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''I've always liked the freakish nature of the Batman material...''

TIM BURTON

(director of Batman 1989 and Batman Returns 1992)

Filmmakers Index

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Short Bio:

His early film career was fuelled by almost unbelievable good luck, but it's his talent and originality that have kept him at the top of the Hollywood tree. Tim Burton began drawing at an early age, going on to attend the California Institute of the Arts, studying animation after being awarded a fellowship from Disney, for whom he went on to work.

Although he found that the mainstream Disney films he worked on ('The Fox and the Hound' 1981) were far removed from his own sensibility, Disney let him have the freedom to work on his own personal projects, the six-minute animated black-and-white Gothic Vincent Price tribute Vincent (1982), and the 27-minute live-action Frankenweenie (1984), which was judged unsuitable for children and never released. However, Paul Reubens (aka Pee-Wee Herman) saw it and decided that Burton, still only in his mid-twenties, would be the ideal person to direct his feature debut, Pee-wee's Big Adventure (1985).

An enormous (and surprise) box-office hit, it led to the supernatural comedy Beetlejuice (1988), which in turn led to Burton being entrusted with the reins on the hugely expensive Batman (1989). Although his least personal film, it was one of the most successful films of all time, and gave him unprecedented power in Hollywood considering the originality and adventurousness of his work thus far. Edward Scissorhands (1990), another hit, saw him at the peak of his creative powers and established a fruitful working relationship with actor Johnny Depp.

Batman Returns (1992) was a far darker and quirkier film than the original, a reflection of how much creative freedom Burton had won (though Warner Bros were reputedly unhappy with the final result). And although Ed Wood (1994), his loving tribute to the life and work of the legendary Worst Director of All Time Edward D.Wood, Jr., was a box-office disaster, it garnered some of the best reviews of Burton's career, and suggests that he'll continue dazzling audiences for many years to come.

Trademark/ Trivia:
  • Often does the beginning credits sequence with the camera going through something (Batman, Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands), or following something (Batman Returns, Mars Attacks, Sleepy Hollow).
  • Plot often focuses around a misunderstood outcast.
  • Frequently uses composer Danny Elfman. (Elfman wrote music for all of his major films except Ed Wood which was done by Howard Shore).
  • Frequently casts Jeffrey Jones, Paul Reubens, Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, Johnny Depp.
  • [dogs] Frequently features dead or dismembered dogs.
  • He often likes to open his films with a quiet nighttime snowfall. (Sleepy Hollow, Batman Returns, Edward Scissorhands).
  • Many of his films feature townspeople who misunderstand and/or distrust the lead character (like Ichabod Crane in Sleepy Hollow or Batman).
  • Obsession with horror actors: he makes movies about them (Vincent, Ed Wood), or he actually casts them in his films (e.g. Vincent Price, Michael Gough, Christopher Lee, Christopher Walken).
  • Often shows scarecrows in his movies.
  • His films have sometimes a dream-like quality, or a Gothic feel to them, often including Christmas and/or Halloween scenes.
  • Tim Burton also uses Catherine O'Hara quite a bit in his movies.
  • At the end of Beetlejuice (1988), Beetlejuice metamorphoses into a bizarre creature with a merry-go-round on his head. On the top of this merry-go-round is a smiling skull which became Jack Skellington in Nightmare Before Christmas, The (1993). The latter movie had been a pet project of Burton's since his days as an animator at Disney.
  • He has an interest in clowns, and his films will often include them or make reference to them (The Joker was nothing more than a terrifying clown, the Penguin's gang was a bunch of menacing circus clowns.)

Film Credits: (Unless noted otherwise, these are as a Director)
  • 2001 - Planet of the Apes
  • 1999 - Sleepy Hollow
  • 1996 - Mars Attacks! (dir. Producer)
  • 1996 - James and the Giant Peach (producer)
  • 1995 - Batman Forever (producer)
  • 1994 - Cabin Boy (producer)
  • 1994 - Ed Wood (dir. producer)
  • 1994 - A Century of Cinema (as himself)
  • 1993 - The Nightmare Before Christmas (prod. writer)
  • 1992 - Batman Returns (dir. Producer)
  • 1992 - Singles (actor, as Brian)
  • 1990 - Edward Scissorhands (dir. prod. writer)
  • 1989 - Batman
  • 1988 - Beetlejuice
  • 1985 - Pee-Wee's Big Adventure
  • 1984 - Frankenweenie
  • 1982 - Vincent (dri. writer, designer)

 

TV Credits: (Unless noted otherwise, these are credits as a director)
  • 1993 - ''Family Dog'' (producer)
  • 1989 - Beetlejuice (''developed by'' credit)
  • 1985 - ''Alfred Hitchcock Presents'' (''The Jar'' episode)
  • 1985 - Amazing Stories. (''Family Dog'' episode)
  • 1985 - The Black Gauldron (animator)
  • 1984 - Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp
  • 1982 - Tron (animator)
  • 1982 - Hansel and Gretel
  • 1981 - The Fox and the Hound (animator)

  

On-set photos:

Batman: with Jon Peters, Nicholson and Keaton

Batman: with Michael Keaton.

Batman Returns: with Michael Keaton

Batman Returns: with Keaton and Rick Zumwalt

Batman Returns: with Pfeiffer and Keaton

Batman: with Kim Basinger

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