I’D say director Tim Burton has done pretty well for himself — successful cult filmmaker becomes bigtime filmmaker, is subject of a show at MOMA, lives near London’s best cemetery, and he sleeps (presumably) with Helena Bonham Carter every night. And he was just announced to head the jury at Cannes this May.
“After spending my early life watching triple features and 48-hour horror movie marathons,” he has said, “I’m finally ready for this.”
Pretty good for a guy who grew up a major dork in the most provincial part of Burbank and had his first important art project appear on the side of a garbage truck. (Man, I thought I had a tough high school experience.)
HERE is a large except of my trip around Burbank, The Valley and Hollywood with Burton a few years back — and HERE the full piece. I found Burton very open and fun to talk to — and got a strong sense of a wounded guy who’d made the best of things as an adult but was still full of self-doubt. I’ve also rarely seen a celebrity so naturally warm with his fans — we were mobbed as soon as we got to Hollywood.
Burton’s version of Alice in Wonderland, of course, comes out in March.
Anybody besides me think “Ed Wood” is still his best film?
Ed Wood might be his best film. Martin Landau was truly wonderful as Bela Lugosi. Really one of the more touching film portrayals I have ever seen.
Of course Pee Wee’s Big Adventure may still be Burton’s strangest film, and perhaps his best as well. I haven’t watched it in a long time, but it shouldn’t be overlooked.