Tim Burton Said He Could Live in 3 of His Movies
Biographical movies usually celebrate the great people of history. In contrast, one of Tim Burton’s movies highlights an obscure figure who wasn’t very good at making art. During an interview, the Batman director revealed that he was a huge fan of the movie in question even though it bombed. He also said he would be willing to live in that movie, alongside two of his other projects.
Tim Burton made a movie about movies in the weirdest way possible
Great directors like Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, Federico Fellini, and Bob Fosse have all made movies about the glories of making movies. When Burton made his crack at that subgenre, he took a different approach. He decided to lionize Edward D. Wood, Jr., a B-movie maestro who is often considered the worst film director of all time. Rather than knocking Wood down for making schlock like Plan 9 from Outer Space and Bride of the Monster, Burton praised Wood for his boundless enthusiasm for cinema. Much like one of Wood’s actual films, Burton’s Ed Wood didn’t make money.
During a 2007 interview with Total Film, the Batman Returns director was asked if he was upset by the commercial failure of Ed Wood. “That’s the weird thing about movies,” he replied. “I loved Ed Wood. For me, it’s as good, if not better, than a lot of the other ones I’ve done that made a lot more money.
“I’m surprised if a movie does well, or I’m surprised if it doesn’t do well,” he said. “It’s always a surprise. Ed Wood was a surprise because it was [a] complete bomb! Yet it’s probably one of the favorites of mine.”
The director said he could live in ‘Ed Wood’ and 2 of his other movies
The interviewer noted that Ed Wood became popular after it was released on DVD. “When it first showed at the New York Film Festival, it got a great response,” Burton noted. “I guess it’s a real film crowd there but it was, ‘Wow.’ But then I realized that the only people who were going to see it probably saw it that night!”
Afterward, Burton was asked to name which of his films he would like to live in. “Oh boy,” he replied. “High up on the list would probably be [The Nightmare Before Christmas] because it was the first film I really conceived of, so that was special. Edward Scissorhands is one that is very personal to me, too. And Ed Wood. It’s those three that are up there for me.” Notably, Burton didn’t direct The Nightmare Before Christmas, but he conceived of its story and produced it.
Tim Burton said time colors his feelings about his films
Like the rest of us, Burton falls prey to nostalgia. That should be pretty obvious, since he gave us remakes of classic movies like Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory and Dumbo! However, in 2001, he flatly told the BBC that nostalgia colors his perceptions of his films.
He revealed he gets fonder of his movies the more time passes. In his opinion, he’s only able to objectively evaluate one of his projects five years after completing it. Maybe he only liked Ed Wood so much because he made it a long time ago — or maybe he just recognizes its brilliance.
