. Heread through the screenplay at 3am, and said “I laughedso hard I woke people up.”[23] He wanted to meet himthe next day, and once he got to the director, told himhe couldn't cast someone who was the “embodiment” ofwhat the script was taking aim at. Instead, someone “whohas at least a little bit of authentic depth of experience, inthis world.” González Iñárritu agreed.[24] Norton was notthe only member of the cast who had tasted the theatreworld though. Ryan, one of the last actors to be cast,[25]

4 3 PRODUCTION

was invited because González Iñárritu had seen her in theplay Detroit.[26] Lindsay Duncan had vast experience inthe theatre world too, and decided to accept her offer asthe critic because of the quality of the script, saying “It’sdelicious because of the writing”.[27] But like Shiner’scharacter, González Iñárritu found casting Laura diffi-cult. Riseborough met him on a street corner for a cup oftea, and recalling the event, said “I told him that I wouldcrawl across hot coals to work with him”.[28] GonzálezIñárritu described Laura as “a very wacky, quirky role,”but said “when [Andrea Riseborough] did it I knew thatit was her, because she did it right in the tone, and sheunderstood who she was – she was not judging.”[18]

3.3 Rehearsal and filming

Benjamin Kanes (Birdman) and Michael Keaton (Riggan) re-hearsing the action-sequence of the film.

Once the writing was finished, González Iñárritu con-tacted friend and cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki todiscuss his idea for the film.[29] After reading the script,Lubezki was worried that González Iñárritu would of-fer him the job since "[Birdman] had all of the elementsof a movie that I did not want to do at all” – comedy,studio work and long takes – but changed his mind af-ter further discussion with the director.[30] The pair hadworked together on commercials and a short film in theanthology To Each His Own Cinema,[31] but not on anyfeature films. Lubezki wanted to be sure that this was adecision Rodrigo Prieto, cinematographer of all four ofGonzález Iñárritu’s feature films, was comfortable with,but after receiving his blessing, the two headed into pre-production.[30]

Lubezki was concerned that no film had been shot in theway González Iñárritu envisioned, meaning there wouldbe no reference material to look up. The two decidedthe only way to learn how to shoot it would be to shootit themselves, so they hired a warehouse in Sony Studios,Los Angeles, and built a proxy stage.[29][32] The setup wasminimal, with canvas and C-stands for walls, tape and afew pieces of furniture to mark out areas.[29][33] Using acamera and some stand-ins, the duo worked through the

movie to see if it was possible. Having realized no the-ater had all the backstage areas they required, they hiredKaufmanAstoria Studios in NewYork.[34] Still, GonzálezIñárritu wanted to shoot at a Broadway theater, but wouldhave to wait until several weeks into rehearsals before se-curing St. James Theatre.[35] They then went about hav-ing the stand-ins read and walk through the script to seehow large the set needed to be.[35] Afterwards, they de-signed and made “blueprints” of the shots and the block-ing of the scenes.[30] The planning was precise. GonzálezIñárritu said “There was no room to improvise at all. Ev-ery movement, every line, every door opening, absolutelyeverything was rehearsed.”[32] The actors started rehears-ing once this preliminary work was completed: accordingto Lubezki, they did the scenes with the actors “once wekind of knewwhat the rhythm of the scenes were.” He de-scribed the atypical approach “like an upside down moviewhere you do post-production before the production.”[29]

“I know Alejandro is very adamant about kind of keepingthe rabbit in the hat and not being super specific abouthow it was shot, but I will say it took a lot of rehearsaland it was very specific... There was no luxury of cuttingaway or editing around anything. You knew that everyscene was staying in the movie, and like theater, this wasit, this was your chance to live this scene.”— Emma Stone[36]

During the blocking of the scenes and rehearsals,González Iñárritu gathered his long-time editors Dou-glas Crise and Stephen Mirrione onto the proxy set, sothey could discuss where to remove edits.[37] Produc-tion designer Kevin Thompson was on hand too, sincemany of the shots González Iñárritu desired required theset to be built in a certain way. For example, Riggan’smakeup mirror and desk were constructed so that thecamera would see his reflection.[33] Thompson also tookinto consideration the needs of the crew, for instance de-signing the stairs a little wider for Steadicam operatorChris Haarhoff’s footsize.[38] The writers were also in-volved at this stage, fine-tuning the script to “make surethe film was fluid and never stopped.[11]

3.4 Music 5

St. James Theatre and Kaufman Astoria Studios in NewYork were used to film the stage and backstage scenes ofBirdman respectively.

Once the logistics of the scenes were worked out andthey had the timing down, the team headed to Kauf-man Studios for more rehearsals, followed by principalphotography based exclusively in New York during thespring of 2013.[39] The studios were used to film thebackstage areas of the film, including Riggan’s dressingroom and the theatre corridors. St. James Theatre wasused for two weeks, and was the location for the stagescenes.[40] The bar segments were shot in TheRumHouseon 47th Street,[41] and 43rd Street was used for the action-sequence.[42] Throughout the locations, including the stu-dio, the scenes were lit with natural light,[lower-alpha 2] sinceLubezki wanted the movie “to look as naturalistic as pos-sible.” The night-time scenes were possible to film in thisway due to the brightness of New York.[30]

Throughout shooting, Arri Alexa cameras were used,with an Alexa M for handheld sequences and an AlexaXT attached to the Steadicam. Neither used matteboxes,however. Steadicam operator Chris Haarhoff explainedthis decision: “We didn’t want this big black thing glidinginto their eyeline. This way we could get very close andget the light past the lens and onto the actor’s face.”[38]Lubezki – who did all the handheld camerawork[29] –had chosen the Alexa M because the camera was verysmall and allowed him to get into tiny spaces and close tothe actors,[30] sometimes filming two inches away fromKeaton’s face.[33] The camera also allowed recording forsuch a long period – necessary for the long takes of the

movie – that Lubezki went so far as to say the moviewould have been impossible to do years before.[30] Thecameras were lensed with Leica Summilux-C or ZeissMaster Primes.[38] Lubezki stated that these gave cleanimages, saying “You can have all these lights in the frameand they are not really causing bad flare or things likethat.”[30] In terms of sizes, they initially trialled an 21mm,but this didn't give González Iñárritu the “intimacy” hewanted. The crew instead went to a 18mm Leica, whichwas used for the majority of the film. Only when empha-sis was needed did they switch the lens to a 14mm, butthis was rare.[38]

The meticulous timing for the scenes meant that takeswere cancelled because of the slightest mishaps. EmmaStone, in an interview with Jimmy Fallon, recalledhow a six-minute take of the scene where Riggan firstmeets Mike was ruined after she walked around a cor-ner too quickly.[43] Because of this, the number oftakes for a given scene was high, usually twenty for theshorter scenes,[29] the takes running smoothly around thefifteenth.[38] Chris Haarhoff described it as “a type ofdance where everyone would hopefully try to peak all atthe same moment.” The locations sometimes placed re-strictions on the takes too; the live Times Square sequencewas shot only twice since they didn't want to attract theattention of tourists.[29]

Whenever shooting was taking place however, there waspressure on everyone involved, but the cast had a pos-itive experience. Edward Norton said that normally inmovie production half the people can “check out” dueto repetitive aspects, but during the shooting of Birdman“everybody’s on, the whole thing, and you're all on pinsand needles because you're all relying on forty other peo-ple not to drop the ball.” Because of this, Stone said thedirector was able to get the best out of the cast, saying"[González Iñárritu’s process] creates this sort of fury inyou, and then you end up realizing that he just got somuchout of you that you didn’t even know you had.”[19] NaomiWatts commented that the atmosphere “felt emblematicof how it feels onstage – at least my long-time memo-ries from long ago.”[44] Andrea Riseborough, meanwhile,described the process as “wonderful”, mentioning how itwas possible to hear the filming of a sequence from faraway before the camera arrived and then “the magic hap-pens with you, and then everything leaves you, and ev-erything’s silent.”[36] Once they successfully completed atake though, it was obvious to everybody involved. Nor-ton said “I’ve never, ever been on a set where every dayended with an enormous, authentic sort of cheer at havingmade it. You’re waiting for the scream from [GonzálezIñárritu] and everybody was genuinely excited.”[22]

3.4 Music

The film’s music consists entirely of drums and classi-cal pieces. With Rachmaninoff and Tchaikovsky amongothers, most of the classical composers featured are well

6 3 PRODUCTION

known, but González Iñárritu did not regard the choiceof pieces as important, saying “I think all those classi-cal pieces are, in a way, great, but honestly if I wouldhave put another good classical piece it would be the samefilm.”[45] González Iñárritu stated that the classical com-ponents come from the world of the play, citing the ra-dio in Riggan’s room and the show itself as two sourcesof the music.[46] The drum sections comprise the major-ity of the score however, and were composed by AntonioSánchez. González Iñárritu explained the choice by say-ing they helped to structure scenes, and that “The drums,for me, was a great way to find the rhythm of the film... Incomedy, rhythm is king, and not having the tools of edit-ing to determine time and space, I knew I needed some-thing to help me find the internal rhythm of the film.”[47]He also wanted a score that “wouldn’t cater to an audi-ence’s expectations”, which the drums, being more ab-stract, provided.[48] The official soundtrack was releasedin October 14, 2014.[49]

Jazz drummer Antonio Sánchez composed and recorded the scorefor the film.

González Iñárritu contacted friend and jazz drummerAn-tonio Sánchez in January 2013, inviting him to com-pose the score for the film.[50] His reaction to writing asoundtrack using only drums was similar to Lubezki’sthoughts of shooting the movie like a single shot: “Itwas a scary proposition because I had no point of ref-erence of how to achieve this. There’s no other movieI know that has a score like this.”[51] Sánchez had alsonot worked on a film before,[50] nevertheless, after receiv-ing the script, composed “rhythmic themes” for each ofthe characters.[52] González Iñárritu was looking for theopposite approach however, preferring spontaneity andimprovisation.[53] Sánchez then waited until productionmoved to New York before composing more,[52] wherehe visited the set for a couple of days to get a better ideaof the film.[53] Following this, a week before principalphotography, he and González Iñárritu went to a studio torecord some demos.[46][54] During these sessions the di-rector would first talk him through the scene, then whileSánchez was improvising guide him by raising his handto indicate an event – such as a character opening a door– or by describing the rhythm with verbal sounds.[54][55]They recorded around seventy demos,[52] which González

Iñárritu used to inform the pacing of the scenes on set,[29]and once filming was complete, spliced them into therough cut.[54] Sánchez summarized the process by saying“The movie fed on the drums and the drums fed on theimagery.”[53]

His next work on Birdman was in September, where hetraveled to Los Angeles to re-record the soundtrack.[50]By this stage the film was assembled, so during the twodays of recording Sánchez would watch a scene to seewhat González Iñárritu had done with the demos, thenredo the track.[56] This was a new experience for Sánchezwho until this point, had guided his improvisations inresponse to “the sound and energy” around him. Here,he was using a scene to guide him, and said the biggestchallenge of the soundtrack was “adapting what I do to amoving image, a story line, and dialogue.”[57] As in NewYork, González Iñárritu supervised these recordings, butthis time would give specific directions. For example, in-structing Sánchez to stop or start when Riggan utteredcertain words.[53] González Iñárritu also shaped the over-all feel of the soundtrack. He wanted it to grow cra-zier throughout the film, so for the end tracks Sánchezwould overdub up to four drum tracks on top of eachother.[54][55] Additionally, González Iñárritu was not sat-isfied with the quality of the sound from the previousrecordings: it was too good. Instead, he wanted an in-strument that sounded like it hadn't been played in years,to tie in with state of the theatre in the film.[53] To achievethis, Sánchez adjusted his setup; detuning the drums andstacking different kinds of cymbals on top of one anotherwere among the techniques he used.[52][56] Amusingly,this process was included in the film – the first soundin Birdman is in fact Sánchez asking González Iñárritua question in Spanish, followed by his detuning of thedrums.[52]

In between the two studio recordings, Sánchez was awaytouring with the Pat Metheny Group, which created acomplication.[58] González Iñárritu wanted to include adrummer in the film from the very beginning,[51] saying“I wanted [Sánchez] to become a character in his ownfilm, and have the play become a play of a play.”[46] Thedrummer recommended his friend Nate Smith, but didn'tdecide on themusic to play beforehand, resulting in Smithimprovising during the shoots. This meant Sánchez hadto learn and match him exactly during the recordings inLos Angeles,[51] noting “Alejandro was very specific andhe would watch the clip over and over again to make surethat you could not tell that it was not him that was ac-tually producing the sound. Never in my life have I hadto do that.”[55] The process was not aided by a differentmethod of recording for the scene outside of St. JamesTheatre featuring Smith. The drumsweremoved out ontothe street, and people carrying mics a block away wouldwalk towards and past Sánchez as he was playing, to co-ordinate the sound and image of the film without the needfor post-production effects.[54]

4.1 Box office 7

3.4.1 Best Original Score controversy

On December 12, 2014, the Academy of Motion PictureArts and Sciences released their longlist for the AcademyAward for Best Original Score, from which Birdman wasabsent. Sánchez had received a note from the award com-mittee the previous day explaining the decision, quotingrule fifteen of the 87th Academy Award Rules and writ-ing they felt “the fact that the film also contains over a halfan hour of non-original (mostly classical) music cues thatare featured very prominently in numerous pivotal mo-ments in the film made it difficult for the committee toaccept your submission”. Sánchez decided to launch anappeal, and along with González Iñárritu and the execu-tive vice-president of Fox Music, sent letters to the chairof the Academy’s music branch executive committee,Charles Fox, asking that the committee reconsider theirdecision.[59] One of the points they raised was that thecommittee had incorrectly calculated the ratio of classi-cal to original music, which after being clarified Sánchezthought he was “on really solid ground.”[60] A responsefrom Fox on December 19 however, explained that a spe-cial meeting of the music committee was held, and al-though its members had “great respect” for the score andconsidered it “superb”, thought that the classical music“was also used as scoring”, “equally contributes to the ef-fectiveness of the film”, and that the musical identity ofthe film was created by both the drums and classical mu-sic. Ultimately, they did not overturn their decision.[59]Sánchez said that he and González Iñárritu were not sat-isfied with the explanation, and that “To not be able toeven participate, to not be on the list, that’s what’s sodisappointing.”[60]

Jeff Peretz writing on Medium.com’s Cuepoint Music,accused the Academy of racism, saying “When we con-sider that the members that make up the music branchof the Academy, led by Charles Fox, are mostly of oneracial background, one gender and one age group, its nothard to see how they could be confused by an all drumscore. Sadly, but not surprisingly this elitism has its rootsin another type of '-ism,' America’s Puritan fear of thingsAfrican in general and fear of African rhythms in partic-ular” and highlighting the many instances when the rulebeing used to justify the exclusion was waived for musicof white, European origin.[61]

4 Release

On July 10, 2014, it was announced that Birdman hadbeen selected as the opening film of the 71st Venice Inter-national Film Festival along with Mohsen Makhmalbaf'snew film.[62] The film got a limited release on October 17,2014, with a theatre count of 4 in North America,[63][64]and on November 14, 2014, it was released nationwide in857 theatres.[65]

4.1 Box office

As of February 16, 2015, Birdman has grossed$72,230,755 worldwide including $36,630,755 in NorthAmerica and $35,600,000 in other territories against aproduction budget of $16.5 million.[2]

The film made a total of $424,397 in North America inits limited opening weekend of October 17, 2014, play-ing in 4 theatres in New York and Los Angeles for a pertheater average of $106,099 which ranks 18th all-time(eighth among live-action movies) and ranking #20.[66]In the second weekend of October 24, 2014, Birdmanexpanded to 50 theaters and earned $1.38 million, thattranslates to a $27,593 per-theater average.[67] The filmexpanded nationwide to 857 theaters in the weekend ofNovember 14, 2014, grossing $2,471,471 with a per the-atre average of $2,884 and ranking #10. In the sameweekend, Birdman grossed $11.6 million.[68]

The film opened inMexico in November 13, 2014, gross-ing $628,915 in its opening weekend and it opened in Jan-uary 2, 2015, in United Kingdom grossing $2,337,407over the weekend.[69]

4.2 Critical response

Birdman received widespread critical acclaim, particu-larly for Keaton, Norton, and Stone’s performances. AtRotten Tomatoes, it has a rating of 93% based on 254reviews, with rating average of 8.5/10. The site’s criti-cal consensus states: “A thrilling leap forward for direc-tor Alejandro González Iñárritu, Birdman is an ambitioustechnical showcase powered by a layered story and out-standing performances fromMichael Keaton and EdwardNorton.”[70] Metacritic gave the film a score of 88 out of100, based on reviews from 49 critics, indicating “univer-sal acclaim.”[71]

The camera work, which depicts most of the film asone continuous take, was met with extensive acclaimfor its execution and usage. The acting was widelypraised, particularly Keaton,[72][73] with Peter Debrugeof Variety calling the performance the “comeback of thecentury.”[74] Debruge described the film as “a self awareshowbiz satire” and called it “a triumph on every creativelevel.”[75] Robbie Collin of The Daily Telegraph gave thefilm 5/5, with particular praise for the use of long takes byEmmanuel Lubezki, director of photography.[76] RichardRoeper gave the film an “A”, and wrote that Keatonmakes a serious case for an Academy Award for Best Ac-tor nomination.[72]

Writing for The New Yorker, Richard Brody called thefilm “Godardian,” comparing it to Pierrot le fou, EveryMan for Himself, Alphaville, and Germany Year 90 NineZero, four classic films by French director Jean-Luc Go-dard.[77] However, he suggested the film fell short ofreaching the same cinematic mastery, adding, “it’s nota good idea for a filmmaker to get in the ring with

8 7 REFERENCES

Mr. Godard.”[77] Thematically, he also compared it toOpening Night by John Cassavetes.[77] He added that theactors played in “the sort of modern naturalism, withouteccentricity of gesture, excess of expression, or height-ened and formalistic precision, that is the business-casualof contemporary cinema.”[77] He concluded that the film“trade[d] on facile, casual dichotomies of theatre versuscinema and art versus commerce” and “deliver[ed] a workof utterly familiar and unoriginal drama.”[77] Also in TheNew Yorker, Anthony Lane rejected the film’s sugges-tion that film critics are out to destroy films, explaining,“Someone could have told Iñárritu that critics, though of-ten mean, are not preemptively so, and that anybody whosaid, as Tabitha does, “I’m going to destroy your play,” be-fore actually seeing it, would not stay long in the job.”[78]

In The New York Times, Manohla Dargis compared themain character to Icarus.[79] She also noted a referenceto Susan Sontag's Against Interpretation in the dressing-room mirror.[79]

Noting the thematic pull between Riggan’s insanity oractual superpowers, Travis LaCouter of First Thingswrites that “the importance of these powers—real orimagined—is apparent: They are for Riggan the thingbeyond the labels, the kernel of his genius and, becausehe sees drawing upon them as selling out, the source ofhis great angst.” LaCouter concludes that “the quirky pro-fundity of this film is in how it dares the viewer to con-sider the everyday magic that we tend to ignore, repress,or resent.”[80]

A number of critics have provided highly negativereviews, however. Reviewing it for Vanity Fair,Richard Lawson called the film “hoary” and “deceptivelysimple.”[81] Scott Tobias, writing for The Dissolve, gavethe film 1.5 stars. He commends Lubezki’s cinematog-raphy as succeeding at “trapping viewers in a pressure-cooker atmosphere as Riggan and his players struggle tokeep it together”, but suggests that González Iñárritu is“incapable of modulation” and that there exists “a sour-ness to Birdman that Iñárritu can’t turn into wit.”.[82]

4.3 Accolades

Main article: List of accolades received by Birdman(film)

Michael Keaton received his first Golden Globe award,winning for Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical orComedy at the 72nd Golden Globe Awards.For the 87th Academy Awards, Birdman tied with TheGrand Budapest Hotel in the highest number of nomi-nations with nine, including Best Picture, Sound Edit-ing, Sound Mixing, Original Screenplay, Cinematogra-phy and Best Actor for Keaton. Emma Stone and EdwardNorton were nominated in Best Supporting Acting cate-gories. Alejandro González Iñárritu won for Best Direc-

tor.[83] The film won Academy Awards for Best Picture,Best Director, Best Original Screenplay and Best Cine-matography.

4.4 Year-end lists

Birdman appeared on over 100 critics’ top ten lists of thebest films of 2014, with over a few dozen publicationsranking the film first in their lists.[84][85][86]

• 1st - James Verniere - Boston Herald[87]

• 1st - Clint O'Connor - Cleveland Plain Dealer[88]

• 1st - Brad Brevet - Rope of Silicon[89]

5 Notes

[1] Dinelaris contributed some of the first drafts,[9] Bo andGiacobone co-wrote the film.

[2] There was one exception, a 20K used to simulate daylightoutside a window.

6 See also

• Birdman and the Galaxy Trio

7 References

[1] “Birdman”. British Board of Film Classification. Septem-ber 11, 2014. Retrieved October 29, 2014.

[2] Thompson, Anne (21 October 2014). “How 'Birdman'Got Made: Fox Searchlight and New Regency PartnersTell All (Keaton, Norton, Stone VIDEOS)". Thompsonon Hollywood. Retrieved 15 February 2015.

[3] “Birdman (2014)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved February22, 2015.

[4] “21st SAG Awards:Full List of Nominees”. Screen Ac-tors Guild Awards. 2014. Retrieved December 10, 2014.-

[5] http://www.bbc.com/news/live/entertainment-arts-31557571

[6] Fleming Jr, Mike (15 October 2014). “Alejandro G. Iñár-ritu And ‘Birdman’ Scribes On Hollywood’s SuperheroFixation: 'Poison, Cultural Genocide' – Q&A”. Deadline.Retrieved 12 February 2015.

[7] Foundas, Scott (27 August 2014). “Interview: ‘Birdman’Director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu on His First Com-edy”. Variety. Retrieved 12 February 2015.

9

[8] McKittrick, Christopher (26 November 2014).“Birdman: “Completely one shot? Don’t even tryit"". Creative Screenwriting Magazine. Retrieved 14February 2015.

[9] Sauer, Patrick (23 October 2014). “The Bookish Worldof ‘Birdman:’ A Q&A with Writer Alex Dinelaris”. Bi-ographile. Retrieved 12 February 2015.

[10] Hammond, Pete (6 January 2015). “Daring Do”.Deadline.com. Retrieved 1 February 2015.

[11] Milly, Jenna (5 December 2014). “BIRDMAN WritersThought No One Would “Get It"". ScreenwritingU. Re-trieved 12 February 2015.

[12] Mitchell, Elvis. “Alejandro González Iñárritu”. InterviewMagazine. Retrieved 15 February 2015.

[13] Taylor, Drew (8 January 2015). “Interview: Alejan-dro Gonzalez Inarritu Talks 'Birdman,' The Film’s “Bad”Original Ending, Critics, 'True Detective' & More”. In-diewire.com. Retrieved 12 February 2015.

[14] Miller, Julie (10 February 2015). “Here’s How JohnnyDepp Could Have Appeared in Birdman”. Vanity Fair.Retrieved 12 February 2015.

[15] Ryzik, Melena (8 October 2014). “Everyman Returns”.NYT. Retrieved 15 February 2015.

[16] Chiarella, Tom (28 January 2014). “A Normal Day in theUnusual Life of Michael Keaton”. Esquire. Retrieved 15February 2015.

[17] Acuna, Kirsten (18 October 2014). “It Took MichaelKeaton About 27 Seconds ToDecide To Be In 'Birdman'".Business Insider. Retrieved 15 February 2015.

[18] “Interview: 'Birdman' director Alejandro Gonzalez Iñar-ritu”. Rappler. Rappler.com. 17 January 2015. Retrieved15 February 2015.

[19] D'Alessandro, Alessandro (22 December 2014). “BoldStatement”. Deadline. Retrieved 15 February 2015.

[20] Taylor, Drew (8 January 2015). “Interview: Alejan-dro Gonzalez Inarritu Talks 'Birdman,' The Film’s “Bad”Original Ending, Critics, 'True Detective' & More”. In-dieWire. Retrieved 15 February 2015.

[21] McClintock, Pamela (8 January 2015). “Making of 'Bird-man': Alejandro G. Inarritu Recounts Harrowing Expe-rience Behind His First Comedy”. The Hollywood Re-porter. Retrieved 15 February 2015.

[22] Thompson, Anne (24 October 2014). “Edward Nortonand Andrea Riseborough Dig Into Actors’ Egos and 'Bird-man'". Thompson on Hollywood. Retrieved 15 February2015.

[23] Sarkar, Samit (15 October 2014). “Michael Keaton andEdward Norton take a trip through the weird world of'Birdman'". Polygon. Retrieved 15 February 2015.

[24] Goyal, Samarth (11 February 2015). “When Norton con-vinced Iñárritu to cast him in his film”. desimartini.com.Retrieved 15 February 2015.

[25] Fleming Jr, Mike (13 March 2014). “Amy Ryan JoinsAlejandro Gonzalez-Inarritu Comedy ‘Birdman’". Re-trieved 15 February 2015.

[26] Rathe, Adam. “Birdman’s Woman”. DuJour. Retrieved15 February 2015.

[27] McNulty, Charles (11 November 2014). “Lindsay Dun-can finds her footing in 'A Delicate Balance'". LA Times.Retrieved 15 February 2015.

[28] Tapley, Kristopher (18 October 2014). “Andrea Risebor-ough says 'Birdman' was like working with a theater com-pany of actors”. HitFix. Retrieved 15 February 2015.

[29] Tapley, Kristopher (20 December 2014). “Oscar-winningcinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki details the 'dance' offilming 'Birdman'". HitFix. Retrieved 4 February 2015.

[30] “Emmanuel Lubezki ASC, AMC on BIRDMAN”. ArriNews. Arri. Retrieved 3 February 2015.

[31] Barta, Preston (23 October 2014). “Interview: DirectorAlejandro González Iñárritu unmasks the ‘Birdman’". NTDaily. Retrieved 3 February 2015.

[32] Clarke, Cath (15 October 2014). “Alejandro GonzálezIñárritu interview: 'Everyone’s terrified of beingmediocre'". Time Out. Retrieved 1 February 2014.

[33] Desowitz, Bill (19 December 2014). “Emmanuel Lubezkion Achieving the One-Take Illusion of 'Birdman,' What’sNext for Iñárritu”. Thompson on Hollywood. Retrieved 3February 2015.

[34] Murphy, Mekado (31 December 2014). “Below the Line:‘Birdman’ Production Design”. NYT.

[35] Jacobs, Matthew (3 December 2014). “How 'Birdman'Made A Frenzied Theater Production And Naked TimesSquare Trek Soar”. Huff Post. Retrieved 3 February2015.

[36] “Birdman or the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance Inter-view”. At the Movies. ABC. 9 December 2014. Retrieved30 January 2015.

[37] Desowitz, Bill (17 October 2014). “Stitching 'Birdman'Together with Editors Douglas Crise and Stephen Mir-rione”. Thompson on Hollywood. Retrieved 4 February2015.

[38] Daron (26 November 2014). “Birdman – An Interviewwith Steadicam Operator Chris Haarhoff”. Sound & Pic-ture. Retrieved 3 February 2015.

[39] Acuna, Kirsten (22 October 2014). “Here’s How Ridicu-lously Difficult It Was To Film 'Birdman' In 30 Days”.Business Insider. Retrieved 3 February 2014.

[40] Brown, Lane (10 October 2014). “The Real Comebackof the Fake Michael Keaton: Scenes From the BirdmanSet”. New York.

[41] Ng, David (November 10, 2014). “In 'Birdman,' Broad-way’s St. James Theatre plays itself”. L.A. Times. Re-trieved November 22, 2014.

10 7 REFERENCES

[42] Bord, Christine (4 June 2013). “Michael Keaton films anexplosive scene for ‘Birdman’ in NYC”. On Location Va-cations. Retrieved 3 February 2015.

[43] “Edward Norton Won't Talk to Emma Stone”. TheTonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. NBC.

[44] Bailey, Jason (12 October 2014). “Alejandro Iñárritu’s‘Birdman’ is Brainy, Buoyant, Brash, Meta Moviemak-ing”. Flavorwire. Retrieved 4 February 2014.

[45] Hammond, Pete (22 December 2014). "'Birdman' ScoreDrummed Out Of Oscars As Academy Rejects Film-maker’s Appeal”. Deadline. Retrieved 8 February 2015.

[46] Thompson, Anne (12 January 2015). “Watch: WhyGolden Globe Winner Alejandro González Iñárritu TookRisks on 'Birdman'". Thompson on Hollywood. Re-trieved 4 February 2015.

[47] Thompson, Anne (13 October 2014). “Watch: How'Birdman' Composer Antonio Sanchez Drummed theScore”. Thompson on Hollywood. Retrieved 4 February2015.

[48] Bosso, Joe (28 January 2015). “Drummer-composer An-tonio Sanchez talks Birdman”. Retrieved 4 February2015.

[49] “Birdman (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)". ama-zon. amazon.com. Retrieved 4 February 2015.

[50] Malone, Tyler (Winter 2014). "(The Unexpected VirtueOf A Jazz Drummer)". PMc Publishing. Retrieved 4February 2015.

[51] Ciafardini, Marc (24 November 2014).“Interview…Composer Antonio Sanchez on theDrums and Jazzy Ambiguity of ‘Birdman’". goseetalk.Retrieved 4 February 2015.

[52] Panosian, Diane (3 December 2014). “Awards 2015Spotlight: Composer Antonio Sanchez Takes SSN intothe Jam Sessions that Created Birdman’s Dauntless Per-cussion Score”. ssn. Retrieved 4 February 2015.

[53] Patches, Matt (4 November 2014). “How Alejandro G.Iñárritu 'directed' drummer Antonio Sanchez’s 'Birdman'score”. HitFix. Retrieved 4 February 2015.

[54] de Larios, Margaret (17 October 2014). “Birdman’sBeating Heart: An Interview with Composer AntonioSanchez”. the Film Experience. Retrieved 4 February2015.

[55] Moulton, Jack (3December 2014). “Interview: DrummerAntonio Sanchez on his first film composition 'Birdman'".The Awards Circuit. Retrieved 4 February 2015.

[56] Martinez, Kiko (31 October 2014). “Antonio Sanchez –Birdman”. Retrieved 4 February 2015.

[57] Mahoney, Lesley (5 November 2014). “Antonio Sanchez'97: The Making of the 'Birdman' Score”. Berklee Col-lege of Music. Retrieved 4 February 2015.

[58] Ali, Lorraine (9 December 2014). “Antonio Sanchez’ssoaring beat takes flight in 'Birdman'". LA Times. Re-trieved 4 February 2015.

[59] Feinberg, Scott (24 December 2014). “The Inside Story:Why 'Birdman’s' Drum Score Isn't Eligible for an Oscarand Why an Appeal Was Rejected”. The Hollywood Re-porter. Retrieved 4 February 2015.

[60] Patches, Matt (22 December 2014). “Exclusive: 'Bird-man' composer says Oscar DQ doesn’t make mathemati-cal sense”. HitFix. Retrieved 4 February 2015.

[61] https://medium.com/cuepoint/why-oscar-hates-drummers-2ab6d59679a

[62] “Birdman to hatch on opening night of Venice film festi-val”. Retrieved July 10, 2014.

[63] Fleming Jr, Mike (April 11, 2014). “Fox Searchlight SetsAlejandro Gonzalez Inarritu’s ‘Birdman’ For October 17Bow”. deadline.com. Retrieved April 12, 2014.

[64] “Upcoming Movies in Theatre”. Boxofficemojo.com. BoxOffice Mojo. Retrieved January 6, 2015.

[65] “Upcoming Movies”. boxofficemojo.com. Box OfficeMojo. Retrieved January 6, 2015.

[66] “Weekend Report: 'Fury' Topples 'Gone Girl,' 'Bird-man' Soars in Limited Release”. boxofficemojo.com.Boxofficemojo. Retrieved January 13, 2015.

[67] “Weekend Report: Decent Debuts from 'Ouija,' 'Wick'This Weekend”. boxofficemojo.com. Boxofficemojo. Re-trieved January 13, 2015.

[68] Subers, Ray. “Weekend Report: 'Dumb' Sequel TakesFirst Ahead of 'Big Hero 6,' 'Interstellar'". boxoffice-mojo.com. Boxofficemojo. Retrieved January 13, 2015.

[69] “Birdman International Box Office”. boxofficemojo.com.Retrieved January 13, 2015.

[70] “Birdman”. Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. Retrieved Febru-ary 20, 2015.

[71] “Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) Re-views”. Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved November7, 2014.

[72] “Birdman (2014; Rated R)". Richard Roeper & TheMovies.

[73] Christy Lemire (October 17, 2014). “Birdman”. RogerE-bert.com. Zach Galifianakis plays strongly against type

[74] Peter Debruge (August 27, 2014). “Michael Keaton pullsoff a startling comeback in Alejandro G. Inarritu’s blis-tering showbiz satire.”. Michael Keaton returns with thecomeback of the century

[75] Peter Debruge (August 27, 2014). “Venice Film Review:‘Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)’".Variety. Archived from the original on August 27, 2014.

[76] Robbie Collin. “Birdman, review: 'spectacular, star-powered'". The Daily Telegraph.

[77] Richard Brody, “Birdman” Never Achieves Flight, TheNew Yorker, October 23, 2014

11

[78] Anthony Lane, High Fliers, The New Yorker, October 20,2014

[79] Manohla Dargis, Former Screen Star, Molting on Broad-way, The New York Times, October 16, 2014

[80] LaCouter, Travis. “Birdman’s Sly Metaphysics”. www.firstthings.com. First Things. Retrieved 6 December2014.

[81] Richard Lawson, Michael Keaton Struggles to Re-InventHimself in Birdman, Vanity Fair, October 27, 2014

[82] Scott Tobias, Birdman by Scott Tobias, “The Dissolve”,October 16, 2014

[83] Ford, Rebecca (January 15, 2015). “Oscar Nominations2015: The Complete List”. The Hollywood Reporter. Re-trieved January 15, 2015.

[84] “Film Critic Top 10 Lists”. Metacritic. Retrieved 2014-12-26.

[85] “Best of 2014”. CriticsTop10. Retrieved 2014-12-29.

[86] “The Top Ten Lists”. Movie City News. Retrieved 2015-01-01.

[87] “Time to get reel”. bostonherald.com. Retrieved January14, 2015.

[88] “Top 10 Movies of 2014: Entertainment Year in Review2014”. cleveland.com. Cleveland Plain Dealer. RetrievedJanuary 14, 2015.

[89] Brevet, Brad (23 December 2014). “Top Ten Movies of2014”. RopeofSilicon.com. Retrieved 4 February 2015.

• BBC NEWS ENTERTAINMENΤ & ARTS - Os-cars 2015: Winners list

8 External links• Official website

• Birdman at the Internet Movie Database

• Birdman at AllMovie

• Birdman at Box Office Mojo

• Birdman at Metacritic

• Birdman at Rotten Tomatoes

12 9 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

9 Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

9.1 Text• Birdman (film) Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birdman%20(film)?oldid=648471353 Contributors: Tpbradbury, JackofOz,DocWatson42, Kuralyov, Discospinster, SidP, Erik, Bjones, Jleon, BD2412, Koavf, Bgwhite, Tone, Cryptic, UDScott, Morhange, MrFist, Obi-WanKenobi-2005, Onion Terror, Pulveriser, Arthur Rubin, Rms125a@hotmail.com, Jrethorst, Gilliam, Jprg1966, Tough-pigs, Muboshgu, JoeOnSunset, Salamurai, Esrever, Guat6, Fdssdf, Lasersharp, Jolsonmhd, Icarus of old, Treybien, Lugnuts, Cosuna,Oosh, Bearheart, SummerPhD, Zigzig20s, Iressivor, Y2kcrazyjoker4, Brittany Ka, Kronnang Dunn, Richiekim, Cop 663, Dpm12, In-wind, Bovineboy2008, JRWoodward, Sroc, Dhj1955, Natg 19, Trobert, Feudonym, NinjaRobotPirate, Legoktm, Pauljr1121, Flyer22,JSpung, TheOnlyOne12, Anaceofdiamonds, Invertzoo, Dvl007, Binksternet, All Hallow’sWraith, Jdpiffle, Mezigue, Niceguyedc, Farslayer,Charlr6, Mkativerata, Engines On, Holothurion, Deoli1, Chepetoño, Will-B, Wonton884, Vyom25, AussieLegend2, Pageturners, Yobot,Otiuqok, AnomieBOT, Danno uk, Sb1990, GorgeCustersSabre, Sock, Fortdj33, Jonesey95, Dutchmonkey9000, Jedi94, Zanhe, Wnick99,STATicVapor, GoingBatty, Wikiturrican, JDDJS, Tony.mountjoy, NathanielTheBold, Quondum, AndrewOne, 11 Arlington, CaptainAssassin!, Huandy618, Spicemix, ClueBot NG, BallroomBlitzkriegBebop, Jcgoble3, Ashrzr, Easy4me, Popcornduff, HesioneHushabye,Krimuk90, BG19bot, Flax5, Hosam007, Harizotoh9, KingQajar, MisterMorton, Wrath X, Yfine, Amymc12, BattyBot, Sogeking123, Spiritof Eagle, Jonny Nixon, Mogism, Nodaybuttoday10, Opk712, Ururfaust, Koala15, Xwoodsterchinx, Baxter176, Alexazrael, Squaredroot,JustusAnkka, Thebadger33, Neuroxic, BenStein69, Sir Syrup, Jonjon082693, Minombreesjean, Quenhitran, Buzzers1, Jrv787321960,Stamptrader, Iheartnyla, Jeremyb-phone, Astoria Village, SpiderAusban, Sharklover5555, Jonjon889933, Charge2charge, Thomasamuse,TropicAces, Landingdude13, Matt 20123, Jvm21, SlimJimmyBRabbit, MercuryStuff2035, KurtHLarson, Jtjones66, Theironminer, Re-belkeno, Bammie73, Mousavi461, Amar4444, JShanley98, Filmi50, Glitchygirl, Dibyendutwipzbiswas, HackedBotato, Emmagood 1995,Muscat Hoe, Skm989898, JulieP123, CornelisHazevoet, MikeMouse004, Monomalya, Ronydd2988, Babylove0306, J8L9S3, SoSivr, Mi-norStoop, Moviemaster8510, Moveoverjames, Petttpettty, Fatwitchnewyork, Skramgirl, Lonk9999, Batman7578928, Cobraham, Llmg91,TrixieTop, Nonsusan and Anonymous: 232

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