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J U L Y 2 0 2 0

CAESAR

Tim

Burton

Working with

Fantasy

Dark yet Colorful

How Burton uses

color

It‘s Showtime!

Insights in the Broadway

musical “Beetlejuice”

based on one of Burtons

movies

The Art of Tim Burton

Where his unique style

comes from

His Muse

Eva Green plays Miss

Peregrine in new movie

Creative Mind

What is going on inside

that head?

Johanna Kaiser

TH Nürnberg

Fakultät Design, 2020

CAESAR UK £10.84

“I felt like

an outcast”


CONTENTS

Photos Cover and Back: Denis Rouvre, Marc Hom

Go Inside the

Peculiar World

of Tim Burton

From an outsider to a

highly respected director

- a sneek peak in Tim

Burtons World.

4

The Artist before

The Filmmaker

Everything you need to

know about his inspirations.

10

Miss Peregrine

and Tim Burton:

The Making of

a Film Fable

See how Tim Burton turned

Ransom Riggs Novel into a

must-see-movie.

16

See how “Beetlejuice”

Set Designers

built a Habitat

for Demons

2018 the movie Beetlejuice

was turned into a musical.

Here‘s how they designed

the set.

22


3

The creators of

the “Beetlejuice”

musical ‘tried to

run toward

Burton’ visually

A lot of little details in

the set design are hinting

on Tim Burton.

28

An Analysis of Art

& Design in the

Movies of Tim

Burton

What is typical for Burton‘s

movies? Have a look at the

costumes, actors and worlds.

34

Masters of Color:

Tim Burton

An article about his use of

color, visuallized with color

schemes

40

Tim Burton,

at Home in His

Own Head

An Interview with the

director on his private life,

movies and legacy.

54


4

CAESAR 07/2020


5

Go Inside

the Peculiar

World of

Tim Burton

He grew up in the sun-drenched

suburbs of Burbank, California,

but much of Tim Burton’s childhood

was lived in the shadows —

quite literally.

He grew up in the sun-drenched suburbs of Burbank,

California, but much of Tim Burton’s childhood was

lived in the shadows—quite literally. His parents had

bricked up the two large windows in his bedroom, leaving just

one small aperture high up the wall. The atmosphere was somewhat

odd, his interior world very still. To peer out into the

brighter world, young Burton had to clamber onto his desk.

“It was something to do with insulation,” recalls the filmmaker,

now 58, “although we were living in Burbank—it’s like 80

degrees! Talk about being buried alive! I felt very Edgar Allan

Poe even before I knew who Edgar Allan Poe was.”

Through his childhood years, Burton developed a deep passion

for Poe, the author of such 19th-century gothic horrors as

“The Fall of the House of Usher” and “The Tell-Tale Heart,”

although his hunger was for the film adaptations that blossomed

during the 1960s rather than for the written words.

“My parents used to say that I watched monster movies before

I could walk or talk,” he says. “I was always drawn to them

and I never found them scary.” He loved the films of director

Roger Corman and special-effects guru Ray Harryhausen. The

actors Vincent Price and Bela Lugosi were his heroes. As a

child, he wanted to be the man inside a Godzilla suit.

“I always felt an empathy with monsters,” he says. “In those

early films, the monsters were the most emotive characters.

The people were the scariest ones.” He adores the 1931 Frankenstein

film by director James Whale, where the frenzied ➤

Photo: Getty Images, Disclosur

Tim Burton with the plasticine dolls used in the movie

”The Nightmare before Christmas“


6

villagers pursue the monster to the windmill. Burton employed

that motif in 1990’s Edward Scissorhands and in his Frankenweenie

movies—the short film from 1984 and the feature in

2012.“With monsters it was often a case of, ‘Let’s try and kill

this thing that we don’t understand,’” he says. “It is a really

interesting and unfortunate human dynamic. King Kong, Frankenstein,

the Creature from the Black Lagoon—these creatures

are the most emotional things in the films. ‘I don’t understand

you, let’s put you in a cage. I don’t understand you, let’s kill

you.’ That’s a motto I have felt my whole life.”

Always the Outsider

Tim Burton with a mask as it appears in ”Miss

Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children“

Burton is a perennial outsider, always feeling like an oddball, a

peculiarity. This is a theme that runs throughout his work, his

filmmaking. A patron saint for waifs and strays, he regularly returns

to the theme of an unusual child or outsider bidding to

make his or her way in a hostile world.

Just consider his short film Vincent (1982), about a boy’s wild

imagination, or Pee-wee’s Big Adventure (1985), in which an

“adult” behaves like a juvenile. The raffish sprite in Beetlejuice

(1988) has been compared to a rogue Peter Pan, while Edward

Scissorhands is Frankenstein’s monster packaged as a childlike

innocent. Each story is shaded by both light and dark.

The theme is persistent. On either side of Scissorhands,

Burton made Batman (1989) and Batman Returns (1992). He

was never a great comic book fan but always loved Batman,

drawn to the idea of a hero with a dual personality, a light

side and a dark, which he struggles to reconcile. “It’s a character

I could relate to,” he says. He relates both to characters

with masks (Batman, Catwoman, a heavily made-up Joker)

and to repressed personalities like the Penguin, who are saddled

with the baggage of their troubled childhoods, as he is.

“There is just something about me. Going to high school was

one of the most terrifying things. You are put into a category.

And once you are deemed a weird person, you are in the weird

group. I had a feeling that I was some sort of alien that didn’t

quite fit. I did feel alone, lonely, and while I assume that most

people feel that way, it was quite heavy for me.

“I was afraid of my parents and my relatives and where I grew

up,” he says. “I didn’t feel I had a close relationship with my parents;

we seemed to not get along. I felt lonely and bad but it

forced me to take the reins myself.” At 18, he won a scholarship

to California Institute of the Arts, and three years later he was

working at Disney as an animator on The Fox and the Hound. “I

put myself through school; I got a job.”

That loneliness, isolation and pervasive feeling of peculiarity

got poured into Sleepy Hollow (1999) and Big Fish (2003),

which feature heroes traversing strange and fantastical lands.

It’s there among the misanthropes in Ed Wood (1994), in his

version of Planet of the Apes (2001), Corpse Bride (2005) and

Alice in Wonderland (2010). It’s there in his one published book,

The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy & Other Stories (1997).

And, not surprisingly, it is also present in his latest film, Miss

Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, opening Sept. 30.

Meet Miss Peregrine

The story takes its title from the New York Times best-selling

novel by Ransom Riggs (2011), but it seems as though it could

CAESAR 07/2020


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easily have come from Burton himself. The adaptation features

rising star Asa Butterfield (The Boy in the Striped Pajamas,

Hugo) as a teenager, Jake, who travels from Florida to a remote

Welsh island to join a group of children with odd abilities and

afflictions.

“One of the themes of the story is about celebrating your peculiarity

and your weirdness,” says Butterfield. “It is very surreal

and gothic and odd, which I think Tim is best at capturing, compared

to any other director. It feels like a Tim movie even when

you read the script.”

Indeed, it’s a story that will ring with familiarity to any Burton

devotee. It has a coterie of outsiders, children with immense

strength or who possess a fiery touch. There are twins who, like

mini-Medusas, can turn creatures to stone with just one look.

One boy is invisible. Another is full of bees. Jake’s love interest

(played by Ella Purnell from Never Let Me Go and Maleficent),

meanwhile, is lighter than air and needs iron boots to prevent

her from floating away. Their peculiarities extend into their personalities,”

Purnell says. “Miss Peregrine, who is the weirdest of

them all, leads them. She can change into a bird and she has a

real birdlike quality to her.”

Miss Peregrine (played by Burton’s latest muse, Eva Green)

is the pipe-smoking, time-watching and shape-shifting guardian

who protects the youngsters from their terrifying predators, the

Hollowgasts. Green sees echoes of Burton in all the children.

“They don’t fit in the outside world, and I think Tim felt like

this as a child,” Green says. “Lots of people feel like that and

identify with that. I still feel like this. This is a movie that says

that you just have to accept it, embrace it and celebrate it. It is

beautiful to be different.”

The book is certainly very singular, appealing to Burton not

only through its outlandish adventure story but also via its presentation.

Its author, Riggs, embellished his novel with a series

of haunting black-and-white photographs. “What I loved about

Ransom was his approach with the old photographs,” Burton

says. “They tell you a story without you knowing everything.

There is something very poetic, creepy, haunting and mysterious

about them. It reminded me why we like folktales and fables and

fairy tales. They describe something and there is a mystery to it.

It is not literal, necessarily. There’s something hidden about it.”

Burton’s film unfolds in a world brimming with fairy-tale tropes,

a realm that exists on the boundaries of our own. The story plays

out in a landscape studded with topiary centaurs, or gnarled and

misshapen trees. The children live in a gothic mansion. Even the

real world of Wales is magical, mysterious and misty.

And his highly individual stylistic embellishments shine through,

whether it’s via a stop-motion sequence with dueling toys or

through a nod to one of his favorite movie scenes of all time: the

fighting skeletons in Jason and the Argonauts (1963).

The Eyes Have It

peculiar children. The creatures are terrifying, but also

rather sad.

“They are like something out of a child’s nightmare,”

Burton says of the Hollowgasts. “I am a monster fan, so for

this film I tried to find something where there was still this

humanity to them.”

This is typical Burton, says Green, who also worked with

the director on Dark Shadows (2012). “He has such an understanding

of all outcasts,” she says. “All of them are beautiful.

Even the evil characters in his movies have humanity. There is

something very poetic about his work. Sometimes people say

that Tim’s work is dark. I don’t think so. It’s something actually

very beautiful, very sensitive.”

Burton has an aversion to categorization and has often felt

frustrated by accusations that his work isn’t light and lively

enough. “I always get accused of that,” he says. “It happens

over and over.

“I could wear white linen suits and dye my hair blond and

make happy movies and they’d still think, What is he doing?

Something is wrong. I could make The Sound of Music and

people would say, ‘It’s too dark.’ Once you get categorized,

that’s it. You get, ‘Oh, well, it’s very Burton.’ Well, who am I?

I don’t like thinking of myself as a thing.”

Burton’s desire to explore themes and worlds close to his

heart, his ability to make the mundane magical and the magical

mundane, has led to the coining of the term “Burtonesque.”

It seems that what makes Burton unique also binds him. He

smiles at the irony. “It is peculiar,” he says. “Even though it

makes my skin crawl, I will take that as a compliment. Really, I

got into film because I like making things. That was always my

primary concern.”

His life, like everyone’s, has been shaped by particular episodes—even

beyond the bricking of his windows, his penchant

for monster movies and his abhorrence of school cliques. He

recalls a nuisance telephone call that left him with a fear of

the phone. Growing up without seasons on the West Coast,

he’d search for Christmas ambience in the aisles of Kmart. During

Halloween, he decorated neighborhood houses in Burbank

with spiders and skeletons.

“You are a product of where you grew up,” he says. “Because

Burbank was a blank environment with no seasons, no change

of weather, it forced me to internalize. You create your own

kind of world because there is a blank canvas. And as much as

it terrified me, I wouldn’t change that for the world.”

Thanks to that blank canvas, we now have the peculiar world

of Tim Burton.

by Will Lawrence

Then there are the eyes. Eyes are always important to Burton—he

even made the film Big Eyes in 2014, about Margaret

Keane, the painter of saucer-eyed waifs—and some of the

monsters that hunt the children in Miss Peregrine have

lost their own eyes entirely and feast on the eyeballs of

Photo: Lea Gallo


The Maitlands Home from the

movie ”Beetlejuice“


Photos: Internet Movie Database

Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis as

Adam and Barbara Maitland in

”Beetlejuice“


10

The Artist B

Filmmaker

From the very moving Edward Scissorhands to the

delirious Dark Shadows, Tim Burton has always been

able to carry the audience away into the depths of his

imagination.

CAESAR 07/2020


11

efore The

“Willy Wonka” by Tim

Burton (2004)

A

world full of contradictions, both

dark and light, frightening and

welcoming, cruel and tender. A

world where darkness cohabits with

bright colours, where weird-looking

people and monsters are brave and generous

and where the horrible becomes

poetic. Tim Burton has his own style

that remains inimitable and his extravagance

has become extremely popular.

The audience is more familiar with his

film work but few are aware of the origins

of his films and of his creativity in

general. Tim Burton is an artist before

anything else. He is a talented drawer

who expresses himself through his art.

With him a film is often born from a little

drawing at the corner of a page. The

drawing already sets up the tone of the

film, the colours of the set or the personality

of a main character. This article

pays tribute to the art of Tim Burton,

not always well-known but always so

rich and so meaningful.

A Compulsive Drawer

Drawing has always been part of Tim Burton’s

life. He expresses it as a need and a

way to communicate his feelings and ideas.

It is part of his everyday life and he always

travels with a pencil in his pocket. He draws

everywhere, at all time and on everything

he gets his hands on. In Leah Gallo’s and

Holly C. Kempf ’s wonderful book The Art

of Tim Burton (based on the exhibition at

the MOMA) many of Burton’s personal

acquaintances pick on this compulsive need

to draw and as his partner Helen Bonham

Carter states ‘with him, everything starts

with a drawing’. He draws on at least ten

notebooks at the same time and if he doesn’t

have paper he will use napkins, tissues,

tables or walls. Extremely diverse

and prolific, he uses different techniques

and material – crayons, paints (oil, acrylic,

watercolours), markers, pens, glitters

and pastels… And with this he succeeds ➤

Photo: Tim Burton


12

in creating whole worlds. His characters

are born on paper, marginal and

touching, misunderstood and passionate

just like their creator.

Burton describes this need to draw as

a way to focus and to unleash his imagination.

As a child, he often felt stifled

and different from the other children. He

drew monsters to escape the conformity

of the American suburb he lived in (Burbank

City) and art became his way out. He

identified with his characters, timid and

left out. Encouraged by his art teacher

at school, he developed his own style and

started to feel a true aversion for authority

and categorisation. Being unusual gave

him more artistic freedom and it became a

characteristic trait of his art. He started to

write and illustrate books for children and

became a visual storyteller. As Rick Heinrichs,

producer for Frankenweenie, says:

“I’ve had the good fortune to see the images

Tim dashes off to communicate an important

thought to his collaborators. Economically

but sublimely drawn, they often put across

one simple-but-great-idea. His narrative

temperament dictates an expressionistic visual

style that selectively reveals the emotional

heart of his story: one that entertains

without burying meaning beneath multiple

layers of expository clutter and gratuitous

business.”

Tim Burton entered the California Institute

of Art and worked in animation

for Disney but was soon disappointed by

the company’s style, which was very different

from his own. He was contrived

to imitate and create pale imitations of

Disney pencil traits with no soul and

no emotion. All his independent projects

were considered too bizarre to be

screened and not adapted for children. It

is only after leaving Disney studios that

Tim Burton was able to free himself

from artistic constrictions and focus on

his art which he developed by embracing

filmmaking. A film always starts with

a drawing. Intuitive, enthusiastic and

perfectionist, Tim Burton draws like he

breathes. He has never separated his art

work from his film work. Johnny Depp recalls

his first collaboration with Burton:

“All I had the first time I went to work with Tim

on Edward Scissorhands aside from the images

CAESAR 07/2020


13

arriving in my mind, was a tiny drawing

that Tim had made. One look at that drawing

was all I needed to understand what

Edward was about. It has been exactly the

same ever since.”

His Inspirations

People have often compared Burton’s

style to the gothic. The use of black, the

darkness of some of his drawings, the

heavy make-up, the paleness of the skins,

monsters and other ghostly creatures recall

Gothic literature and paintings but

also German Expressionism. The theme

of death is omnipresent in Burton’s art

often combined with poetry and derision.

The macabre becomes comic and poetic.

He finds inspiration in the authors he loves

like Edgar Allan Poe and Roald Dahl. He

admires them for the unconventionality of

their stories and the complexity of their

worlds far from being just black and white.

They are both funny and dark and close to

Burton’s own style.

True film buff, Burton’s inspiration

can also be linked to the films he used to

watch, mainly thrillers, low- budget films,

satires, science fiction movies and cartoons.

He identifies with Frankenstein and other

monsters who are both feared and rejected.

At the time he discovered those films, his

universe started to expand and his creativity

to grow. Watching Technicolor films

helped him develop his use of colour in his

drawings but also in his short films and

he influence can be observed in Edward

Scissorhands, with the profusion of pastel

colours. He also loved punk music which

expressed at the time his desire for rebellion

against conventions.

His art is truly representative of his

vision of the world and he also finds inspiration

in the people who surround

him. His drawings are often filled with

social commentaries. He reveals the absurdity

of our consumerist society and

its hierarchical organisation. In one drawing

he portrays the company Disney as

a powerful dehumanizing machine which

crushes any sense of singularity. He caricatures

people and their behaviour from

girls too obsessed by their physical appearance

to a perverse man undressing

a woman with his eyes, or a man covered

in blood going in a gun shop and asking

for more bullets. The suburbs he lived

in also inspired him a lot and are at the

heart of his film Edward Scissorhands.

His Aesthetic and Message

Tim Burton refuses to become a label or

a brand and doesn’t categorize his art

although others did it for him. His style

is very recognizable, full of whirlwinds,

stripes, seams, asymmetrical figures,

winding staircases, monsters with sad

eyes and weird hair. In terms of colours,

he often uses black, white, purple,

red and sometimes bright colours

too. Through his drawings he captures

feelings more quickly and efficiently

than through words. He bases his style

on simplicity, clarity, economy and

rapidity. Here is how Ian Mackinnon,

puppet creator and designer for Mars

Attacks!, has described Burton’s style:

“The real strength in Tim’s artwork is his

appreciation of form with strong shapes and

exaggerated proportions. Within a few seemingly

simple pen lines, he creates bold silhou-

ettes […] You would be mistaken for thinking

that some of Tim’s rough sketches are rudimentary,

loose or naïve, for they hold vital information,

demonstrate a great delicacy, sensitivity,

consistent keen eye, and a stunning vision.’

Tim Burton’s imaginary world has now

become a familiar one, a world everyone is

drawn to. A world which is welcoming and

heart-warming, filled with strange-looking

people and sad clowns more frightened than

frightening. His message is clear: people

are not defined by their appearances. To be

different does not mean to be excluded and

differences should be cultivated along with

singularity and creativity. His universe is

more appealing than scary even though it

is full of outcast characters. Their tragedy

inspires more pity than fear and monsters

become charming. He shows life as both

kind and tragic, beautiful and cruel, funny

and disturbing. The horrible becomes tender

and poignant and it is the beautiful that

becomes scary.

by Rachel Elfassy Bitoun

Original Tim Burton hand-drawn ink

storyboard for Vincent (top).

Concept for “Edward Scissorhands”,

1990 (left).

Photos: Tim Burton


Michael Keaton, Eva Green, Colin

Farrell, Nico Parker and Finley

Hobbins in “Dumbo” (2019)


Photos: Internet Movie Database

The animated Elephant Dumbo

in the same-named Movie

“Dumbo” (2019)


16

Miss Peregrine

and Tim Burton:

The Making of a

Film Fable

Ransom Riggs’s novel

“Miss Peregrine’s

Home for Peculiar

Children,” with its

haunting photos,

quirky outsiders and

feel for the macabre,

reads a bit like a Tim

Burton movie. And,

fittingly, it has now

become one.

Eva Green as

Miss Peregrine

CAESAR 07/2020


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Photos: Jay Maidment/20th Century Fox; Tim Burton

Milo Parker as Hugh in “Miss Peregrines

Home for Peculiar Children” in comparison

with Tim Burtons sketch (top)

The helmets of the experiment conducted

by the villain Barron (bottom)

Tim Burton was drawn to “Miss

Peregrine” (in theaters Sept. 30)

because it fell in line with the

themes he often explores: misfits struggling

to be understood and tales that

blend the comic and the tragic. The

“Peculiar Children” of the title possess

special abilities, like the power to reanimate

dead creatures or shoot fire from

their fingers. For this story of a teenage

boy (Asa Butterfield) who uncovers a

family mystery that involves a handful

of those children, invisible monsters

known as Hollows, and time travel, Mr.

Riggs built his narrative around vintage

photographs he collected.

“I liked Ransom’s approach with the

pictures,” Mr. Burton said in a phone

interview from Los Angeles. “It was an

interesting kind of way to create a story.

It made it feel like a weird old fable.”

For the production, Mr. Burton sketched

characters, props and more. Here,

he explains why he decided to put clothes

on evil creatures and how he came

to storyboard a feast of human eyeballs.

Conceiving the Peculiars

This is Hugh (Milo Parker), a Peculiar

who has a wild hive of bees living inside

of him. Mr. Burton’s simple sketch

shows the intensity of the character

using only dots to illustrate the bees.

“I didn’t do too many sketches of the

kids because I didn’t want to do three

drawings and try to cast the kids to look

like that,” he said. “This was just a little

more my process, my doodles really,”

Mr. Burton said. “Doodling these little

things helps me to get thoughts from the

inside out.”

Barron’s Experiment

This scene is from an experiment conducted

by the creepy villain, Barron

(Samuel L. Jackson), who has evolved

from a Hollow and is trying to achieve

immortality. The helmet has a sinister,

torturous medieval yet industrial look

that Mr. Burton came up with after earlier

designs left him dissatisfied.

“I had a lot of artists working on

things, and the helmets were looking

overly elaborate, overly cartoonish, like

from an old Disney movie,” Mr. Burton


18

said. “But I thought there was something

a bit more weird and scary about

a more simple helmet. This riveted simplicity

felt kind of cultish to me.”

The Hollows

These creatures are the biggest threat

to Peculiars, and all the more menacing

because they are invisible to most everyone.

In his sketch, Mr. Burton incorporated

mouth tentacles and other traits

described in the novel but also put his

stamp on this lanky figure, which could

be at home in his films “The Nightmare

Before Christmas” or “Corpse Bride.”

“Originally, we were doing things that

felt too much like monsters,” he said. “I

got back to the idea that they should

have a human quality. That made it feel

more like a folk tale kind of children’s

horror story. So I kept clothes on them

so they had a human aspect to them.”

Icky Treat: Eyeball Feast

To become more humanlike, Barron

must eat human eyeballs. In one scene,

he and other former Hollows enjoy an

eyeball feast. It’s a grisly, but also a kind

of funny, visual set piece that gets at the

children’s nightmare spirit of the novel.

Mr. Burton’s simple watercolor drawing

helped realize this moment. And

while he doesn’t make as many storyboards

for his movies as he used to, they

were necessary in this case.

“We had to do this scene in a montage

kind of a way,” Mr. Burton said, “so it is

one sequence that helped to storyboard.”

In the end, though the feast’s vibe is lifted

from in the book, he said, “it’s not as

literal as what we ended up with.”

In Miss Peregrine‘s Home For Peculiar

Children, eagle-eyed viewers will notice

that Tim Burton appears on-screen for a

split second during the film‘s boardwalkset

finale, so when I recently had the chance

to sit down with the director during the

movie‘s press day, I took the opportunity

to ask him about it. Burton explained

that he didn‘t have much of a choice in

the matter, because the production was

not only short on budget, but didn‘t have

a crew available and didn‘t even have official

permission to shoot in the location:

CAESAR 07/2020

Photos: Jay Maidment/20th Century Fox; Tim Burton


19

„This one was out of necessity, because what

happened was... this happened at the end. We

had no money; we had no crew; we had no permits,

so just a few of us snuck on to a couple of

rides. [We] got kicked of the pier a few times.

So it wasn‘t out of vanity, it was more out of

necessity.“

Following up, I decided to ask Tim Burton

why he has never really cameoed in his

movies before (the exception being Peewee‘s

Big Adventure), and his answer was

as straight forward and understandable as

it gets:

„I don‘t like looking at myself! That‘s one reason.“

If you haven‘t seen Miss Peregrine‘s

Home For Peculiar Children yet, be sure to

be on the lookout for Tim Burton‘s quick

appearance -- and if you‘ve seen the film,

hit the comments below to tell us whether

or not you spotted the director! You can see

the movie in theaters now, and be sure to

stay tuned for more from our interviews

with the cast and filmmakers!

by Merkado Murphy

Mekado Murphy is a senior staff editor with a focus

on movies coverage. He joined The New York Times

in 2006.

The `eyeball feast´ (right) compared

to the sketch by Burton.

The Hollows, threats to the kids

(bottom)


Winona Ryder, Jeffrey Jones, and

Catherine O‘Hara in “Beetlejuice”

(1988)


Photos: Internet Movie Database

Winona Ryder floating as Lydia

Deetz in the last seconds of

“Beetlejuice”


22

See how “Beetl

built a Habitat

for Demons

CAESAR 07/2020


23

Photo: Andre Chung

ejuice” Designers

Two families, one haunted house: The complicated set of the new

Broadway musical is a shape-shifter all its own. ➤


24

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Photo: Krista Schlueter

The house when Beetlejuice haunts it.


26

It almost takes longer to say “Beetlejuice!

Beetlejuice! Beetlejuice!” than for

some of the scene changes to take place

in the new Broadway musical based on the

1988 Tim Burton movie. Within minutes,

sometimes seconds, workers must morph

the traditional country home of the recently

deceased Maitlands to the kitsch

taste of the Deetzes, and then finally into a

demon-infested haunted play land.

Beetlejuice is a musical with music and

lyrics by Eddie Perfect and book by Scott

Brown and Anthony King. It is based on

the 1988 film of the same name. The story

concerns a deceased couple who try to

haunt the new inhabitants of their former

home and call for help from a devious bioexorcist

ghost named Betelgeuse (pronounced

„Beetlejuice“), who is summoned

by saying his name three times. One of the

new inhabitants is a young girl, Lydia, who

is dealing with her mother‘s death and her

neglectful father.

The eye-popping set is the brainchild of

the scenic designer David Korins and the

director Alex Timbers. Mr. Korins, who

counts “Hamilton” and “Dear Evan Hansen”

among his Broadway credits, said in

an interview at his Midtown studio that

“Beetlejuice,” which had a preliminary run

Concept for the

Maitland‘s House.

in Washington, D.C., was the most technically

complicated show he had ever worked

on. His task: making room for puppetry,

special effects, quick changes and dance

numbers while bringing Mr. Burton’s distinct

style to life on one stage, without the

film director’s ability to cut away.

Also a challenge: striking a balance between

imitation and innovation. “I didn’t

want to just put Tim Burton on stage,”

Mr. Korins said. “I wanted to lean into

the work but also put our own spin on it.”

Much of “Beetlejuice,” which is now in

previews and opens April 25 at the Winter

Garden Theater, takes place at the home

of the Maitlands, a kindhearted, cautious

couple who find themselves dead as a result

of a freak accident. The home is sleekly

redecorated when the new owners, the

Deetz family, settle in. Finally, sandworms

and demons roam the living room when

Beetlejuice, played by Alex Brightman,

takes over; at one point, the house even

hosts a game show.

Old record albums are

hidden away.

Concept for the

Maitland‘s House

Ready for that trip to the netherworld?

Here’s a deep dive into the transformations:

Country Bland to Haunted House

When the creators began work six years

ago, Mr. Korins said they set out to make the

home a multifaceted character in itself. “Every

single thing that is a telltale visual and architectural

element gets changed,” he explained.

“All the walls, all the window dressing,

every single light fixture and the fireplace.”

“The Maitlands are kind of country-fabulous

chic,” Mr. Korins said. “They then

basically have their world bleached and modernized

by the Deetzes.” And then, Beetlejuice

has free rein.

Look closely when he takes over the

home from the Deetzes: Flat walls contour

in contrasting directions. How? Stagehands

tack up undulating wall panels that bend

and twirl to create the impression of chaos.

Tim Burton, in Several Dimensions

Beyond the big changes, small decorative

details are traded in and out depending on

which iteration of the house we’re watching.

Mr. Burton was an animator before ma-

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27

king big budget live-action movies, and

his drawing style subtly helped in the

creation of the largely hand-painted

Maitland home.

Consulting Mr. Burton’s illustration

books, Mr. Korins was inspired by a flower

the director once drew. He resized

it, drew a new version as the pattern

for the wallpaper, and then made a digital

print. Then, he and his team drew

on the pattern to add more texture.

Who and What’s Hiding Upstairs?

Subtle clues to the Maitlands (played

by Kerry Butler and Rob McClure)

are housed in the attic walls, set pieces

which slide in and out of the wings.

“The Maitlands didn’t really live life

A light fixture in the

Deetz home and later

when Beetlejuice takes

over.

The wallpaper was based on a

Tim Burton illustration.

while they were alive,” Mr. Korins

explained. “They had a lot of hobbies

they abandoned because of their fear.”

He added, “We conceived of the attic

of almost a graveyard for their hopes

and dreams.”

Signs of these side projects — yarn

for knitting, a toolbox, picture frames,

LPs and tennis rackets — are haphazardly

squirreled away.

One item has a personal connection

to Mr. Korins himself: a battered cigar

box. His grandmother gave him one

and he would fill it with his childhood

treasures. He even keeps it in his office.

Mr. Korins requested that the attic

in “Beetlejuice” have one as well. Not

because Adam is a smoker: “I thought

it was cool to have a memento of my

childhood.”

A sculpture from the movie

was remade for the stage.

Photos: Krista Schlueter; Andre Chung; Scenic Art Studios

“There isn’t one piece of furniture

dressing or piece of architecture that doesn’t

have some kind of a handmade, homemade

quality to it,” Mr. Korins said.

Tacky art dots the Deetz living room:

In one case, a blocky black sculpture serves

as an Easter egg for fans of the original

film.

Sharp-eyed viewers may be able to

spot callouts to Mr. Burton’s designs

from work beyond “Beetlejuice.” A light

fixture in the demon’s home is modeled

after the bow tie worn by Jack Skellington

in the director’s animated 1993 movie

“The Nightmare Before Christmas.”

by Sopan Dep

Sopan Deb is a culture reporter, writing about the

intersection of politics and culture, among other

topics. His work has appeared on NBC, Al Jazeera

America and elsewhere.

Scan the code for the

official “Beetlejuice”

Trailer!


28

The creators of the “Beetlejuice” musical

‘tried to run toward Burton’ visually

“It’s the first film where you

really see his visual imprint,”

says director Alex Timbers,

in Washington getting “Beetlejuice”

on its feet following

his premiere of the new $28

million “Moulin Rouge”

musical in Boston. “Do you

try to make your own thing,

or run toward it? We sort of

did a little of both. We’ve

tried to make the story itself

as theatrical and emotional as

possible. But, visually, we’ve

tried to run toward Burton.”

We’re both fans of Tim Burton,”

set designer David Korins

says of the visionary

whose goth-comic range has extended

from “Pee-wee’s Big Adventure” and the

first two “Batman” movies to “Edward

Scissorhands” and the movie “Sweeney

Todd.” “We wanted right away to say,

‘We get it, we know it, we love it, too’

— but also to make our own take on it.”

Timbers has been chewing for eight

years on the challenge of making a

musical of “Beetlejuice,” which starred

Michael Keaton as a mischievous spook

trying to help a recently deceased smalltown

couple (Alec Baldwin and Geena

Davis) scare away gauche new tenants

from New York (Catherine O’Hara and

Jeffrey Jones, with a dewy Winona Ryder

as a teen so gloomy she can see the

ghosts). The musical is finally onstage

at the National Theatre, in previews and

with its official opening Nov. 4. Broadway

performances are scheduled to begin

in the spring at the Winter Garden.

It’s a lavish proposition, reportedly a

$21 million musical and a technological

product that Timbers and Korins, explaining

on the stage and then talking

in a lobby upstairs about the project, say

could not have been made five or 10 years

ago. The bar is always rising for spectacle

on Broadway, most recently with the

magic of “Harry Potter and the Cursed

Child” (still running) and the elaborate

cartoon vision of the underwater kids’

adventure “SpongeBob SquarePants”

(closed in September). The ingredients

“Beetlejuice” uses to whip up its eye candy

include projections, puppets, illusions

and special effects.

Yet, Timbers and Korins say, the show

will cling to the “do-it-yourself ” aesthetic

of Burton’s movie, which featured

stop-motion effects that, along with its

deadpan wit, made the picture such a

charmer. Their new technology mainly

involves projections and lighting effects,

not the physical structure, and not even

the magic.

“A lot of it is illusions you would have

seen in the vaudeville days — very simple,

practical effects,” Timbers says of the

show. “Jankiness” is the slangy, grungy

word he uses to evoke the lowdown vibe.

There are three versions of the set’s

haunted-house centerpiece — the simple

original, the tasteless version overdecorated

by the second couple and, ultimately,

the version controlled by the demonic

Beetlejuice. Yet the house is not something

that flies onstage from multiple directions

and assembles and reassembles

before your eyes. Instead, it’s a single

structure (redone three times) that rolls

downstage on a wagon. “It’s kind of oldschool

in that way,” Timbers says.

“Very old-school,” echoes Korins,

whose Broadway credits include the Revolutionary

War-era “Hamilton” and the

high-tech social-media-themed “Dear

Evan Hansen.”

The house is also a canvas that Korins

loads with tributes — “Easter eggs”

paying homage not just to “Beetlejuice,”

but to Burton’s body of work. He points

to several elements of the house as possessed

by Beetlejuice: The wallpaper, for

instance, is black and flaking, dipped in

sealants to give it a tar-like texture. A

black chandelier has a vague batlike shape

— an appropriate nod to the director

of two “Batman” movies, but derived

from a small carousel in the “Beetlejuice”

film that briefly spins on the head of the

gauche couple’s designer friend, Otho.

Korins says he also picked up the shapes

from the bow tie of Jack Skellington, the

skeletal character from the 1992 animated

film “The Nightmare Before Christmas,”

which Burton wrote and produced

The giant sandworm lurking in the

netherworld around the house is embedded

in the set’s walls — not the only time

it’s seen in the show. “It’s a constant threat

and pushing through the wall, breaking

through,” Korins says. “It’s essentially like

a boa constrictor. Beetlejuice has taken

control of the house. He’s thinking about

squeezing the life out of it.”

He points to a smaller detail, a lighting

sconce that’s a menacing open jaw. “It’s

modeled after the sandworm’s mouth,

with little teeth,” Korins says.

Burton’s animated style is reflected in

hand-drawn charcoal lines around the

ceiling’s molding and in the white fabric

of a couch that contains a hidden trampoline.

(Korins won’t say why.) There

are some direct appropriations, such as

the monstrous, nine-tendrilled sculpture

fashioned by Delia, the artsy half of

the New York couple. “When this thing

comes on stage, it actually gets entrance

applause,” Korins says, the morning after

the show’s third public performance.

Timbers gets philosophical as he talks

about how rare it is for comedies to get

what he calls “a ‘world creation’ treatment,”

while noting that the show is

not the kind of “immersive” experience

that wraps itself around audiences. Korins

says the do-it-yourself approach

“holds true with the gags we pull off,

and with the tricks. Everything is sort

of hand-done.”

“I know it seems like a lot of spectacle,”

Timbers says. “But there’s the version

we’ve chosen not to do, which is three

times as big.’’

by Nelson Pressley

Theater critic

CAESAR 07/2020


29

Kerry Butler

in the country

version of

the Maitland

home, with

its flowery

wallpaper.

Things get

sleeker

when the

Deetz family

moves in.

It all

reaches its

climax when

Beetlejuice

haunts the

house.

Photos: Krista Schlueter


30

Eight Facts About Tim Burton

You may know and love his films, but there‘s a lot about Tim

Burton you don‘t know. Meet the man behind the camera with

these fun facts!

1 2

Timothy Walter “Tim” Burton was born

August 25 1958 in Burbank,

California.

“Stalk of the Celery Monster” attracted

the attention of Walt Disney Productions’

animation division, which offered

Burton an animator’s apprenticeship.

5

Tim Burton and Helena Bonham Carter

have two children: a son, Billy Raymond,

born in 2003; and a daughter, Nell,

born in 2007.

6

Johnny Depp is godfather to both of Burton‘s

Kids.

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31

3

Tim frequently features a dinner scene in

his films.

4

Burton’s ability to produce hits with low

budgets impressed studio executives, and

he received his first big budget film,

“Batman.”

Photos: Dana Damato, Tim Burton, Thomas Smith, PIC PHOTOS/REX Shutterstock, Warner Bros Alan Levenson

7 8

Burton‘s favorite films are “Dracula A.D.

1972”, “The Wicker Man”, “The Golden

Voyage of Sinbad”, “The War of the Gargantuas

and “The Omega Man”.

He wears pinstriped socks for good luck

and hates apples.


Winona Ryder and Michael Keaton

as Lydia and Beetlejuice.


Photos: Internet Movie Database

Beetlejuice (Michael Keaton) in

front of „Dante‘s Inferno Room“.


34

An Analysis of Art & Design in

The Films of Tim Burton

Tim Burton is one of Hollywood’s most successful filmmakers. He started out as an animator

at Disney and directed well-received short films such as “Vincent” (1982) and “Frankenweenie”

(1984), before making the leap into feature-length movies.

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35

Johnny Depp in “Sweeney Todd: The

Demon Barber of Fleet Street.”

Photo: respective film studios

He made his big screen debut in 1985 with “Pee-Wee’s

Big Adventure.” From that, Burton has built a remarkable

career. His visual style is unique, bringing together

19th and 20th century European art aesthetics and

American kitsch. Stories very often focused on freaks and

loners that should, in theory, make studio executives run a

mile. But they don’t. Burton’s brand of quirkiness connects

with millions and his films have universal appeal.

I have finally finished watching all of the films that Tim Burton

directed, and all of the ones he produced, except for Cabin

Boy which I cannot seem to find anywhere. Over the course of

watching the films Burton directed, I have discovered several

major similarities or themes and some minor ones. I will discuss

here a couple of the major ones that I found.

Outcast/Rebel main character: Nearly all of Tim Burton’s

films contained a main character that does not fit in with the

society in which they exist. I believe the best example of this

is Edward from Edward Scissorhands. The character of Edward

is both an outcast in the sense that he is not even human,

but is also a social outcast that has trouble fitting in with

the suburban society in which he is thrown into. Other good

examples of this theme include Sweeney Todd, Ichabod Crane,

and Batman. The movie Ed Wood is a biopic about the filmmaker

who refused to adhere to film conventions even in the

face of extreme criticism of his work. All of these characters

in some for are not fully accepted by society or choose not to

conform to the accepted norm. I also feel that these characters

represent Tim Burton’s experiences as a child and teenager, in

that he too did not fully fit in.

Use of bright, vibrant colors in contrast with bleak settings:

This is a fascinating trait of Burton’s film. While most of his

settings are rather bleak and contain few if any colors, when

there is color, it is usually very bright and stands out. The

color red is especially prevalent. Burton uses this for variety

of purposes. In the films Sweeney Todd and Sleepy Hollow,

he uses (unrealistically) vivid red blood in order to emphasize

the bleakness of the setting as well as to enhance the violence

of the attacks presented. In Mars Attacks! the use of florescent

reds and greens provides an unnatural feel to the Martians

weapons as well the dead bodies that would not be present

if their bones were normally colored. In other movies there

seems to be no purpose to Burtons excessive use of vibrant

colors other than to add a surreal feel to the setting or to draw

the viewers attention to a particular item or section of the film.

Death: Although death occurs in the films of almost any

director, in Tim Burton’s films death is often highly significant.

In Batman, the murder of Bruce Wayne’s parents is

what drives him to become Batman. The death of the scientist

in Edward Scissorhands represents a loss of innocence for

Edward and is what ultimately allows him to experience the

outside world. The thought of Lucy’s death drives Sweeney

Todd to murder, and those murders further represent Todd’s

cleansing of the evils of society. In Beetlejuice, death is the

basis of the movie and represents a second chance at life. Life

through death is also present in the film Corpse Bride, where

the afterlife is much more alive then the real world, and only by

entering it is Vincent able to truly learn to live his own life. ➤


36

In fact, it‘s almost impossible to say what „natural“ color looks

like. That bottle of Cabernet that looked blood-red in the kitchen

pantry the night before is gloriously rosy outdoors on the

picnic cloth the next day.

After the Hollywood studio love affair with saturated color,

cinematographers experimented with taking away the richness

of color for special effects or ironically exaggerating it even

more. As an example of the latter, Dick Tracy (1990) is a liveaction

movie with the bold coloring-book or Sunday-comics

primary colors to match the grotesque makeup of its comicbook

villains. The colors are rich and supersaturated.

Desaturated color can be found in Michelangelo Antonioni‘s

Red Desert (Deserto Rosso, Italy, 1964), whose very title

suggests that the film is about thematizing color-draining as

the absence of values. The title‘s desert is also the desert of

contemporary society.

In contrast, the „Ascot Opening Day“ sequence of My Fair

Lady (1964), though shot in color, photographs mainly black,

white, and gray objects for a paradoxically hard-edged nostalgic

effect. Suits, dresses, hats, furniture: All are black and white.

Many thrillers since the 1980s have been filmed in color, but

very darkly, in a style called „color noir.“ Films as disparate as

the murder mystery Body Heat (1981), the science fiction thriller

Blade Runner (1982), and the Tim Burton fantasy Batman

(1989) share this style. Some critics believe that it reflects the

same cultural anxiety that the original 1940s film noir style

denoted: an anxiety about cultural values in the middle of an

affluent but spiritually empty society.

Costumes

Anybody that has seen a Tim Burton film will recognise that

the director has a fondness for costumes with a 19th century

Victorian flavour, even if the story is set in more modern

times. But he is equally inspired by the famed stories and cartoon

drawings of Dr. Seuss. This can be seen time and time

again with characters wearing an array of clothing designed

in black-and-white stripes. Elsewhere, leading ladies and heroines

often sport flowing blonde locks, pale white faces and

exquisite gowns akin to Pre-Raphaelite paintings. Burton is a

man steeped in the history of art and his synthesising of different

periods and eras is humorous and striking.

German Expressionism

The director described the famous German art movement in

the book “Burton on Burton” (Mark Salisbury, 1995) as like “the

inside of somebody’s head, like an internalized state externalized.”

It’s not just chiaroscuro lighting effects, but also in the

production design and the wildly exaggerated sets and décor.

Just think of the Inventor’s castle in “Edward Scissorhands”

or the whole of Gotham City in “Batman Returns.” Burton’s

cinematic universe is indebted to German Expressionism.

in sunny Los Angeles. It shouldn’t work at all—a world of

darkness, wild moors and haunted castles crossed with pastel-coloured

bungalows, picket fences and verdant green lawns

as American as apple pie. And yet in merging these unlikely

worlds, Burton struck creative gold. The contrast is there in

nearly all his films. The ruined castle perched above suburbia in

“Edward Scissorhands” is a classic Burton touch. Gothic suburbia

is revisited again, in animated form, in “Frankenweenie.”

In “Dark Shadows,” the Gothic mansion owned by the Collins

family is hidden back in the trees above the fishing port of

Collinsport.

Johnny Depp

The American actor Johnny Depp, born in Kentucky, and Tim

Burton have made eight very successful films together. The

actor and the director formed a richly rewarding working relationship.

There is no doubt that when Depp is on screen playing

an array of weird and wonderful characters—the young

man with scissors for hands; the world’s worst director in “Ed

Wood”; bumbling cop Ichabod Crane (“Sleepy Hollow”); Willy

Wonka in “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”; Victor in

“Corpse Bride” (voice only); the murderous barber in “Sweeney

Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street”; The Mad Hatter

(“Alice in Wonderland”), or vampire Barnabas Collins in “Dark

Shadows”—there is undoubtedly an element of Burton’s persona

in there. Depp is effectively the director’s on-screen

alter-ego. They last worked together on “Dark Shadows” in

2012 and will no doubt collaborate again in the near future.

Signature Camera Style

There is a lot of camera movement in the films of Tim Burton.

It is used expressively and the effect is pure mastery of cinematic

craft. The camera is often attached to a dolly, a crane, sometimes

even a helicopter, or the traditional Steadicam device.

Sometimes, it feels like one is on a rollercoaster or ghost train.

One of the signature Burton camera moves is the high-angled

tracking shot that glides and weaves. It is employed to show

off the sets and achieve the maximum cinematic potential of

the imagery. Examples of this camera aesthetic can be seen

in every single film. Burton especially deploys the high-angled

roaming camera in his opening credits sequences. For fine

examples, check out: “Ed Wood,” “Batman” (1989) and “Beetlejuice”

(1988).

by Martyn Conterio

Martyn Conterio is a freelance film writer.

Gothic meets Suburbia

The director’s visual imagination often sees Gothic architecture

and atmosphere brought together with his own upbringing

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37

Black and white stripes, Victorian

costumes and heroines with blonde

hair and pale faces are some of the

re-occurring costume designs and

makeup in the films of Tim Burton.

Tim Burton successfully brought

together Gothic atmosphere and

art to the American suburbs.

On the right: Michael Keaton as

the lead role in “Beetlejuice”

Burton often uses high-angled

tracking shots to show off the beautifully

designed sets and spaces.

Photos: respective film studios


Johnny Depp and Alan Arkin in

“Edward Scissorhands” (1990)


Photos: Internet Movie Database

Johnny Depp and Winona Ryder

star in “Edward Scissorhands”


40

Masters Of

Color:

Tim Burton

There are two sides to Tim Burton that come across

in most of his work. Through the use of a variety

of light sources, color tones, and his hand-painted

characters he expressively creates two separate,

colorful worlds that captivate viewers and tickle

their imaginations: a dark, grey scale Gothic world,

and a goofy world, filled with pastels and striped

patterns.

An examination of how color, light, and dark have been

used in Tim Burton’s films to reflect the view points

of his characters and the observance of the mundane

vs the outrageous. Specifically looking at how Miss Peregrine’s

Home for Peculiar Children differs from many of of Tim

Burton’s other films by providing more „grey“ spaces that are

neither colorful „dream worlds“ nor colorless „realities“. It

would also be interesting to include an analysis of the film

Edward Scissorhands and how the „normal“/suburban world

is portrayed as the „dream world“ through color reflecting Edwards

viewpoint.

The greatest directors of our time often have a “trademark”

style that audience members come to recognize and connect

with them. Tim Burton is among such directors along with

JJ Abrams and Oliver Stone; both of which have a brilliantly

unique style. The protagonist in Burton’s films frequently

reveal his emotions and the way he sees the world. In his

films he creates a recurring theme about outsiders and how

they fit in this crazy, mixed up place. It is clear in Edward

Scissor Hands, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and Corpse

Bride, that people fear change and the great unknown.

Burton gives light to vastly suppressed outsider perspectives

and teaches an important lesson about difference and all

that it brings. He uses cinematic techniques such as emotional

close-ups, contrasted lighting, and non-diegetic music in

order to create gothic fairy tales revealing the cliche that not

everything is the way it seems. ?In many of Tim Burton’s

films, he uses close-up shots to resonate with his audience

that a deep emotion or personal connection with the character

is being made.

This is shown numerous times in Edward Scissor Hands,

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and Corpse Bride. This

technique is most often used in what’s believed to be Burton’s

most personal film, Edward Scissor Hands. More specifically

with the young Edward and Kim. The close-ups allow the audience

to not only see, but to feel the forbidden love the two

characters share. For example, when Edward first see’s her

photos, it’s as if time stops. Burton uses a close up in order for

the audience to see emotion deeper past Edwards frightening

exterior.

Burton uses a similar concept in The Corpse Bride, when

Victor and Victoria meet for the first time. The close-up on

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41

Tim Burton and Mia

Wazikowska behind

the scenes of “Alice

in Wonderland”

Photo: MoviestillsDB.com

both individuals who are forcefully to be wed show the audience

the true connection they share despite the circumstance.

This foreshadows a genuine relationship progressing.

Though it is common, love is not the only emotion

displayed with close-up shots. Burton zooms into Emily’s

face as she sees Victor and Victoria together to show the

audience utter hatred. In yet another Burton film, Charlie

and the Chocolate Factory, when Willy Wonka is asked

about his father there’s a close-up on him to present the

pain it brings Willy to discuss such a personal matter, thus

immediately telling our audience that he suffers from an

emotional problem with his past and family. Burton very

efficiently uses’ this camera movement to detach his protagonist

from the other characters. This isn’t always a physical

separation but often a mental and social detachment

as well. ?It’s safe to say that an audience can almost always

spot a “Burton Film” within the first few moments of a

preview. He is well known for his use of low key lighting

to create a dark, ominous, and mildly disturbing picture.

This is a technique that plays a major role in setting Burton

apart from your average director. While being a strong

believer in the use of low key lighting, he very frequently

uses it in contrast to high key lighting, often with bold

colors to coincide with the use of cheerful and upbeat music

to display a sense of utopia. In Edward Scissor Hands

Burton presents the seemingly “perfect” town painted with

bright pastel colors and a kind setting; then contrasts it

with an isolated castle shown in the distance that is showered

in darkness.

From the first time the audience is presented with the

eerie castle, an image of separation between Edward and

the townspeople is created along with a preconceived idea

of the mysterious protagonist. This technique is used in

many other Tim Burton Films, such as Charlie and the

Chocolate Factory. He shows the audience a grey town

riddled with a glum vibe, while Willy Wonka’s factory is

unveiled to be a wild array of color and creativity. The factory

is certainly not what it appears to be on the outside.

While unordinary to the public eye, only a select few are

granted with the view of the amazement that lies inside. ➤

This seems to be a recurring theme within the films under

Burton’s direction. Twisting things around in Corpse Bride, ➤


42

Burton displays a town overruled with morbdity that isn’t

contrasted with a factory or castle, but the beautiful land

of the dead. It seems ironic that the dead are shown as

the most joyous and “lively”, but is it really? The gothic

mannerisms are almost always the most unique and

wonderful places to be when it comes to a Tim Burton

film. The point Burton is trying to prove is that a life of

difference can be filled with happiness and that nothing is

really what it at first seems.?

Another technique Tim Burton uses very precisely that

is often overlooked is his use of non-diegetic music. In Edward

Scissor Hands, Burton uses a wide variation of music.

For example, whenever Edward saw Kim a light and whimsical

song is played, thus foreshadowing to the audience the

progressing feelings Edward has for Kim. In Charlie and the

Chocolate Factory, the music is used to create a contrast between

the depressing life of Charlie Bucket, and the magical

factory. Sorrowful music is played whenever Charlie’s home

is being shown, creating a sympathetic mood. While the factory

is accompanied with upbeat music whenever presented.

A similar style is displayed in Corpse Bride. The living

world is set with dreary ominous music while the land

of the dead is filled with a dancing jazz town that is

bursting with “life”! This of course is a humorous take

on death that plays very well into the themes seen most

often in Tim Burton’s films. Tim Burton’s trademark

style wouldn’t be complete without his use of music to

construct a particular mood and tone for his audience.

?Tim Burton wouldn’t be known as such a film genius

in this generation if it wasn’t for his use of cinematic

techniques such as close up shots, contrasted lighting,

and non-diegetic music. while they may seem like small

details, they all play a very large role to create the ‘in

between the lines’ message Burton strives to convey:

not everything is what is seems and a lonely life isn’t

necessarily an unhappy one. Burton shows an uncommon

perspective that a life of difference can be bliss in

this own misunderstood. No one will ever completely be

able to explain the stylistic techniques of such a unique

director, but that’s just the way Tim Burton likes it. ➤

CAESAR 07/2020


Johnny Depp, Winona Ryder,

and Tim Burton in “Edward

Scissorhands” (1990)

43


44

The Nightmare Before Christmas

Color is another huge element in Burton‘s films, created by

careful lighting and, in the case of his puppet films, pensively

hand-painting... Besides granting „Nightmare“ a Gothic

flair, the lights and colors contribute to the film‘s symbolism.

In Halloween Land, everything appears in gloomy shades

because the characters there lack the sincerity, hope,

and imagination of a warmer atmosphere. In Christmas

Land, the landscape buzzes with all the festive colors traditionally

associated with the holidays; the waves of red,

green, and gold allude to cheer and optimism. The Real

World, where Jack goes to deliver presents, though, is

much blander; the houses, the cars, the people--everything

is a neutral tone or a humdrum pastel. In other words,

reality hovers somewhere between Halloween Land and

Christmas Land in terms of faith and rosy sentiments.

This is Halloween, this is Halloween … okay, I know it’s

only the beginning of September but according to Starbucks

and Pinterest, it’s Halloween. And if you go by the

craft store calendar, Halloween started in June. So I figured

it’s not to early for my latest Poster Palette, based on

Tim Burton’s Nightmare Before Christmas! I have seen a

few NBC themed Disney weddings and they have all been

moody and dramatic and fabulous. I was excited to make

this board and bring these non-traditional colors together.

Of course when you think Nightmare Before Christmas you

always think black, purple, and orange! But the lighter shades

of yellow adds a coolness to the dramatic darker shades.

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45

Corpse Bride

Photos: Impawards, Gaby Smith

Returning to the painstaking stop-motion animation he

employed with amazing success in The Nightmare Before

Christmas, Tim Burton presents a hair-raising legend based

on a 19th-century Russian folktale, in which a young

man mistakenly weds a corpse while on a two-day trek to

the village of his real bride-to-be. It is up to the groom‘s

flesh-and-blood fiancée, who has been pining for the arrival

of her intended, to face her wraith-like rival and make peace

with her by promising to live her dreams for her and by

vowing to remember her always. Only then are the living

bride and groom free to proceed with their own wedding

ceremony in the warmhearted fable Tim Burton‘s Corpse

Bride.

Just as the color palette is very precise in „Nightmare“-

-with all its carefully chosen shades, „Corpse Bride“ also

features two main color families that help contrast two

worlds through the use of diligent lighting and hand-painting.

Life scenes show everything in grays, like tintypes,

while Death scenes are much more flamboyant (Burton

2008). The Life scenes therefore come across as uptight

and dreary, whereas the Death scenes read as significantly

more relaxed and fun.


46

Edward Scissorhands

A modern day fairy tale which tells the story of Edward, a

man created by an inventor who died before finishing him

and left him with scissors where he should have hands. One

day when the local Avon representative calls at the historic

mansion where he has been living alone, she takes him home

to stay with her family. He has to adapt to the new life and

environment that he isn‘t used to. Soon he shows a talent in

cutting hair and hedges and wins every body‘s heart. But life

isn‘t always so sweet.

The first thing that strikes the viewer is the use of colours.

The small mountain and the mansion on top of it are

set in a dark grey shade that strongly contrast to the pastel

colours of the suburb below. This can also be found in the

clothing of people. While Edward’s colours are black and

white the others are dressed in soft pastels. Since black is

the traditional colour signifying the bad guys we of course

assume at first glance that Edward is evil. this is also emphasised

by his hands. If we imagine this film with Edward

dressed in white or some shade of pastel it would not have

the same effect.

The suburb is, as I have already mentioned, set in pastel

colours; cars, houses and inhabitants. I associate pastel with

things like My Little Pony and dresses with puffed sleeves

and lace. These are very harmless colours making the suburb

look like a utopia from the 60‘s, in contrast to the dark

nightmare image of the mansion lurking in the background.

This use of pastel and black distances Edward from the others

and shows that he is an outsider. This contrast between

him and the residents of the suburb is used throughout the

movie.

Toward the end of the film there is a slight change in the

colours. Kim and Edward forms a unit because she is now

dressed in white, which reflects both her innocence and that

she is the only one that still believes that he is good and that

he does not mean any harm.

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47

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Photos: Impawards, Gaby Smith

Charlie Bucket comes from a poor family, and spends most of

his time dreaming about the chocolate that he loves but usually

can‘t afford. Things change when Willy Wonka, head of the

very popular Wonka Chocolate empire, announces a contest

in which five gold tickets have been hidden in chocolate bars

and sent throughout the country. The kids who find the tickets

will be taken on a tour of Wonka‘s chocolate factory and get

a special glimpse of the wonders within. Charlie miraculously

finds a ticket, along with four other children much naughtier

than him. The tour of the factory will hold more than a few

surprises for this bunch.

Color is also often used to denote a mood or make the viewer

feel a specific way. The color palette of Tim Burton’s Charlie

and the Chocolate Factory emphasizes the film’s underlying

creepy vibe, in a more subtle way. Burton’s already stylized

filmmaking prepares the viewer for bright colors. However,

there is something very unsettling about the brightness surrounding

the otherwise pale and subdued characters.


48

Sweeney Todd

Color used in Sweeney Todd is very limited; at first glance,

the film appears to be almost completely black-and-white,

with the exception of a few high-saturation sequences, and

copious amounts of scarlet blood. Though much of the film is

monochromatic, color is always present, and plays a large part

in the visual story. The three main hues used are red, yelloworange,

and cyan-blue.

The opening scene is dark (it is nighttime), very desaturated,

and completely cold cyan-blue. Characters look almost

dead, with no warmth or natural skin-tones visible, and the

atmosphere created is gothic and brooding. As Sweeney

steps off the boat he has arrived on, and begins to think about

his life before his arrest, he steps into the golden glow

of a streetlamp. This introduces an association between the

past and the color yellow which carries through the whole

film. As Sweeney sings about his wife, a flashback begins,

and there is a dramatic change in color. Though there is

still strong affinity of color, the flashback is warm and saturated.

The predominant color is orange-yellow, present

in Lucy‘s hair, Barker‘s cravat, and the general hue of the

image. The song progresses, the flashback-Barker is arrested,

and a new character is introduced: Judge Turpin.

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49

Dumbo

Photos: Impawards, Gaby Smith

Ever since I first heard that Disney was working on a live action

Dumbo, I have been anxiously awaiting its arrival, gobbling

up every piece of concept art, every teaser trailer, and

every tiny clip we were teased with before Dumbo once again

graced the big screen. Finally, last Saturday, I got to see my

favorite Disney character take flight again, and steal away my

heart once more.

It’s no secret that I’m a huge Dumbo fan. He’s my number 1

buddy and I literally don’t remember not loving him. Beyond

personal bias toward Dumbo, I feel like his story was a good

choice to re-tell with a live-action adaptation. The original

Dumbo holds the award of shortest Disney film, clocking in

at a mere 64-minute run time. The story was beautiful, but it

was truncated and audiences were left with a half-story for 78

years.

Directed by Tim Burton, I expected this movie to be bizarre,

dark, and a bit scary. Instead, I found it to be beautiful, uplifting,

and inclusive. While there is a semi-spooky scene (there’s

a location called “Nightmare Island”), and the film does

recognize the poor treatment of performance animals, I was

not brought down by this movie. Quite the opposite, actually.

All-in-all, I really enjoyed Tim Burton’s Dumbo, and would

gladly go see it again. The CGI was spectacular (I fell in love

with Dumbo all over again), the acting was entertaining (even

though Colin Farrell’s southern accent is amusing at best), and

the movie left me feeling the full rainbow of emotions — joy,

hope, sadness, heartache, nervousness, and triumph. The film

was digitally stunning, kept me engaged, and had a great score

to help tie the whole thing together.


50

Beetlejuice

Beetlejuice is a great movie about death, decisions, and acceptance.

The colors in this movie are specifically situated. I want to look at

the colors in this movie through traditional archetypes.

During the first scene of Adam (Alec Baldwin) and Barbara (Geena

Davis) in their house after their death, the light appears to be

an orange hue. Orange represents energy and adventure. Although

the characters do not know it yet, they are about to embark on a

long adventure alongside the living.

When in Saturn with the Sand Worms, the prominent color is

yellow. While this color can represent happy things, it traditionally

represents more negative images: disease, death, alienation, and

madness. In the movie, Adam and Barbara are dead for most of it

and are alienated from the world outside and other people. When

Betelgeuse (Michael Keaton) acts like a circus attraction towards

the end, yellow is behind him. Madness at its best. Also, he kills

Charles Deetz’s (Jeffrey Jones) boss and his boss’s wife.

After Adam and Barbara draw the door to get help, they enter the

afterlife services office. The first color shown is green. Universally,

green represents nature. It is natural for people to die; thus, this

color makes sense in this setting. Also, I would argue it is natural

for most people to ask for help, which also makes the color an appropriate

choice.

Most often, Betelgeuse is represented in or around black. He wears

black and white clothes, appears as a black snake on the staircase,

and lusts after the girl in black. Black is darkness, fear, and mystery.

Our main character embraces all of these characteristics.

The other major color that surrounds Betelgeuse is red. After he

goes back to the model, he crashes a red truck. He wears a red shirt

or vest throughout the entire movie. Also, when he goes to “Dante’s

Inferno Room”, the building is glowing red. This color represents

love, passion, anger, and sacrifice. Betelgeuse is passionate about

scaring the living and gets angry when the couple stops him. Both

Betelgeuse and Lydia (Winona Ryder) wear red at their wedding.

Here, she is the sacrifice for Adam and Barbera’s souls. When resurrecting

the two ghosts, the color surrounding the living is blue. Blue

has many, many meanings. It can mean cleansing, rebirth, strength,

CAESAR 07/2020


51

and trust. The people in the room trust Otho (Glenn Shadix). They

are basically cleansing the house and the couple experiences a kind

of rebirth.

This rainbow of colors in this movie show that these characters

are not cut and dry. They are complicated. I could have chosen one

color, like red, and analyzed it throughout the movie. However, looking

at many colors adds complications to what some might think is

a straightforward movie. The other site I pulled from for color representations

was off of a teacher’s lesson on the internet. Have a look

at the costumes in this movie are wonderful. Here is an analysis of

the different wardrobes and how they represent each character. Here

is an interpretation of one scene in this movie and how it shows you

everything you need to know about the movie. Interesting idea.

Photos: Impawards, Gaby Smith

by Michael Maher

Michael is an all-around tech and movie nerd who enjoys shooting, editing, and

especially watching films.


Mia Wasikowska in “Alice in Wonderland”

(2010)


Photos: Internet Movie Database

Anne Hathaway in “Alice in Wonderland”

(2010)


54

Tim

Burton,

at Home

in His

Own

Head

On a recent morning Mr. Burton,

dressed entirely in black,

was talking about his new animated

feature, “Frankenweenie,”

which will be released

by Walt Disney on Oct. 5.,

and which tells the charming

story of a young boy (named

Victor Frankenstein) who

reanimates the corpse of his

dead pet dog.

Not only does “Frankenweenie” hark back

to the start of your career, it seems torefer

to many of the features you’ve made since

the original short. Is that by design?

If I really thought about it, that’s something

I would probably not do. [Laughs.]

I don’t consciously make those points of:

I did this, I’m going to put that in there

as a reference to myself. Things that

I grew up with stay with me. You start

a certain way, and then you spend your

whole life trying to find a certain simplicity

that you had. It’s less about staying

in childhood than keeping a certain

spirit of seeing things in a different way.

How much of your childhood are we seeing

in Victor’s isolation?

I felt like an outcast. At the same time

I felt quite normal. I think a lot of kids

Mr. Burton with accessories at his

home in London, including a picture

of the actor Larry Hagman.

feel alone and slightly isolated and in

their own world. I don’t believe the

feelings I had were unique. You can

sit in a classroom and feel like no one

understands you, and you’re Vincent

Price in “House of Usher.”

I would imagine, if you talk to every

single kid, most of them probably

felt similarly. But I felt very tortured

as a teenager. That’s where “Edward

Scissorhands” came from. I was probably

clinically depressed and didn’t

know it.

Were you encouraged to try sports?

My dad was a professional baseball

player. He got injured early in his career,

so he didn’t fulfill that dream of

his. He ended up working for the sports

department of the city of Burbank. I

did some sports. It was a bit frustrating.

I wasn’t the greatest sports person.

CAESAR 07/2020


55

Photos: Steve Forrest; Lucas Jackson/Reuters

That can be deeply disheartening at that

age, to learn that you’re bad at something.

It’s the same with drawing. If you look at

children’s drawings, they’re all great. And

then at a certain point, even when they’re

about 7 or 8 or 9, they go, “Oh, I can’t

draw.” Well, yes, you can. I went through

that same thing, even when I started to

go to CalArts, and a couple of teachers

said: “Don’t worry about it. If you like to

draw, just draw.” And that just liberated

me. My mother wasn’t an artist, but she

made these weird owls out of pine cones,

or cat needlepoint things. There’s an outlet

for everyone, you know?

Were horror films and B movies easily accessible

when you were growing up?

They’d show monster movies on regular

TV then, which they wouldn’t show now.

Some of them were pretty hard core, like

“The Brain That Wouldn’t Die,” or something

where a guy gets his arm ripped

off and is bleeding down the wall. My

parents were a bit freaked out. [Laughs.]

But better that I’m watching TV than

them having to watch me or deal with

me.

There are emotions and experiences in

“Frankenweenie” that audiences don’t often

associate with Disney features.

People get worried and they go, “Oh my

God, the dog gets hit by a car.” It’s funny

how people are afraid of their emotions.

I remember the original short was supposed

to go out with “Pinocchio,” and

they got all freaked out about it, like kids

would be running, screaming, from the

theater.

The Vampire’s Bite

Do you find poetic justice in the fact that,

after all that, Disney is the studio that’s releasing

“Frankenweenie”?

I feel like I’ve been through a revolving

door over the years, and from my first

time there as an animator to “Frankenweenie”

to “Nightmare” and “Ed Wood,”

it’s always been the same reaction: “Come

back,” and then “Hmmm, I don’t know.”

After I stopped working on “The Fox

and the Hound” and trying to be a Disney

animator — which was useless —

they gave me the opportunity, for a year

or two, to draw whatever I wanted. I felt

quite grateful for it. At the same time I

felt like Rapunzel, a princess trapped in a

tower. I had everything I needed except

the light of day. I felt they didn’t really

want me, and luckily Warner Brothers

and Paul Reubens and the producers of

“Pee-wee” saw the movie and gave me a

chance.

If “Pee-wee’s Big Adventure” and “Beetlejuice”

hadn’t been hits, would that have been

the end of your filmmaking career?

I always felt bad for people whose first

movie is a gigantic hit. [Laughs.] They

were movies that were under the radar

in a certain way. They’re both low-budget

in terms of studio movies. Both were

moderate hits, and were on some of the

“10 worst movies of the year” lists. I learned

quite early on: don’t get too excited,

don’t get too complacent, don’t get

too egotistical.

When you see, 23 years after “Batman,” the

extent to which superhero movies have

become the backbone of Hollywood, do you

feel a sense of pride or ownership?

No, not ownership. At the time it felt like

the first attempt at a darker version of a

comic book. Now it looks like a lighthearted

romp. If I recall correctly, it wasn’t

the greatest-received critical movie. So I

do feel strange for getting such a bad rap

on some level, and nobody mentions, oh,

maybe it helped start something.

Among the Living on Screen

When you worked with Johnny Depp for the

first time, on “Edward Scissorhands,” what

was it that connected you to him?

Here was a guy who was perceived as

this thing — this Tiger Beat teen idol.

But just meeting him, I could tell, without

knowing the guy, he wasn’t that as

a person. Very simply, he fit the profile

of the character. We were in Florida

in 90-degree heat, and he couldn’t use

his hands, and he was wearing a leather

outfit and covered head to toe with makeup.

I was impressed by his strength

and stamina. I remember Jack Nicholson

showed me this book about mask

acting and how it unleashes something

else in a person. I’ve always been impressed

by anybody that was willing to

do that. Because a lot of actors don’t

want to cover [theatrical voice] “the

instrument.”

Has your relationship with Johnny changed

as your careers have evolved?

There’s always been a shorthand. He’s

always been able to decipher my ramblings.

To me he’s more like a Boris Karloff-type

actor, a character actor, than a

leading man. The only thing that changes

— and this is something I try not to

pay any attention to — is how the outside

world perceives it. [Snidely] “Oh,

you’re working with Johnny again?” “Oh,

how come you’re not working with him

this time?” You can’t win. I give up.

You don’t have a formal repertory company,

but there seem to be certain actors you come

back to.

[Sighs.] I don’t want to respond to criticism

I hear. People that go, “Oh, he’s using

her again,” or “He’s using him again.” I’ve

Mr. Burton with his partner, the

actress Helena Bonham Carter.

enjoyed pretty much everybody I’ve worked

with. But it’s good to mix it up. If

somebody’s right for the part — I’ve worked

with them? Fine. Haven’t? Fine.

Having a life with Helena Bonham Carter,

do you have to be more careful about how

you use her in your films?

The great thing about her is that, long

before I met her, she had a full career.

She’s also willing to do things that

aren’t necessarily glamorous or attractive

[Laughs], and I admire her for

that. We’ve learned how to leave things

at home, make it more of a sanctuary.

But I probably take a slight, extra moment ➤


56

to think about it. On “Sweeney Todd” it

was quite rough. Nobody was a singer, so

I looked at lots of people. Everybody had

to audition for it; she did as well. That one

was a struggle, because I felt like, jeez, there’s

a lot of great singers, and it’s going to

look like I gave this one to my girlfriend.

She really went through an extra process.

In your last couple of movies you’ve burned

her to a crisp, you’ve dumped her at the

bottom of the ocean ——

I know. But she’s getting it on other movies.

She’s being burned up alive a lot

lately, or she’s getting set on fire quite a

lot. Again, I’ve set another trend.

Phantom of the Adaptation

Your “Planet of the Apes” remake introduced

you to Helena, but was it otherwise a

professional low for you?

Yeah. I’ve tried to learn my lesson. It usually

happens on bigger-budget movies.

You go into it, and there’s something

about it I like, the studio wants to do it.

Johnny Depp, Mia Wasikowska, center,

and Anne Hathaway in “Alice in

Wonderland” (2010)

But the budget’s not set and the script’s

not set. So you’ve got this moving train.

You’re working on it, and you’re cutting

this because the budget’s too big, and you

feel like an accountant. It’s certainly perceived

as one of my least successful films.

But at the same time I met with and worked

with a lot of people that I loved.

Will you ever explain its ending?

I had it all worked out. But it’s my own

private thing. Someday we’ll go take

some LSD and we’ll talk about it.

Your recent films, like “Sweeney Todd,”

“Alice in Wonderland” and “Charlie and the

Chocolate Factory,“ have all in some way

been based on existing properties.

I’ve heard that, but a lot of things are, in

a way. Even “Alice,” there’s a book, there’s

lots of different versions. But there was

no movie I would look to and go, “Ooh,

we’re going to have to top that ‘Alice.’ ”

Is it harder to put your personal stamp

on something you didn’t create from the

ground up?

For me, no. It may be perceived that

way, but I have to personalize everything,

whether or not it comes from me.

If I were to cherry-pick things, even “Ed

Wood” was based on a book, it’s based

on a person. “Sweeney Todd” is one of

my more personal movies, because the

Sweeney Todd character is a character I

completely related to. Even in “Planet of

the Apes” there are things I have to relate

to, otherwise I just can’t do it. “Frankenweenie”

is a bit more pure that way.

But you could argue it’s based on a short

which is based on lots of other movies.

Burtonesque, Burtonesque!

Is it a danger when you have a style that’s

so distinctive it becomes boilerplate and

imitated?

It does bother me a bit. People thought

I made “Coraline.” Henry [Selick, who

directed “Coraline” and “The Nightmare

Before Christmas“] is a great filmmaker,

but when they say something, they

should have to say the person’s name.

“From the producer of „ — well, there’s

eight producers. It’s slightly misleading.

Not slightly, it’s very misleading,

and that’s not fair to the consumer.

Have the courage to go out under your

own name. But I don’t have any control

over that, and it’s not going to make me

change. I can’t change my personality.

Sometimes I wish I could, but I can’t.

Do you think that overfamiliarity might

have been a problem with “Dark Shadows,”

that people saw it was you, and

Johnny, and monsters, and they thought,

“I’ve seen this before”?

Even the fact that it was deemed a failure

— financially, it wasn’t really. It

may not have set the world on fire, but

it made its money back plus some, so I

can tick that off as not being a total disaster.

There’s some people that I talk to

that liked it. “Alice” got critically panned.

It made over a billion, I guess, whatever.

“Ed Wood” got a lot of critical

acclaim, it was a complete bomb. It all

has a weird way of balancing itself out.

When you’ve had your own retrospective

at the Museum of Modern Art, do you feel

bulletproof after that?

That was surreal. A lot of people

thought I manufactured that, which I

didn’t. They came to me and I was actually

quite freaked out about it. To me,

it was all private. It was never meant

as, like, great art. It’s like hanging your

laundry on the wall. “Oh, look, there’s

his dirty socks and underwear.” But with

the curators I felt I was in good hands,

and they were just presenting it like,

this is his process, this is what he does.

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57

This may seem strange to ask someone with

many years of work still ahead, but what

would you want your legacy to be?

What do I want on my gravestone?

It sounds like something you’ve thought

about.

I do. I think it’s wise to plan ahead. Start

early — plan your funeral now. It’s not a

morbid thought. If you want something to

happen in a certain way, especially the last

thing, you might as well.

The thing that I care about most — that

you did something that really had an impact

on them. People come up on the street,

and they have a “Nightmare” tattoo, or little

girls saying they love “Sweeney Todd,”

and you’re like, “How were you able to see

it?” Or you see people, especially around

Halloween, dressed up in costume, as Corpse

Bride or the Mad Hatter or Sally. It’s

not critics, it’s not box office. Things that

you know are connecting with real people.

Is there something unrepentantly crowdpleasing

that you’ll admit to enjoying? Now

that “Downton Abbey” is back on in Britain,

will you watch it?

No. Helena, that’s more her kind of

thing. That one I don’t quite get. To me

that’s like getting a morphine injection

on a Sunday night. And that can have its

positives. But not my cup of tea. There’s

shows like “MasterChef,” which I cry at. I

don’t know why. I find it quite emotional

when they cook something, and it doesn’t

work out. Movies, I can’t quite think of,

but especially if I’m on an airplane — I

don’t know why, maybe because you constantly

think you’re going to die — I find

every movie, I cry if I watch it on a plane.

I had that reaction to “Love Actually.”

[Draws a breath.] Ooh, no, no. I saw that

with Helena, and I’ll never forget the ad

campaign on that one. It was like, “If you

don’t love this movie, there’s something

wrong with you.” And we saw it, and we

got into a fight and argued all the way

home. It was the same with “Mamma

Mia!” For a feel-good movie, I’ve never

been so depressed.

Photos: Walt Disney Pictures; Steve Forrest

by Dave Itzkoff

Dave Itzkoff is a culture reporter for The New York

Times who writes frequently about film, television

and comedy.


58

SOURCES

Go Inside the Peculiar World of Tim Burton:

https://parade.com/509732/willlawrence/the-peculiar-world-of-tim-burton/

The Artist before the Filmmaker:

https://the-artifice.com/art-tim-burton/

Facts:

https://www.uselessdaily.com/movies/tim-burton-trivia-57-facts-you-didnt-know-about-the-director/

See how „Beetlejuice“ Designers built a habitat for Demons:

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/11/theater/beetlejuice-broadway-set-design.html

Miss Peregrine and Tim Burton:

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/25/movies/tim-burton-interview-miss-peregrines-home-for-peculiarchildren.html

https://www.cinemablend.com/news/1562019/the-hilarious-reason-tim-burton-had-to-cameo-in-missperegrine

The Creators of the „Beetlejuice“ musical tried to run towards Burton visually:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/theater_dance/the-creators-of-the-beetlejuice-musical-tried-to-run-toward-burton-visually/2018/10/25/14a7a6aa-d623-11e8-aeb7-ddcad4a0a54e_story.

html

An Analysis of Art and Design:

https://scene360.com/art/75828/tim-burton-film-analysis/

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Depp

Masters of Color:

https://the-artifice.com/dark-light-and-color-in-tim-burtons-films/

https://graduateway.com/tim-burton-cinematic-techniques/

https://www.colourlovers.com/blog/2010/01/04/masters-of-color-tim-burton

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099487/plotsummary

https://kbr08.weebly.com/film-explorer/colors-in-beetlejuice

Tim Burton at Home in his own head:

https://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/23/movies/tim-burton-at-home-in-his-own-head.html

CAESAR 07/2020

Photos: Leah Gallo



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