LOS ANGELES (AP) - Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu didn't shy away from discussing fashion after winning the Academy Award for best director on Sunday night - he told the audience he was wearing Michael Keaton's underwear.
Inarritu called Keaton's "tighty whities" a good luck charm that brought him his second Oscar win on Sunday night. They also brought him laughs, as Inarritu made them a prominent place in his speech.
"They are tight, smell like spores," the "Birdman" director said. "They worked. I am here."
Keaton laughed boisterously at Inarritu's speech.
The director has made deliberate fashion choices during Hollywood's award season, choosing to don Billy Wilder's tie and Raymond Carver's shirt earlier this month when he won the top honor at the Directors Guild Awards.
Asked by reporters about Keaton's underwear, Inarritu said he wasn't going to take off his pants to prove it.
Inarritu, who won the original screenplay Oscar earlier in the evening, was the second Mexican-born director to win the best directing Oscar, following last year's winner Alfonso Cuaron. "Birdman" later won the Oscar for best picture.
"I don't have a career. I have a life," Inarritu said after being asked to reflect on the night after the ceremony ended. "Today I'm living it fully. Enjoying it completely. I don't know what will happen, but today is great."
The director has been hailed for his craftsmanship in "Birdman," which gives the sensation of having been filmed in one continuous shot. The film stars Keaton as an aging blockbuster movie star seeking to restore his reputation - and bolster his ego - by mounting a serious Broadway play.
"This is like a slow motion kind of moment in my life," Inarritu said. After the show, the director said he forgot to thank his mother on stage and regretted it.
He also brushed aside any hard feelings from an apparent joke by Sean Penn about Inarritu's immigration status.
"I found it hilarious," Inarritu said after the ceremony. "Sean and I have that kind of brutal (relationship) where only true friendship can survive."
The director beat out fellow nominees Wes Anderson, Richard Linklater, Bennett Miller, and Morten Tyldum.
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AP Film Writer Jake Coyle contributed to this report.
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Anthony McCartney can be reached at http://twitter.com/mccartneyAP