When you’ve had a career as long as Michael Keaton’s, there’s bound to be a few serious misses among the hits. That’s something Keaton himself knows as well as anyone.

The actor spoke with HuffPost Live’s Ricky Camilleri on Wednesday about “Birdman,” the film that pundits are speculating could earn him an Oscar for Best Actor. During the conversation, Keaton offered a frank take on how he picks roles — and one of the films that still has him scratching his head.

“I also had a really practical side, and you’ve to to gauge it and grab something every once in a while, either for a check or …” he said. “So as an example, when you think about it, the fact that I was in ‘Herbie [Fully Loaded]’ is kind of weird. … In perspective, you kind of go, ‘You must have been, you know, high or something. What was that choice?'”

But there was a “weird calculation” behind the decision, Keaton added.

“I looked at that, for instance, and I thought that could be a two- or three- or four-movie deal where it ain’t on me, I got a smaller role,” he said. “I know that’s that check that I can then go and do ‘Pacific Heights’ and I can go do some little movie with some great director who maybe isn’t known or do whatever you want to do.”

Watch the full HuffPost Live conversation with Michael Keaton.

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