With director Sara Colangelo's Worth now streaming on Netflix, I recently had the chance to speak with Michael Keaton about playing renowned mediator Kenneth Feinberg in the 9/11 drama. If you’re not familiar with the film, Worth was written by Max Borenstein and is based on the non-fiction book by Feinberg titled What Is Life Worth?: The Unprecedented Effort to Compensate the Victims of 9/11. Both the film and book follow the real-life story behind the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund. Keaton stars as Feinberg, an attorney and mediator, who is appointed by Congress to lead the fund and he’s faced with the impossible task of figuring out what a life is worth to the families who lost them on 9/11. The film also stars Stanley Tucci as a community organizer who lost his wife in the attacks as well as Amy Ryan, Tate Donovan, Shunori Ramanathan, Talia Balsam, Laura Benanti, Marc Maron, Ato Blankson-Wood, Chris Tardio, Carolyn Mignini, and Victor Slezak.

During the interview, Keaton talked about how playing Walter 'Robby' Robinson in Tom McCarthy’s Spotlight, Ray Kroc in The Founder, and Robert Wiener in Live from Bagdad helped prepare him for this role, why he doesn’t try and imitate someone in a performance, how he gets ready to play a real person, and why making Worth was an eye-opening experience.

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Image via Netflix

RELATED: Michael Keaton Considers the 'Worth' of Human Life Following 9/11 in New Featurette

Check out what he had to say in the player above. Worth is now streaming on Netflix.

Michael Keaton

  • How did his previous work playing real people in The Founder and Spotlight possibly help him prepare for Worth?
  • On the way he gets ready to play a real person?
  • What was he surprised to learn during his preparation process?
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Image via Netflix