Timothy William Burton
(born August 25, 1958) is an American film director, screenwriter and film producer, notable for the quirky and often dark, gothic atmosphere pervading his high-profile films. The protagonists are usually misfits or outsiders, physically or emotionally different or scarred.
The director of two Batman films, Batman (1989) and Batman Returns (1992), he often collaborates with actor Johnny Depp and actress Helena Bonham Carter prolifically in films such as Edward Scissorhands (1990), Sleepy Hollow (1999), Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Corpse Bride in 2005. His 2007 film Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, also starring Depp and Bonham Carter in the leading roles, won the award for Best Motion Picture (Comedy or Musical) and Best Actor (Comedy or Musical) at the 65th Golden Globe Awards. It was also nominated for Best Actor, Best Art Direction and Best Costume Design at the 80th Academy Awards. He has also collaborated extensively with composer Danny Elfman, in all but two of his films.
Early life
Burton was born in Burbank, California, the first of two sons to Bill Burton and Jean Erickson. His year of birth is sometimes mistakenly given as 1960, most notably in his own books, and the picture book of The Nightmare Before Christmas. Burton described his childhood self as quirky, self-absorbed and highly imaginative. As a teen growing up in Burbank, he staged an axe murder with his brother to scare the neighbors, prompting one to call the police, and this is how he got a nickname, Axe Wound. As he grew older, he found home life and school somewhat difficult, often escaping the reality by watching horror and low budget films, to which he would later pay tribute in his biography of Ed Wood. Tim grew up on Evergreen Street, very near the Valhalla Cemetery in Burbank. Tim has spoken in interviews about the "weirdness" of growing up near a cemetery. He attended Providencia Elementary School in Burbank, Luther Burbank Jr. High, and later Burbank High School, which his father Bill had also attended. His father Bill worked for many years in the Recreation Department for the City of Burbank.
Another film figure of importance in Burton's childhood is Vincent Price, whose films would deeply influence the upcoming director's career. He was inspired early on by Ray Harryhausen's stop-motion films. After high school, he won a Disney scholarship to attend the California Institute of the Arts in Valencia, California. He studied at the Character Animation program for three years. Burton's first job in animation was working as a cell painter on Ralph Bakshi's The Lord of the Rings. Burton was then hired by the Walt Disney Studios as an animator apprentice. Burton's job was to draw for The Fox and the Hound but he was dissatisfied with the artistic direction of the movie. He later commented on the refusal of Disney to use his design for The Fox and the Hound because his designs made the characters, in opposition to Disney's desires, "look like roadkill." Burton was not happy during his Disney period, but it was then that he wrote and drew the poem and illustrations that would be the basis for his celebrated The Nightmare Before Christmas.
Early career (1980s)
In 1982, Burton made his first short, Vincent, a 5:52 min. black and white stop-motion film based around a poem written by Burton, and depicting a young boy who fantasizes that he is his (and Burton's) screen idol Vincent Price, with Price himself providing narration. The film was produced by Burton's girlfriend at the time, who was an executive at Disney. During production, Burton maintained an office at The Disney Studios. The two also co-authored a screenplay titled "True Love." Once the film was shown at the Chicago Film Festival and released, alongside the teen drama Tex, for two weeks in one Los Angeles cinema, Burton abruptly ended his relationship with his producer-partner-girlfriend. This was followed by Burton's first live-action production Hansel and Gretel, a Japanese themed adaptation of Grimm's tale for The Disney Channel, which climaxes in a kung-fu fight between Hansel and Gretel and the witch. Having aired once at 10:30pm on Halloween 1982 and promptly shelved, it is next to impossible to locate, which contributes to the false rumor that this project does not exist. Next was the live-action short Frankenweenie, starring Barret Oliver, Daniel Stern and Shelley Duvall (an early supporter of Burton's work). Although Burton's work had yet to see wide release, he began to attract the attention of the film industry. Actor/producer Griffin Dunne approached Burton to direct After Hours (1985), a comedy about a bored word processor who survives a crazy night in SoHo that had already been passed over by Martin Scorsese. However, when financing for The Last Temptation of Christ fell through, Burton bowed out of the project out of respect for Scorsese.
Personal life
Burton was married to a German-born artist for four years, whom he left for Lisa Marie, a model with whom he lived and was "engaged" to 1992 through 2001. Lisa Marie had parts in all of his films while they were a couple, most notably Ed Wood and Mars Attacks! Burton currently lives with Helena Bonham Carter, whom he met while filming Planet of the Apes - in which Lisa Marie had a small part, whereas Bonham Carter had a starring role. Burton abruptly left Lisa Marie for Bonham Carter and they now have a son, Billy Ray Burton, born October 4, 2003, and a daughter, Nell Burton, born December 15, 2007.[14][15] Burton and Bonham Carter live in London. Close friend Johnny Depp is a godfather of Burton's son. In Burton on Burton, Depp wrote the intro, stating, "What more can I say about him? He is a brother, a friend, my godson's father. He is a unique and brave soul, someone that I would go to the ends of the earth for, and I know, full and well, he would do the same for me."
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Tim Burton wint Gouden Leeuw Award
Tim Burton is the master of gruesome, dark movies like ‘Corpse Bride’ and ‘Edward Sissorhands’. Every movie he touches turns to gothic gold and on Wednesday he was honoured with a career award at the Venice Film Festival. Organisers of the festival called Burton ““one of America’s bravest, most visionary and innovative film-makers.” It seems that 49-year-old Burton had the same praise for the Festival saying, “I’ve been to this festival a few times, and each time I’ve come here I’ve just had this very special feeling about it,” He continued, “You grow up in Hollywood and that whole scenario and what you feel here is that there is just passion about movies.
So that’s what makes it special to me — it’s not about business, it’s not about finance, it’s about just the love of movies.” The Golden Lion lifetime achievement award was handed to Tim Burton by Johnny Depp, star in many of Burton’s films and one of his closest friends. Talking about Tim Burton, Depp gushed, “He is a rare breed in today’s cinema. “Beyond that he is a true original, a true artist, a true auteur. He’s my favourite director and friend.” Burton said the award would be ‘an inspiration to me forever’. At a press conference, Burton, who was comparing the golden lion award to an Oscar, joked “It’s actually a lot more beautiful-looking thing than a bald, naked man,” Something tells us it won’t be long before that ‘bald, naked man’ graces his mantle piece.
