“I was a normal movie buff, which means I was completely abnormal.”
 

PostED ON 22.10.2022

Several hours before the Lumière Award Ceremony, Tim Burton spoke to the audience in Lyon about his career and his very special heroes who are so like him.

Different beginnings?

I’ve had a strange career because I started out as a director making animated films for Disney, then I made ‘Pee-wee’, and I’ve never really worked as an independent, I’ve always stayed with the studios. At first people didn't really understand what I was doing, and I was considered a weird guy. I just wanted to be Godzilla and destroy Tokyo! In the beginning, I communicated better visually, through drawings. Coming from a background in animation, it's a very specific way of looking at a story.

 © Olivier Chassignole

Normal movie buff?

I was a normal movie buff, which means I was completely abnormal. I first watched horror movies, I loved Mario Bava films, that's how I got started...

I come from Burbank, a small town in the middle class suburbs of LA, there you go to the local movie theater, it feeds your creativity, your dreams... And that was my inspiration... They actually created a Tim Burton award in Burbank that is presented to a young director.

New Hollywood

The 70s was a world of experimentation and freedom, even in the heart of Hollywood, it was much more focused on creativity. Before making ‘Batman’ I had never heard the word "franchise;" it changed everything, it was the beginning of the wave of blockbusters... On the other hand, a few years ago we started talking about streaming and television, but I don't believe it, I tell myself that movies will remain an art, when I see such passion for the cinema for example in Lyon...

Batman

It was very exciting to find myself at the beginning of it all, the superhero movie was special to me. People kept telling me it was too dark, both visually and intellectually, but look at my Batman now, he looks like a cornflower!

Heroes that are like him

These heroes like Pee-wee, Edward Scissorhands, and even Batman who is not like me, in a certain sense, they are all me every time. I always feel like I have to "fill in" the character, his or her identity, the duality between the dark and the light, those kinds of feelings... I always need to have a certain connection with the character in order to share it with the actors, the technical team, the cameramen, the photographers...

 © Olivier Chassignole

The filming process and his movies

The shooting phase is my favorite part. Creating a strange artistic family- it’s very exciting to have a connection with them, with this movie family. That's why I love ‘Ed Wood’ so much. Each of my films is important to me, they are like my children... I love them all despite their flaws, even the ugly ones, with one movie that is closest to my heart: ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas’, because it looks exactly how I wanted it to... But I love them all. Without Vincent Price, the narrator of my first short, ‘Vincent’, I wouldn't be here today. ‘Ed Wood’ is something very personal. There is a peculiar poetry in Ed Wood's work, in his dialogues - I find them strangely poetic...

Johnny Depp

I connected with him when I met him for ‘Edward Scissorhands’: He was similar to me, kind of suburban white trash. It was not even a verbal understanding. 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.

In using that approach in ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’, he surprised everybody; nobody could understand why he was acting as if he were drunk, but they let him do it, and it's a bit like at the beginning of my career when they let me do it too... Johnny and I have had this dynamic between us.

Actresses

Marion Cotillard is great in ‘Big Fish’, she came to live in Alabama for six months and just for that, bravo. She and Eva Green have this power that reminds us a little bit of the actresses of the 50s. Eva Green is amazing - working with her, you want to see what she's going to do. She learned the trapeze for me, now she could work in a circus - so you feel this return of energy, a collaboration. I really need this collaboration...

Monsters

Feeling different myself – like a lot of people do – I responded to monsters. The word itself means something that’s scary, but I never saw it like that… Frankenstein or the Creature from the Black Le: they’re not bad, just different, that’s why I had a strong connection to them – both psychologically and visually.

Advice for budding filmmakers

My own journey has been strange, so I don't really have a recipe, but I would say that passion is the key word. Get out what you want to say, and always do it with passion.

 © Olivier Chassignole

Reported by Charlotte Pavard