Why Is Michael Keaton Such a Good Actor?

How watching 'Dopesick' reminded me of the brilliance of this legendary actor.

I've been watching 'Dopesick', the limited series about the opioid crisis. Apparently it came out in 2021 but in the streaming era - where very few of us are subscribed to everything - it takes a while to get around to things.

My wife has a free trial of Disney+ for some reason, I think maybe it was a deal on Uber Eats (random!), so we settled on watching 'Dopesick.'

It's a brilliant show. Weaves a complicated storyline over many different years. Not easy to do, but they manage to pull it off.

But the main thing I'm here to tell you is that I was blown away by the performance of Michael Keaton.

He's such a great actor. I know you know this already, but maybe like me, you'd forgotten. Guys like Hanks, Denzel and De Niro get mentioned all the time, whereas someone like Keaton seems to quietly go along in the background. Every few years, there's a 'Spotlight' or a 'Birdman' and you're reminded that Michael Keaton is one of the very best we have.

It was around episode 6 when my wife turned to me and said "Why is Keaton so good?"

And the question really got me thinking, because his acting really is exceptional.

What it is? How do you define it? How would you ever teach it in a drama school?

'Dopesick' is a great vehicle for him as an actor, because he gets to go on an incredible journey. He plays the character Dr Samuel Finnix; a doctor who gradually begins prescribing his patients Oxycontin before, eventually, getting hooked himself. I don't want to give too much more away in case you decide to watch it. Suffice to say, his character has a lot of ups and downs. For Keaton, it's the perfect role.

Other performances in the show are strong - like the always great Rosario Dawson. And there were times when Peter Sarsgaard stole scenes, he has a great presence on screen.

But then you see Keaton and you realise he's operating on a different level to everyone else.

I can start by saying the obvious stuff, like "he's so natural, it's like all he has to do is just speak the words and it feels real." But I've worked with thousands of actors and I can tell you that just 'being natural and saying the words' doesn't make you as good as Keaton.

There's something indefinable. It's in his eyes, it's in his mannerisms, it's in the simple things, like the way he walks into a room or sits at a table.

Somehow, he's able to let go of all ego. There is no hint of performance.

When his character is going through a tough time; he's able to walk in a room and you, as the viewer, say to yourself, "oh, he's having a really rough day," but he communicates the bad day without huffing and puffing, without slamming his hand down on the table. He achieves it by just walking into the room like a human being walks into a room.

He is so relatable. The very best actors are mesmerising to watch.

Whatever he's doing on screen, you relate to it. You watch 'Spotlight' and you see the part of you that could hold a giant institution accountable for doing evil things. You see him in 'Dopesick' and you see the part of yourself that is susceptible to addiction just like those characters in Appalachia.

Before this series it wouldn't have occured to me to mention him in any 'Top 10 Actors' list. In fact, I could have mentioned 50 without naming him.

But I watched this and it reminded me of how good he is. Yes, it helps to have good writing, but that's not why he's elite. The other characters feel like characters from most of the shows you watch -- you can see an actor has learned their lines and delivered them. But when Keaton's Dr Samuel Finnix is on screen, he's different. It feels like a real character is passing through the made up world, interacting with all the characters.

That's how natural he is.

So, why's he so good?

I can't even pretend to know.

But I can see that in scenes, he genuinely listens. He says the words he says not because the script says so, but because they're exactly what his character would say next.

Rosario Dawson is brilliant, but I can see an actress playing a character. Sarsgaard is terrific, but every now and then I see, in his eyes, the performer making a choice.

Michael Keaton IS his character. When Dr Finnix was about to make a bad mistake, or do something harmful in a scene, I genuinely felt inside of me just how high the stakes were. It felt of personal importance to me that his character not make wrong decisions. How often does a character really make you that invested?

Most of the time, we're a step detached from the characters, they seem like pretend people on screen, or puppets being swayed by a writer's cleverness.

But Michael Keaton is Dr Samuel Finnix. He's Beetlejuice. He's Batman.

And, as I've been saying, he's one of the best we have.