TrixRabbi posted:

I came away with the reading that it's not about the quality of art, it's about honesty. In order for his play to work, he has to spill real blood. Like the Rolling Stones song, "If I could stick my pen in my heart, spill it all over the stage." It's a film about pouring yourself into your work and giving the truth to the audience, and how loving hard it is and how vulnerable you are doing it. The audience isn't cheering when Riggan shoots himself because they want blood and gore and spectacle, it's because they just witnessed an artist literally spilling his blood, sweat and tears in front of them. It's not cheap at all.

The superhero movies he had been doing were inauthentic. They were for pay, soulless works. And so the play is a challenge for Riggan to create something that truly expresses the weight he feels everyday of his life. And the tension is about whether he's actually capable of that or not. Note how his line readings at the beginning of the film are forced, weak acting. By the end we believe every word he's saying. It's an amazing transformation.