DIRECTOR FEATURE: Tim Burton
By Kirsty Leckie Palmer
Monday 28th September 2009
Monday 28th September 2009
Tim Burton: Delicate Anarchist
Tim Burton is a master innovator of fairy tales for a modern audience. He has turned his attention to the gothic horror, the biopic, the comic book, the musical, and animation. Refreshingly, his films always benefit from a persistent experimentation with new techniques. It’s easy to get the impression Burton’s version of reality is somehow an amplified, hyperbolic one. This elusive magic can be traced to the emotional investment he lavishes on his films and their quirky characters. The darkness, death and morbidity emblematic of his work always work to reinforce the characteristic moments of elegance and radiance which persistently materialize. Vast attention to detail brings a tangible realism to his fantastical worlds; the significance an angora sweater or snow angel, a can opener or spider web can all orchestrate the projection of his personal sense of reality. He has happily chosen to chart his illimitable imagination on celluloid, bringing us singing skeletons, headless horsemen, touching criminals, heartless villains, dead protagonists, tortured eccentrics, and, more importantly, spaceships, lilting drunkenly, to a yodelling Slim Whitman.
Key Burton films
Batman (1989): For a man who claims “anybody who knows me knows I would never read a comic book”, its odd to think our conception of Gotham City would never be the same without Burton’s dark and nightmarish renovation of a faded sixties superhero. Shot in 70mm film and seemingly influenced by both noir and German expressionism, his edgy overhaul made it the highest grossing film of its year.
Edward Scissorhands (1990): Doing what he does best, Burton detaches our sense of normality and subverts it, opening our eyes to the vibrant and hellish nature of suburbia by contrast to the beauty of gothic seclusion. An interest in the individual at odds with society is explored; it’s a memorable love story, and his elemental knack for finding the beauty in the bizarre leaves us with potent images of ice sculptures, topiary and Johnny Depp carrying off one of the most uncomfortable looking costumes in the history of film. Also, Vincent Price’s poignant swan-song turn as the inventor.
The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993): His first foray into the musical, and the feature length stop-motion animation was a blinding success. A story of the pumpkin king who steals Santa-Claus, it encapsulates Burton’s ability to valorise the unconventional.
Ed Wood (1994): As tributes to cross-dressing, flaky, B-movie directors go, you won’t get much better than this. Burton’s childhood influences strongly inform this quirky biopic of one of Hollywood’s worst directors. It operates on multiple planes of irony - that such a brilliant film is somehow consequential of Wood’s ill-placed self belief, as well as Burton’s own optimism in making it entirely in black and white to capture the feeling of 50s Hollywood. Depp is unexpected but ideal as wide-eyed optimist Edward D. Wood Jr. and the stylistic choices are a great part of what makes this film so worthwhile.
Big Fish (2003): Burton has likened making movies to ‘an expensive form of therapy’; this exploration of a dying man’s fantastical life story is part personal catharsis - issues of his father’s death influenced the film. Episodic, touching and ever-quirky, Big Fish proposes a larger than life protagonist, questions our perceptions of reality and truth, and flaunts his characteristic interest in the cinematic palette, tuning up the Technicolor to astoundingly vibrant effect, then muting it accordingly for the films climax, which is heart-rending in the extreme.
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007): A wholly Dickensian depiction of London lets Burton luxuriate in the plight of the vengeful barber as played by Depp, who conspires with villainous neighbour Mrs Lovett to turn passing trade to savoury treat. Black humour and outlandish goriness guarantee its decadent delight.
Alice in Wonderland (Release 5th March 2010):
Burton has yet to fully conquer the remake; Charlie and the Chocolate factory was enjoyable, but he added little originality to the story, and Depp couldn’t quite usurp that special place we all have in our hearts for Wilder’s Wonka. It’s universally agreed for the best not to even allude to Planet of the Apes. However, the new Alice in Wonderland will be vastly different from the Disney cartoon. Good different. The adaptation will use both live action and performance-capture animation. Alice will mature from the child of Carroll’s book; she is 19 in this story, perchance to render her journey one that both adults and children can relate to. The film will merge the original Lewis Carroll narrative with some elements of Through the Looking Glass. Burton hopes to give the episodic and often disorienting story ‘some emotional grounding’. As a man with the ability to coax us into empathizing with quasi-mute, blade-fingered ascetic Edward Scissorhands, grinning, eyeless Jack Skellington, and the cannibalistic Mrs Lovett, it’s safe to hazard it shouldn’t prove beyond his capability. The stills that have been released so far reveal the film’s aesthetic texture to be beguilingly lush, and attention to detail appears infinite. Predictably, Johnny Depp will make his seventh appearance in a Burton creation, this time playing The Mad Hatter. Depp, ever mercurial, should be in his element portraying the erratic lead-poisoning victim, and has featured significantly in the film’s early promotional tasters, indicating his character will have a more prominent role than in the books. Burton has described his Mad Hatter as ‘a disturbing character’, and recent pictures of Depp in full costume with enlarged luminescent yellow eyes, orange hair and fuchsia cheekbones readily confirm the point. Helena Bonham Carter could easily triumph as The Red Queen, publicity shots of her receding hairline, clownish eyebrows and miniature heart-shaped pout portend shovelfuls of unreasonable eccentricity. And a moat full of decapitated heads. Let’s hope relatively unseen acting talent Mia Wasikowska, who will be playing Alice, isn’t overshadowed by the Burton veterans. Intriguingly, rom-com heroine Anne Hathaway will play the ethereal but demented white queen; idiosyncrasies include reacting to events just before they happen and having darker eyebrows than her hair, a (quite gimmicky) hint that there may be more to her than innocence than meets the eye. This is confirmed by Burton’s warning she ‘comes from the same gene pool as the red queen.’ The notion of Alan Rickman as a hookah-hooked caterpillar may disturb those who still figure him as an amalgamation of terrorist Hans Gruber and Severus Snape, but given Burton’s thoughtful penchant for environmentally-friendly cast recycling it comes as no surprise after his appearance in Sweeney Todd. Stephen Fry will voice the Cheshire cat, early pictures of Matt Lucas in egg-shaped glory as both Tweedledum and Tweedledee look promising and Burton favourite Christopher Lee will portray the Jabberwock. Six months before the release date and the level of anticipation is already astronomical, it looks as though people are only going to get curioser and curioser…
Tim Burton is a master innovator of fairy tales for a modern audience. He has turned his attention to the gothic horror, the biopic, the comic book, the musical, and animation. Refreshingly, his films always benefit from a persistent experimentation with new techniques. It’s easy to get the impression Burton’s version of reality is somehow an amplified, hyperbolic one. This elusive magic can be traced to the emotional investment he lavishes on his films and their quirky characters. The darkness, death and morbidity emblematic of his work always work to reinforce the characteristic moments of elegance and radiance which persistently materialize. Vast attention to detail brings a tangible realism to his fantastical worlds; the significance an angora sweater or snow angel, a can opener or spider web can all orchestrate the projection of his personal sense of reality. He has happily chosen to chart his illimitable imagination on celluloid, bringing us singing skeletons, headless horsemen, touching criminals, heartless villains, dead protagonists, tortured eccentrics, and, more importantly, spaceships, lilting drunkenly, to a yodelling Slim Whitman.
Key Burton films
Batman (1989): For a man who claims “anybody who knows me knows I would never read a comic book”, its odd to think our conception of Gotham City would never be the same without Burton’s dark and nightmarish renovation of a faded sixties superhero. Shot in 70mm film and seemingly influenced by both noir and German expressionism, his edgy overhaul made it the highest grossing film of its year.
Edward Scissorhands (1990): Doing what he does best, Burton detaches our sense of normality and subverts it, opening our eyes to the vibrant and hellish nature of suburbia by contrast to the beauty of gothic seclusion. An interest in the individual at odds with society is explored; it’s a memorable love story, and his elemental knack for finding the beauty in the bizarre leaves us with potent images of ice sculptures, topiary and Johnny Depp carrying off one of the most uncomfortable looking costumes in the history of film. Also, Vincent Price’s poignant swan-song turn as the inventor.
The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993): His first foray into the musical, and the feature length stop-motion animation was a blinding success. A story of the pumpkin king who steals Santa-Claus, it encapsulates Burton’s ability to valorise the unconventional.
Ed Wood (1994): As tributes to cross-dressing, flaky, B-movie directors go, you won’t get much better than this. Burton’s childhood influences strongly inform this quirky biopic of one of Hollywood’s worst directors. It operates on multiple planes of irony - that such a brilliant film is somehow consequential of Wood’s ill-placed self belief, as well as Burton’s own optimism in making it entirely in black and white to capture the feeling of 50s Hollywood. Depp is unexpected but ideal as wide-eyed optimist Edward D. Wood Jr. and the stylistic choices are a great part of what makes this film so worthwhile.
Big Fish (2003): Burton has likened making movies to ‘an expensive form of therapy’; this exploration of a dying man’s fantastical life story is part personal catharsis - issues of his father’s death influenced the film. Episodic, touching and ever-quirky, Big Fish proposes a larger than life protagonist, questions our perceptions of reality and truth, and flaunts his characteristic interest in the cinematic palette, tuning up the Technicolor to astoundingly vibrant effect, then muting it accordingly for the films climax, which is heart-rending in the extreme.
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007): A wholly Dickensian depiction of London lets Burton luxuriate in the plight of the vengeful barber as played by Depp, who conspires with villainous neighbour Mrs Lovett to turn passing trade to savoury treat. Black humour and outlandish goriness guarantee its decadent delight.
Alice in Wonderland (Release 5th March 2010):
Burton has yet to fully conquer the remake; Charlie and the Chocolate factory was enjoyable, but he added little originality to the story, and Depp couldn’t quite usurp that special place we all have in our hearts for Wilder’s Wonka. It’s universally agreed for the best not to even allude to Planet of the Apes. However, the new Alice in Wonderland will be vastly different from the Disney cartoon. Good different. The adaptation will use both live action and performance-capture animation. Alice will mature from the child of Carroll’s book; she is 19 in this story, perchance to render her journey one that both adults and children can relate to. The film will merge the original Lewis Carroll narrative with some elements of Through the Looking Glass. Burton hopes to give the episodic and often disorienting story ‘some emotional grounding’. As a man with the ability to coax us into empathizing with quasi-mute, blade-fingered ascetic Edward Scissorhands, grinning, eyeless Jack Skellington, and the cannibalistic Mrs Lovett, it’s safe to hazard it shouldn’t prove beyond his capability. The stills that have been released so far reveal the film’s aesthetic texture to be beguilingly lush, and attention to detail appears infinite. Predictably, Johnny Depp will make his seventh appearance in a Burton creation, this time playing The Mad Hatter. Depp, ever mercurial, should be in his element portraying the erratic lead-poisoning victim, and has featured significantly in the film’s early promotional tasters, indicating his character will have a more prominent role than in the books. Burton has described his Mad Hatter as ‘a disturbing character’, and recent pictures of Depp in full costume with enlarged luminescent yellow eyes, orange hair and fuchsia cheekbones readily confirm the point. Helena Bonham Carter could easily triumph as The Red Queen, publicity shots of her receding hairline, clownish eyebrows and miniature heart-shaped pout portend shovelfuls of unreasonable eccentricity. And a moat full of decapitated heads. Let’s hope relatively unseen acting talent Mia Wasikowska, who will be playing Alice, isn’t overshadowed by the Burton veterans. Intriguingly, rom-com heroine Anne Hathaway will play the ethereal but demented white queen; idiosyncrasies include reacting to events just before they happen and having darker eyebrows than her hair, a (quite gimmicky) hint that there may be more to her than innocence than meets the eye. This is confirmed by Burton’s warning she ‘comes from the same gene pool as the red queen.’ The notion of Alan Rickman as a hookah-hooked caterpillar may disturb those who still figure him as an amalgamation of terrorist Hans Gruber and Severus Snape, but given Burton’s thoughtful penchant for environmentally-friendly cast recycling it comes as no surprise after his appearance in Sweeney Todd. Stephen Fry will voice the Cheshire cat, early pictures of Matt Lucas in egg-shaped glory as both Tweedledum and Tweedledee look promising and Burton favourite Christopher Lee will portray the Jabberwock. Six months before the release date and the level of anticipation is already astronomical, it looks as though people are only going to get curioser and curioser…