Edward Norton as Mike Shriner in “Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)” (2014)
And then there’s Mike Shriner, played by Edward Norton. He is the yin to Riggan Thomson’s yang; a smug, acid-tongued, “purist” actor whose sanctimoniousness knows no bounds. Shriner doesn’t work in movies. To Shriner, acting is holy, so he only commits to the sacredness of the stage and castigates Thomson for his Hollywood paycheck gigs, delivering seething bon mots like “popularity is the slutty little cousin of prestige!” And yet Shriner’s an opportunist too; stealing a personal, meaningful anecdote of Riggan’s and passing it off as his own in a New York Times profile piece where he barely mentions the play and plays up his own importance. A loose-cannon and a thorn in Riggan’s side conspiring to ruin the play by making every rehearsal about him, Mike Shriner is a brilliant, complicated self-aggrandizing snake and he’s also one of Norton’s best ever roles. The passion, level of commitment and cocky self-assuredness Norton brings to the character is both captivatingly charming and revolting in his grotesque egomania. Shriner is really a construct; another psychological toxin meant to undermine Riggan, but Norton delights and astounds, shapeshifting with feral comedic timing and a loose-limbed electricity that’s a joy to witness. “Birdman” is rightly heralded for its virtuosic camera and bravura filmmaking, but its performances are even more impressive, and Norton is so good he even threatens to steal the movie away from Keaton.
He’s directed a mere five features, but Iñárritu’s tendency towards large casts creates a lengthy list of potential candidates. We’ve capped our list at 10, but there’s plenty more where those came from. “Amores Perros” has a star in each of its segments, and Goya Toledo undoubtedly shines as the upper-class vixen Valeria, whose life and self-image shatters after the accident. Cate Blanchett is shackled by “Babel’s” restricting screenplay, but a few short scenes are enough for one to show how bitter her Susan is, even in critical condition. And “Birdman” has such a wealth of supporting characters that we could have filled half this list with picks from it alone: Zach Galifianakis plays against type as Riggan’s meek business manager —Norton recently shared a great anecdote in which Galifianakis suddenly realizes he is in a great movie (evidently a rare feat for the comedic actor)— and Emma Stone is so good she might just score herself a Best Supporting nomination too and only narrowly missed out on inclusion here. Did we mention Amy Ryan is also quietly fantastic in the film, and Lindsay Duncan’s spiteful critic is a terrifically spicy turn too? And keep an eye out in future — Iñárritu’s next picture, “The Revenant” stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hardy. We’ll likely have to dust off this list come next year. Until then. – Nikola Grozdanovic, Jessica Kiang, Rodrigo Perez.
