Protagonist

Character Role Analysis

Riggan

No surprises here: when it comes to the protagonist, Riggan's our man. It's not just Birdman who's in Riggan's head; it's the audience too.

We can hear and see Birdman, just like Riggan does. We can see Riggan's telekinetic powers. We experience his levitation and his flight.

The audience follows Riggan through the course of a few days and, while the ever-tracking camera may linger briefly on other characters like Lesley or Mike, it always comes back to Riggan, the center of our narrative (and definitely the center of his narrative).

It's Riggan's development and dementia that drive the movie to its climax. They could have called the movie The Last Days of Riggan Thomson because it is essentially a case study of Riggan, the man who used to be Birdman.