Não parece ter sido assim. Lendo o artigo da Business Insider da Kirsten Acuna, Levou Michael Keaton a cerca de 27 segundos para decidir entrar 'Birdman' :
During a panel at New York Comic Con for the film, Keaton shared the story of how he was cast in director Alejandro González Iñárritu's movie about a washed-up actor, Riggan Thomson (Keaton), hoping to rejuvenate his career with a Broadway play.
Keaton said he first learned about "Birdman" while filming another movie, which he flew home in the middle of shooting to discuss.
"I got a call saying, 'Alejandro was making a movie,'" said Keaton. "I was working on a movie and they said, 'well, unfortunately, you probably can't fly home because you're in the middle of making this movie' and when his name was mentioned, I said, 'Well, maybe I should find a way to fly home because, like I'm sure Edward [Norton], I'm a big, big fan of his movies."
The actor said it took him less than 30 seconds to decide to star in the movie after dinner with Iñárritu who has made movies including "Babel" and "21 Grams."
"So, it was that simple. I flew home and they wouldn't ... they couldn't tell me what it was about and now that I've done the movie I understand why they couldn't explain it because I'm not sure what happened," he said.
"I went and had a dinner with him [Iñárritu] and it was very pleasant and very interesting," Keaton said. "If you've ever spoken with him, you'd know why. He's just a very interesting, extremely passionate guy which is contagious. At the end of the evening he said, 'Well, here. Read this.' It took me about, I don't know, 27 seconds to decide, 'Yeah, I want to do this.'"
Se tivesse sido especificamente "escrito com Keaton em mente", ele teria sido cortejado ativamente. Se este artigo (e o próprio Keaton) for acreditado, ele jantou com Iñárritu e só então recebeu o roteiro para lê-lo e aceitá-lo. Se tivesse sido escrito "para ele", parece mais provável que eles tenham contatado Keaton (ou seu agente) diretamente, e ele teria participado desde o início.