Michael Keaton - The Essence Of Goodness

A good Actor is always prepared.

A micro video loop of Mr. Michael Keaton calmly putting away his speech at Sunday's 87th Academy Awards in order to clap for the Lead Actor winner has been making rounds in the netsphere. The word in Hollywood is that he and Mr. Eddie Redmayne were neck and neck, almost too close to call. It was not that easy for anybody to make a prediction prior to the opening of Sunday's Gold Envelope.

To be honest, I have not yet seen Birdman (The Unexpected Virture of Ignorance) or The Theory of Everything. I have seen adverts and footage of both - absolutely incredible. What I do know is that Michael Keaton won Best Actor In a Musical or Comedy and Eddie Redmayne won Best Actor In a Drama Motion Picture at the Golden Globes. Truth be told it has been somewhat of a tight race: Redmayne took the Screen Actors Guild Award, Keaton the Independent Spirit Award. By Oscar Evening, Mr. Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's film had already picked up the major ones throughout the Awards Season and was always the big favorite to win Best Direction - it did not fail. The additional and perhaps surprising icing on the cake was Best Film which some say, was expected to go to Richard Linklater's Boyhood. Further Oscar victories for Birdman were Best Screenplay and Best Cinematography.

Here is my viewpoint. Historically, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences voters seem to be sympathetic towards Actors who portray characters that display drawn out mental challenges, addictions, debilitating diseases and death.  I have noticed that roles which demand stark physical toils and visual changes appear to get their vote: My Left Foot, Forest Gump, Philadelphia, Milk, Dallas Buyers Club, Blue Jasmine, 12 Years A Slave are cases in point. Julianne Moore's work in Still Alice can now be added to this list. As much as I would have liked Keaton to win, I do not find it that unusual, neither is it altogether surprising that the Academy decided to send Oscar across the pond.

Some (including me) might say that Keaton should have won since Redmayne is much younger with a lot more acting years ahead of him. As a rational thinking individual, I admit that this opinion stance would be wrong as voting criteria should be based strictly on the lead acting roles before the panel members and not on pure emotion or sentiment. Trust me, if there was no The Theory of Everything it would have been Keaton but alas, it is what it is.

When the cast and some of the crew went to accept the Best Film award, Mr. Inarritu called out Mr. Keaton and handed him the microphone. His "who am I kidding, it 's great to be here" comment is simply testimony to the essence of his goodness. I hope he realizes Birdman's awards truly demonstrate and speak directly to his own artistic excellence as Lead Actor, whose primary function is to literally carry the film. Mr. Michael Keaton, keep up the splendid work and always have your speeches ready because Oscars are certainly yours.

I shall anticipate seeing both films ASAP. Congratulations to Eddie! Congratulations to Naomi, Emma, Edward, Zach, Michael, Emanuel and Alejandro!

(c) JuicyChitChats 2015