Abstract

Through this article we will offer a vision of Broadway, the actors and directors work and we will do it studying two films: Stage door (1932) and Birdman or the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance (2014).
Stage Door (1937) directed by Gregory La Cava, tells the life of two aspiring actresses who live in a boarding house in Broadway. Its two protagonists, Katherine Hepburn and Ginger Rogers, will show the difficulties to achieve their dreams from totally antagonistic points of view.
Birdman or the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance(2014) for its part, directed by Alejandro Iñárritu, talks about the same obstacles but in this case, it´s from the theater director’s point of view and how he has to deal with other actors, budgets and face their fears.
With this case study, we intend to offer a comparison of two films filmed at different time, but with a similar theme: the world of Broadway, how the work of the actors differs by relating it to the Stanislavski system, evolution over time and how the cinema represents it.