Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)

Design Studio BLT Communications United States, founded 1992

Creative Director Dawn Baillie

Creative Director Alejandro González Iñárritu Mexico, born 1963

Art Director Jeroen de Waal

Designer Jeroen de Waal

Client Fox Searchlight

Date2014

Dimensions41 x 28 in. (104.1 x 71.1 cm)

ClassificationsPoster

Credit LineGift of Dawn Baillie, Poster House Permanent Collection

Terms

Object numberPH.8196

DescriptionWhile editing Birdman, director Alejandro González Iñárritu discovered Mexican artist Julio Ruelas’s 1906 etching, Criticism. Captivated by the image, he showed it to designer Dawn Baillie as a possible source of inspiration for the payoff poster. Her job was to direct her team to create a modern take on the concept that fit with the psychological trajectory of the film. An in-house digital illustrator reinterpreted Ruelas’s composition through the lens of classic 1980s superhero comics, bringing a nostalgic air to the dark internal issues plaguing Michael Keaton’s character. Like the film, the resulting image is both humorous and introspective.

The project actually began as the concept for the poster within the film for the fictitious Birdman trilogy in which Keaton’s character had starred in his youth. This image is the teaser poster. The typography is based on the opening credits that BLT also designed for the movie. As many of these elements are produced simultaneously, finding such moments of visual cohesion serves to establish a clear, marketable identity for a production.

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