Last Monday, I declared my intention to make Mondays “Michael Keaton Monday” on Twitter, or to use the hashtag system, #MKM. I realize this may appear humorous to some of you, that perhaps it’s just @WritingWilkie being silly, but I only have the purest of intentions with this purposed trend. Allow me to explain (Because, hey, it’s my blog and you don’t have a choice).

 

I’ve been a big fan of Mr. Keaton since seeing him as the dark knight in 1989’s Batman, one of the first films I recall seeing in theatres. (The VERY first movie I remember seeing in theatres was Honey, I Shrunk the Kids and then retelling the story to my family from a barstool as they fed me pepperoni slices. And believe you me, if Rick Moranis ever joins Twitter, I’ll be starting “Rick Moranis Tuesday,” #RMT) I appreciated Batman and the Keaton-starring sequel Batman Returns growing up, as well as other Michael Keaton characters such as Beetlejuice and the grossly under-appreciated Johnny Dangerously. I learned plenty of things from Mr. Keaton’s repertoire, both in comedy and in real-life techniques (You can make grilled cheese with an iron? Genius!), but it was his portrayal of Bob Jones in My Life that taught me about the power of film.

 

I first saw My Life on basic cable when I was too young to understand everything that was happening, thinking from the title that it had something to do with Billy Joel, whom I love. I rewatched it a few years ago, grown up and comprehending everything for the first time. I am still blown away by every step of the journey Bob takes. If there is one movie Michael Keaton is most proud of, I sincerely hope it’s this one, because he deserves every word of praise he receives for it. When I started working on my first novel, about the relationship between a dying father and his son, it was this film in the back of my mind motivating me to make it better. If you’ve never seen My Life, I cannot recommend it highly enough. It’s right up there with Big Fish on my list of favorites, probably just ahead of it, and these are the only two movies I’ve seen repeatedly that I will never be able to watch without shedding a few tears.

 

Maybe I’m just coming off as a kiss-ass, but I truly mean it when I say that Mr. Keaton is one of my all-time favorite actors and I’m excited as hell that he’s on Twitter now. I can only hope that one day he’ll look through my tweets and find me amusing in some way, and would be pumped as fuck if he even for a second considered following me. So is it funny to dedicate one day of the week to him? Maybe. But I mean it as the nicest compliment I can possibly think of.

 

And Mr. Keaton, if you ever do read this, thank you for being in some of my favorite movies, and being a badass dude.