I made that immediate connection too, but more to the Birdman who guest hosted on Space Ghost C2C when his situation made Space Ghost's pathetic nature seem admirable in comparison. Short answer's no. It's based off a Raymond Carver novel but it wouldn't surprise me at all if Inarritu watched those Space Ghost episodes. If anything, I'm glad he's out of that "Death Cycle" thing or whatever: I loved Amores Perros, but 21 Grams and Babel really felt like a filmmaker stuck in somebody else's vision.