Credited with kickstarting the juggernaut of superhero films (Batman, 1989; Batman Returns, 1992), reinvigorating stop-motion animation (Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas, 1993; Corpse Bride, 2005), putting a macabre twist on grand scale musicals (Sweeney Todd, 2007), and creating some of cinema's most iconic ...
Best Known For: Director, producer and screenwriter Tim Burton is known for such films as 'Beetlejuice' and 'Edward Scissorhands,' which blend themes of fantasy and horror.
Tim Burton is a visionary filmmaker known for his distinct and unmistakable style. From whimsical, gothic settings to eccentric characters, his films have captured the imagination of audiences worldwide.
Much of this style is heavily influenced by German expressionist artists and filmmakers in the early 20th century (LACMA). Distortion, spooking shadows, heavy makeup, dreamlike settings, and some overarching feelings of dismay are characteristics of both Burton's work and German expressionism.
Burton is 65 years old and was born on August 25, 1958, in Burbank, California. He attended the California Institute of the Arts, studying character animation. He was an animator's apprentice with Walt Disney Animation Studios. Vincent was his first film – a six-minute black and white stop-motion short.
Tim Burton: The Twisted Story Of The Eccentric Filmmaker
When did Tim Burton become popular?
But actor Paul Reubens (aka Pee-Wee Herman) saw Frankenweenie (1984), and believed that Burton would be the right man to direct him in his first full-length feature film, Pee-wee's Big Adventure (1985). The film was a surprise success, and Burton instantly became popular.
Tim Burton contributes to the world of animation in the film industry and redefined stop motion. Stop motion (also known as stop frame) is an animation technique to make a physically manipulated object appear to move on its own. It is often used with clay and called “clay-mation”.
Edward Scissorhands is considered by many to be Burton's movie masterpiece, and it also marked his first of several collaborations with one of his favorite actors: Johnny Depp.
But what truly makes a Tim Burton film so great isn't just the name alone, but the characters that span from such great stories. With Tim Burton, no character is unrelatable, evolving from emotions that cause suffering to ones that bring joy and happiness.
Tim Burton's films are peppered with 'loveable losers' who always triumph in the face of adversity. From the bike-obsessed Pee Wee Herman, to the eccentric cross-dressing 'worst director of all time' Ed Wood and the outcast 'artificial human' Edward Scissorhands.
There are plenty of characters with the INFP personality type throughout Tim Burton's filmography, most likely due to the fact that Burton is an INFP himself. He very much relates to this personality type which embodies the quirky misfit persona who always wants to do the right thing.
Burton believes that the entertainment landscape has shifted to the point where it no longer makes sense for him to collaborate with the entertainment giant. He explained that his experience working on “Dumbo” made him realize that Disney had gotten too big for him.
In 1985, following his departure from the Disney studios, he created his first feature film: Pee-Wee's Big Adventure. This was followed by Beetlejuice (1988), Batman (1989), Edward Scissorhands (1990) and The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993).
Burton was an introspective person and found pleasure in artwork, painting, drawing, and watching movies. His future work would be heavily influenced by the works of such childhood heroes as Dr. Seuss and Roald Dahl.
Sleepy Hollow is arguably Tim Burton's spookiest and most immersive work. Based on Washington Irving's haunting short story, the legend of the Headless Horseman falls on the nervous shoulders of Ichabod Crane (Johnny Depp).
“It was something I could feel. He liked the characters, he was interested in acting for the art of it, not the business of it. It was exciting to see somebody play different things, the idea of this transformation from film to film always excited me.”
Burton is well known for collecting actors as muses. Both Bonham Carter and Depp are more prolific than Ryder in Burton's filmography: Bonham Carter has starred in seven of his movies, Depp eight.
Like young Victor, Burton grew up feeling isolated in the suburbs, with emotionally-distant parents and a beloved dog, bullied in school and probably a bit depressed, to the extent that he was largely “non-verbal” and spent some of his free time hanging out in graveyards.
But for Burton, a recluse, they seemed out of reach. "You kind of feel like you're alone and nobody understands you, and you think you're the only person who feels that way," he says.
Burton was born in Burbank, California on August 25, 1958. His father is of Dutch, English, French, German, and Scottish descent and His mother is of Croatian, German, Norwegian, and Swedish descent. He began as an animator for Walt Disney Pictures, but soon moved on making his own kinds of movies and projects.
Burton, much like Depp, considers the similarities between himself and the popular Hollywood name as attributes that facilitated their friendship and working relationship so well.
