Tim Burton
Timothy Walter Burton is an American filmmaker, animator, and writer. He is known for pioneering goth subculture in Hollywood, with his films employing a distinctive style that blends gothic horror and dark fantasy aesthetics with whimsical and surreal elements. He has received numerous accolades, including one Emmy Award and nominations for two Academy Awards, a Golden Globe Award, and three BAFTA Awards. He was honored with the Venice International Film Festival's Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement in 2007 and France's Order of Arts and Letters in 2010.
Burton made his directorial debut with the comedy film Pee-wee's Big Adventure and gained wider prominence for directing Beetlejuice and Edward Scissorhands, as well as producing The Nightmare Before Christmas, which was based on a poem he wrote. He had directed films spanning a variety of genres such as animation, biopic, drama, fantasy, musical, science fiction, superhero, and supernatural horror; these include Batman, Batman Returns, Ed Wood, Mars Attacks!, Sleepy Hollow, Planet of the Apes, Big Fish, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Corpse Bride, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Alice in Wonderland, Dark Shadows, Frankenweenie, Big Eyes, Dumbo, and Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.
Burton has directed several episodes of the Netflix series Wednesday, for which he was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series. He frequently collaborates with musician Danny Elfman, who has scored all but three of his films. He has also released several books such as The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy & Other Stories.
Early life
Timothy Walter Burton was born in Burbank, California, on August 25, 1958, the son of Jean, who later owned a cat-themed gift shop, and William "Bill" Burton, a former minor league baseball player who worked for the Burbank Parks and Recreation Department. The baseball field at Burbank's Olive Recreation Center is named for Bill.As a preteen, Burton made short films in his back yard, using crude stop motion animation techniques or shooting on 8 mm film without sound; one of his oldest known films, The Island of Doctor Agor, is an adaptation of the H. G. Wells novel The Island of Doctor Moreau which he made when he was 13 years old. He attended Providencia Elementary School, Luther Burbank Middle School, and Burbank High School, but was not a particularly good student. He played on the water polo team at Burbank High. After graduating in 1976, he attended the California Institute of the Arts in Valencia, Santa Clarita, studying character animation until 1979. As a student there, he made the short films Stalk of the Celery Monster and King and Octopus.
Burton was an introspective person who found pleasure in artwork, drawing, painting, and watching movies. His future work would be heavily influenced by the books of such childhood heroes as Dr. Seuss and Roald Dahl and the aesthetics of silent gothic horror films, Universal Monsters films such as Frankenstein, Hammer Horror films starring Christopher Lee, and the horror films of Vincent Price; the latter two would both later star in his films, with Price being honored in his short film Vincent. In a Hollywood Reporter article, Burton said, "I grew up watching the Universal horror movies, Japanese monster movies, and pretty much any kind of monster movie. That was my genre." He also said that his love of Ray Harryhausen's work got him interested in stop-motion animation at a young age.
Career
1981–1987: Early work and breakthrough
Stalk of the Celery Monster attracted the attention of Walt Disney Productions, who offered Burton an animator's apprenticeship at its animation division. He worked as an animator, storyboard artist, graphic designer, art director, and concept artist on films such as The Fox and the Hound, Tron, and The Black Cauldron. His concept art never made it into the finished films.While at Disney in 1982, Burton made his first short, Vincent, a six-minute black-and-white stop motion film based on a poem written by Burton, which depicts a young boy who fantasizes that he is his hero Vincent Price, with Price himself providing narration. The film was produced by Rick Heinrichs, whom Burton had befriended while working in the concept art department at Disney. The film was shown at the Chicago Film Festival and released, alongside the teen drama Tex, for two weeks in one Los Angeles cinema. This was followed by Burton's first live-action production, Hansel and Gretel, a Japanese-themed adaptation of the Brothers Grimm fairy tale for the Disney Channel, which climaxes in a kung fu fight between Hansel and Gretel and the witch. Having aired once in 1983 at 10:30 P.M. on Halloween and promptly shelved, prints of the film are extremely difficult to locate, fueling rumors that the project did not exist. The short would finally go on public display in 2009 at the Museum of Modern Art, and again in 2011 as part of the Tim Burton art exhibit at LACMA. It was again shown at the Seoul Museum of Art in 2012.
Burton's next live-action short film, Frankenweenie, was released in 1984. It tells the story of a young boy who tries to revive his dog after it is run over by a car. Filmed in black-and-white, it stars Barret Oliver, Shelley Duvall, and Daniel Stern. After Frankenweenie was completed, Disney fired Burton, under the pretext of him spending the company's resources on a film that would be too dark and scary for children to see.
Actor Paul Reubens saw Frankenweenie and chose Burton to direct the cinematic spin-off of his popular character Pee-wee Herman, stating on the audio commentary of 2000 DVD release of Pee-wee's Big Adventure that as soon as the short began, he was sold on Burton's style. Pee-wee Herman gained mainstream popularity with a successful stage show at The Groundlings and the Roxy which was later turned into an HBO special. The film, Pee-wee's Big Adventure, was made on a budget of $8 million and grossed more than $40 million at the North American box office. Burton, a fan of the eccentric musical group Oingo Boingo, asked songwriter Danny Elfman to provide the music for the film. Since then, Elfman has scored every film that Tim Burton has directed, except for Ed Wood, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, and Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children.
Additionally, Burton directed episodes of the 1985 revival of the '50s/'60s anthology horror series Alfred Hitchcock Presents and Shelley Duvall's Faerie Tale Theatre.
1988–1994: ''Batman'' films and acclaim
Burton's next major film was Beetlejuice, a supernatural comedy horror about a young couple forced to cope with life after death and the family of pretentious yuppies who invade their treasured New England home. Their teenage daughter, Lydia, has an obsession with death which allows her to see the deceased couple. Starring Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis, and featuring Michael Keaton as the title character, the film grossed $80 million on a relatively low budget and won the Academy Award for Best Makeup. It was later adapted into an animated TV series of the same name, with Burton playing a role as executive producer, that ran on ABC and later the Fox network.Burton's ability to produce hit films with low budgets impressed studio executives, and he received his first big-budget film, Batman. The production was plagued with problems. Burton repeatedly clashed with the film's producers, Jon Peters and Peter Guber, but the most notable debacle involved casting. For the title role, Burton chose to cast Michael Keaton as Batman following their previous collaboration in Beetlejuice, despite Keaton's average physique, inexperience with action films, and reputation as a comic actor. Although Burton won in the end, the furor over the casting provoked enormous fan animosity, to the extent that Warner Brothers' share price slumped. Burton had considered it ridiculous to cast a "bulked-up" ultra-masculine man as Batman, insisting that Batman should be an ordinary man who dressed up in an elaborate bat costume to frighten criminals. Burton originally considered Brad Dourif for the Joker, but eventually cast Jack Nicholson, in a move that helped assuage fans' fears, as well as attracting older audiences not as interested in a superhero film. When the film opened in June 1989, it was backed by the biggest marketing and merchandising campaign in film history at the time, and became one of the biggest box office hits of all time, grossing over $250 million in the U.S. and $400 million worldwide and earning critical acclaim for the performances of both Keaton and Nicholson, as well as the film's production aspects, which won the Academy Award for Best Art Direction. The success of the film helped establish Burton as a profitable director, and it proved to be a huge influence on future superhero films, which eschewed the bright, all-American heroism of Richard Donner's Superman for a grittier, more realistic look and characters with more psychological depth. It also served as a major inspiration for the acclaimed TV series Batman: The Animated Series.
Burton claimed that the graphic novel Batman: The Killing Joke was a major influence on his film adaptation of Batman:
I was never a giant comic book fan, but I've always loved the image of Batman and the Joker. The reason I've never been a comic book fan – and I think it started when I was a child – is because I could never tell which box I was supposed to read. I don't know if it was dyslexia or whatever, but that's why I loved The Killing Joke, because, for the first time, I could tell which one to read. It's my favorite. It's the first comic I've ever loved. And the success of those graphic novels made our ideas more acceptable.
In 1990, Burton created a unique drawing which gave screenwriter Caroline Thompson inspiration to write the script for Edward Scissorhands which Burton directed, re-uniting with Winona Ryder from Beetlejuice. His friend Johnny Depp, a teen idol at the end of the 1980s due primarily to his work on the hit TV series 21 Jump Street, was cast in the title role of Edward, who was the creation of an eccentric and old-fashioned inventor. Edward looked human, but was left with scissors in the place of hands due to the untimely death of his creator. Set in suburbia, the film is largely seen as Burton's autobiography of his childhood in Burbank. Burton's idea for the character of Edward Scissorhands came from a drawing he created in high school. Depp wrote a similar comment in the foreword to Mark Salisbury's book, Burton on Burton, regarding his first meeting with Burton over the casting of the film. Edward Scissorhands is considered one of Burton's best movies by some critics. Burton has stated that this is his most personal and meaningful film because it is a representation of him not being able to communicate effectively with others as a teenager.
After the success of Batman, Burton agreed to direct the sequel for Warner Bros. on the condition that he would be granted total control. The result was Batman Returns, which featured Michael Keaton returning as Batman, and a new triad of villains: Danny DeVito, Michelle Pfeiffer and Christopher Walken. Somewhat darker and considerably more personal than its predecessor, concerns were raised that the film might be too scary for children. Audiences were more uncomfortable at the film's overt sexuality, personified by the sleek, fetish-inspired styling of Catwoman's costume. Burton made many changes to the Penguin which would subsequently be applied to the character in both comics and television. In the comics, the Penguin was an ordinary man; in the film, the Penguin resembles his namesake, possessing webbed, flipper-like fingers, a hooked, beak-like nose, and a short, rotund body. Burton also chose the artist who recorded the single for the movie soundtrack; he insisted that it be the band Siouxsie and the Banshees with the song "Face to Face". Released in 1992, Batman Returns grossed $282.8 million worldwide, making it a financial success, though not to the extent of its predecessor.
Due to schedule constraints on Batman Returns, Burton produced, but did not direct, The Nightmare Before Christmas for Disney, originally meant to be a children's book in rhyme. The film was directed by Henry Selick and written by Caroline Thompson, based on Burton's original story, world, and characters. The film received positive reviews for the stop motion animation, musical score, and original storyline. It was a modest box office success, grossing $50 million. Because of the nature of the film, it was not produced under Disney's name, but rather Disney-owned Touchstone Pictures. Disney wanted the protagonist to have eyes, but the final iteration did not. Over 100 people worked on this motion picture just to create the characters, and it took three years of work to produce the film. Burton collaborated with Selick again for James and the Giant Peach, which Burton co-produced.
In 1994, Burton and frequent co-producer Denise Di Novi produced the 1994 fantasy-comedy Cabin Boy, starring comedian Chris Elliott and directed/written by Adam Resnick. Burton was originally supposed to direct the film after seeing Elliott perform on Get a Life, but he handed the directing responsibility to Resnick once he was offered Ed Wood. Burton's next film, Ed Wood, was of a much smaller scale, depicting the life of the infamous director Ed Wood. Starring Johnny Depp in the title role, the film is an homage to the low-budget science fiction and horror films of Burton's childhood and handles its comical protagonist and his motley band of collaborators with surprising fondness and sensitivity. Owing to creative squabbles during the making of The Nightmare Before Christmas, Danny Elfman declined to score Ed Wood, and the assignment went to Howard Shore. While a commercial failure at the time of its release, Ed Wood became a cult classic and was well received by critics. Martin Landau received the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of Bela Lugosi, and the film received the Academy Award for Best Makeup.
Warner Bros. was not interested in Tim Burton's return as director for a third Batman installment after considering Batman Returns too dark and unsafe for children. Burton noted he was unsure about returning to direct, writing: "I don't think Warner Bros. wanted me to direct a third Batman. I even said that to them." Burton and Warner Bros. mutually agreed to part ways. To attract the young audience, it was decided that Joel Schumacher would direct the third film, whilst Burton would only produce it in conjunction with Peter MacGregor-Scott, in which Burton was given top-billing producer credit, without being able to contribute ideas; only approving director and screenwriters. Following this change and the changes made by the new director, Michael Keaton resigned from the lead role and was replaced by Val Kilmer. Filming for Batman Forever began in late 1994 with new actors: Tommy Lee Jones as Harvey Dent/Two-Face, Nicole Kidman as Dr. Chase Meridian, Chris O'Donnell as Dick Grayson/Robin and Jim Carrey as Edward Nygma/The Riddler; the only two actors who returned after Batman Returns were Pat Hingle as Commissioner Gordon and Michael Gough as Alfred Pennyworth. The film, a combination of the darkness that characterized the saga and colors and neon signs proposed by Schumacher, was a huge box office success, earning $336 million. Warner Bros. demanded that Schumacher delete some scenes so the film did not have the same tone as its predecessor, Batman Returns.