Tim Burton - Iconic Director

He’s known for his dark and surreal film creations. Welcome to Watchmojo.com and
today we’re taking a look at the career of Tim Burton. Born on August 25th, 1958 in
Burbank, California. Throughout his youth, Tim Burton was a shy boy that enjoyed
drawing, painting and watching monster movies. These passions would take him to the
California institute of the Arts, where Disney recruited him as an animator. There he
spent his days tediously drawing individual frames for the 1981 film “The Fox and The
Hound”, before being made a conceptual artist.

However, he gained recognition for his own side projects that he had submitted to several
film festivals. These included his first stop-motion animation “Vincent”, which
showcased his unique style, and his live-action short “Frankenweenie”, which drew the
attention of Pee Wee Herman actor Paul Reubens. This resulted in Burton’s
establishment as a director with the 1985 film “Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure”. The feature
not only established his reputation as a director but introduced him to Danny Elfman,
who would provide the score for many of his future productions. With a significant box
office success under his belt, Burton was given creative control of 1988’s “BeetleJuice”.

To his surprise, the low-budget supernatural comedy pulled in 80 million dollars, won an
Oscar for Best Makeup design, and caused Warner Brothers to choose him to direct
1989’s “Batman”. Miraculously, Batman became one of the biggest box-office sensations
in history, causing the studio to plead for his return for the sequel. He accepted the job on
the condition of being given full creative control. In 1990, Burton wrote and directed
Edward Scissorhands. As a result of casting 80s teen idol Johnny Depp the film major
buzz, and forged a lasting collaboration. Soon after, the two re-united for a loving
homage to the world’s worst film director “Ed Wood”.

Though their passion generated high praise, it was dead on arrival at the box-office. Later
that decade, Burton’s other retro-inspired project “Mars Attacks” further caused him
financial heartache. This defeat was caused by the public’s perception that the film as
nothing more then a spoof of Independence Day. Regardless, Burton’s stop-motion films
were tremendous hits and reaffirmed his place as the leader in bizarre fantasy
filmmaking. These hits included his holiday musical mash-up “The Nightmare Before
Christmas” and his adaptation of Roald Dahl’s “James and The Giant Peach”. At the turn
of the millennium, he released his highly anticipated re-imagining of the cult classics
‘Sleepy Hollow” and “Planet of The Apes”.

While both films failed to win over critics, it was an important period for Burton as it
spurred a long-term relationship with Helena Bonham Carter, both on and off the screen.
As a result, she was casted in a supportive role in his acclaimed 2003 fantasy drama “Big
Fish”, and would regularly star opposite Johnny Depp in several high profile projects.
These included 2005’s Academy-Award Nominated stop-motion musical “The Corpse
Bride”, his offbeat re-imagining of “Charlie and The Chocolate Factory”, and his horror
musical “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street”. In 2010, Burton and his
group of close friends and collaborators brought “Alice in Wonderland” to the silver
screen. Like his previous film adaptations, he completely re-imagined the source
material, while putting Johnny Depp and Carter in the title roles. After his 2010 romp in
Wonderland, Burton’s future projects include the big-screen adaptation of his early live-
action short “Frankenweenee” and the classic Television show “Dark Shadows.”