When it was revealed yesterday that Michael Keaton, Emma Stone, Naomi Watts and Zach Galifianakis had signed on for parts in Alejandro Gonzalez Innaritu's comedy Birdman, it came with the news that the director was still looking for two key parts: the male lead in the Broadway play being put on by the protagonist and the protagonist's ex-wife. The actress search will continue, but today we learn that the production has found someone for the male role.
Edward Norton is the latest actor to join the cast of Birdman. Written by Innaritu, Nicolas Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris and Armando Bo, the story follows a has-been actor (Keaton) who was once famous for playing an iconic superhero. Finding himself broke, he decides that the best way to see his name in lights again is to put on a Broadway play based on a story by Raymond Carver. Unfortunately, according to Deadline, his plans get derailed by an "egotistical lead stage actor," the character set to be played by Norton.
Watts will play Norton's female co-star in the play-within-a-movie, Stone will be playing Keaton's daughter/assistant, and Galifianakis will be the show's slimy producer. The film will actually be shot in a Broadway theater in New York and production is currently scheduled to begin in the middle of next month.
Like Keaton and Stone, who starred in Tim Burton's Batman movies and The Amazing Spider-Man, respectively, Norton also has a superhero movie past, previously starring in 2008's The Incredible Hulk. He is currently filming The Grand Budapest Hotel, which reunites him with Moonrise Kingdom director Wes Anderson.
