Patrick chats with Director Tim Burton about his recent film “Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children”. Actor Ricou Browning (“The creature”) swims by to discuss his role in the classic Universal Studios film “Creature From the Black Lagoon”, and Butch Patrick explains what is what like on the set of The Munsters!
Tim Burton is widely regarded as one of cinema’s most imaginative and visual filmmakers. He has achieved both critical and financial success in the live-action and animation genres. Besides Burton’s dedication to filmmaking, he has an enthusiasm for drawing and painting. His most recent directorial work, Big Eyes, for which Amy Adams received a Golden Globe, is a confluence of his two passions—film and art.
Perhaps his greatest industry achievement is helping to reinvigorate the stop-motion industry, starting with his 1993 creation and cult classic The Nightmare Before Christmas; and followed by the 2005 Corpse Bride and 2012 Frankenweenie, both Academy Award and BAFTA nominated films. He has also produced James and the Giant Peach and 9.
Other film milestones include Alice in Wonderland, which won two Academy Awards, and earned more than a billion dollars at the worldwide box office. Burton has won a National Board of Review award for his directing work on 2007’s Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, which also won the Golden Globe for Best Film—Musical or Comedy, and best actor–Musical or Comedy for Johnny Depp.
He earlier received a BAFTA nomination for Best Director for the 2003 fantasy drama Big Fish. His most critically acclaimed film, the 1994 Ed Wood, won two Oscars, a Golden Globe, and two BAFTA nominations.
He has a dedicated following, notably for classic and unique features such as his 1985 directorial debut and unexpected comedic hit, Pee-wee’s Big Adventure; the 1988 wildly inventive Beetlejuice; the action blockbuster Batman; and its 1992 follow-up Batman Returns.
Arguably his most beloved film is the 1990 romantic fantasy Edward Scissorhands— directed, co-written and produced by Burton. The film also marked the start of his successful cinematic partnership with Johnny Depp, who delivered a poignant performance in the title role.
Other films of his include Dark Shadows, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory; Sleepy Hollow; Planet of the Apes; and Mars Attacks! He has produced several other films including Alice Through the Looking Glass, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, Cabin Boy, Batman Forever, and directed two music videos for The Killers.
In 2009, his enthusiasm for art culminated in The Art of Tim Burton, a 430-page book comprising more than 40 years of his personal and project artwork. In November of that year, the Museum of Modern Art opened an extensive exhibit of his work in New York, which went on to tour in Melbourne, Toronto, Los Angeles, Paris, and Seoul. A new version of his exhibit, The World of Tim Burton, has been to Prague, Tokyo and Osaka, Brühl and São Paulo. In 1997, he published the beloved illustrated series of poetry called The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy & Other Stories. A collection of Burton’s napkin sketches, entitled Things You Think About in a Bar was released in 2016.
Burton grew up in Burbank, California and attended California Institute of the Arts, where he studied animation, before moving on to the animation department at Disney. While there, he directed the 1982 stop-motion animated short film Vincent, narrated by Vincent Price. He also directed the 1983 kung fu–inspired short film adaptation of Hansel and Gretel, and the 1984 live-action short film Frankenweenie.
Ricou Browning was born February 16, 1930 in Jensen Beach, Fla.