EXCLUSIVE: Fox Searchlight and New Regency are in discussions to co-finance and distribute Alejandro González Iñárritu’s upcoming comedy Birdman.

Worldview Entertainment is understood to be in talks to provide additional equity financing on the eagerly anticipated project. CAA set up the financing and represents domestic rights.

Birdman tells the story of a former actor who once played a blockbuster superhero and mounts a Broadway play in a bid to reclaim former glories. As the tension mounts before opening night, the actor takes stock of his family, his career and his sanity. 

Production is set to begin in April in New York. Sources close to the project said the proposed deal would see Fox Searchlight handle worldwide marketing and distribution. Neither the studio nor the film’s representatives returned calls.

Iñárritu co-wrote the screenplay with Nicolas Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris and Armando Bo. Iñárritu, Robert Graf and John Lesher produce.