Why everyone's talking about Michael Keaton's 'Birdman'

Put Michael Keaton in a pair of tighty-whities and cast him as the star of a meta movie directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu, and you could have the formula for a Keaton comeback.

The 62-year-old actor's career hasn't exactly been a string of hits since he portrayed Batman more than 20 years ago - though, in his defense, he's done well with his voice roles - but after getting a look at the extended international trailer for his October release, "Birdman," suddenly everyone's keeping an eye on Keaton.

That's partly due to the meta nature of the topic: Keaton stars as a washed-up actor most famous for portraying a superhero named Birdman, and tries to re-establish his relevancy with a big Broadway show. As the lengthy - and, yes, pretty weird - trailer indicates, things don't exactly go according to plan.

With that material and Iñárritu ("Babel," "Biutiful") directing, there's already chatter that this could make Keaton's on screen luck turn around.

"Birdman" releases in the States on October 17.