Burton and Depp Recall Worst Decisions Together

MTV News caught up with Tim Burton and Johnny Depp. The director/actor duo were asked what the worst idea either of them brought to the other was. Here's the video of their recollection:

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"Maybe just any time I've called him," Burton grinned, looking over at his frequent leading man.

"I remember one morning on 'Sleepy Hollow,' " Depp began, referring to the 1999 hit that had him playing Ichabod Crane. "I came in to block a scene, getting a cup of coffee — you're only half awake. Tim was there, giggling a little bit.

"I said, 'OK, what's the scene?' " Depp continued. "And he said, 'Well, this is where we're going to strap you to this large metal thing — which is attached to these giant horses — and then we'll drag you across two soundstages for the entire day."

Added his director with a smile, "That was on Christmas Eve, I believe."

"Yeah, it was on Christmas Eve!" Depp agreed. "And the horses ... well, I suspect they might have gone for curry not long before I was strapped in."

"Both of them," Burton said with no hint of apology. "He was dragged around for a couple hours by these flatulating horses."

They also considered a hypothetical future television adaptation:

"We did discuss doing 'H.R. Pufnstuf,' " Burton teased. "With him playing Freddy the Magic Flute."

"Jimmy! Jimmy!" Depp screeched in a tiny, high-pitched squeak.

"Look, he's got the voice down!" Burton beamed with approval. "Perfect!"

Colleen Atwood on Burton, "Alice": "It's Going to Be Amazing"

Renowned award-winning costume designer and frequent Burton collaborator Colleen Atwood sat down for an interview with MovieLine.com, and discussed how she met Tim Burton, how new technology has affected her method of designing costumes for Alice in Wonderland, what we can expect from Burton's upcoming Alice in Wonderland, and much more:

You’ve worked with Johnny Depp many times now.

I have … Edward Scissorhands, Ed Wood, Sleepy Hollow … Let’s see … Sweeney Todd, Alice in Wonderland …

It must be a treat to design for an actor who can disappear so seamlessly inside his characters.

He really is a chameleon, and he takes on the character in the clothes. They don’t ever look like costumes on him; they look real, and that really helps my job.

Your partnership with Tim Burton — how did the two of you first come together?

I was recommended to him on Edward Scissorhands by a production designer — Bo Welch — who I’d work with prior to that. So I met Tim through him, and we clicked in our own way, and we’ve managed to have a long run together and still enjoy working together. I just went to Tim’s show at MoMA last night, and it was fantastic. Really amazing.

Do you conceive of the costumes together through sketches? I know he frequently begins on paper.

There’s something that he captures that is kind of the soul of the character on paper, and there’s often costume elements, but we’re not married to that at all. I mean, for sure on Edward Scissorhands, because there was so much involved with that, but with the Mad Hatter, with Sweeney, with those costumes, he really doesn’t give me a drawing and say, “This is what I want.” I think it’s because he knows the other people working with him are artists, so he gets very excited and enthusiastic when we show him what we have. He has a wonderful eye himself, and so he’ll a little magical touch to something.

How did the new 3-D technology he used in Alice in Wonderland affect your designs?

I did a lot of the computer animated costumes — I knew what the animated world was going to be, and I knew a bit about 3-D anyway, and so I sort of tried to make stuff that you could play with in 3-D. Stuff that pops in and out. We ended up physically making a lot of the other stuff and it would later end up being animated. It really helped Tim to see things as physical costumes first, and it gave the animators a lot of help as far as depth and texture and things like that. I think what we’re going to see now is the mixture of live and animated people and costumes in an animated world. It’s going to be a really amazing, fun thing for the audience.


I know he wanted to depart with the traditional narrative. How tied were you to the original illustrations, and what were you reference points for designing a new Alice in Wonderland?

It was really freeing, because there’s Lewis Caroll’s own drawings, of which there aren’t very many and they’re quite simple. As Alice went through various eras, there’s classic references for them. Because this is so different from what people are going to expect — Alice isn’t a ten-year-old girl, she’s a young woman — there’s a nod to the classical need for that. But once she goes into Wonderland, we took it to another place. The Hatter has a hat and the recognizable elements, but we explored the world of hat makers in London in the period. So we pulled from that for inspiration more than the previous illustrations, and Johnny used that for his character. They called hatters “mad hatters” because they used these toxic glues and dyes all the time, and they were actually quite mad, a lot of them. So it was quite cool to read about that business in that time, and that they were actually quite in demand and made a quite decent living at that period.



Now when you do something historically accurate and less fanciful than something like Alice in Wonderland, such as Public Enemies, how much research goes into it before you even sketch your first drawing?

In a story like Public Enemies, it’s about people who existed, so you go to that trough, using what few images of them existed. Actually when I do period work, I really like to read about the period as much as I like to look at pictures, because sometimes the written word is much better at conveying what their lives were really like and how much they had, and where their clothes came from. Because a lot of time, people dressed in their Sunday best to pose for a picture. They didn’t take snapshots until much later — there certainly wasn’t much of that going on in the 1930s.

For most of these guys, it was mugshots and prison entrance and exit clothes, but I had a lot of people do online research, and Michael Mann of course had been on the project for a long time and had very deep research and was quite specific. The production designer usually starts a show before I do and they usually have a depth of research. So it’s a combination of all that.


You have some TV credits as well, such as The Tick. Did you design The Tick’s costume?

Yeah. The pilot.


Is it true The Tick’s moving antennae cost $1 million to produce?

Not the ones I did. Maybe later when they did the series they spent more money, but I did the pilot. I remember the amount that costume cost, as a matter of fact, and the budget for that kind of TV pilot is usually much higher. I didn’t have the kind of R&D you get when they decide to really go for it.


What was the most expensive costume you’ve ever made?

I’d say probably the most expensive costumes I’ve ever made were the costumes in The Planet of the Apes, because of the research and development that went into them and the amount of layers. I got the cost per costume down, but because it involved so many processes, with sculpting, and bodysuits, and cool suits, and oversuits, and helmets, and footwear, and handwear, that had to work for action and look like monkeys, that was probably the most expensive per-unit costume ever. The period stuff I spend a lot of time on, I have good textile artists. They’re not cheap, but they’re not out of control expensive either, because you have to make it work.




Speaking of making it work, do you watch Project Runway?

I have watched Project Runway, but I’m not a devout watcher of it. But I think it’s a great show, what I’ve seen of it, and I think Tim Gunn is a very positive, amazing guy.


I ask because they’ll often dismiss something on the show as looking “too costumey,” and I’m wondering if you take offense to that.

No, because I think the street world that it’s in is different. People like to stir up the fashion vs. costume world, and I think what they mean by “too costumey” is that it’s too much, or not real enough for everyday wear. You couldn’t say that about John Galliano’s shows, right? I mean they’re awesome and they’re total costume. It’s just a different thing. They do like to slag off costumes a bit — not on that show, but in the fashion world. I don’t know why they feel they have to compete.


Are you ever tempted to, or maybe you do, design your own clothes?

You know, it’s strange. Like, I’ve designed my Oscar dresses and my people have made them for me, but my own clothes per se that I wear? No — but I do a lot of fitting. Like I’ll buy something and completely recut it. I’m so used to thinking that my clothes are fairly neutral, it’s other people’s clothes I like to design.


Next up you’re working on yet another Johnny Depp film — The Rum Diary. What’s the look you’re going for there?

Well, it’s real. It’s a guy that goes to Puerto Rico in 1960, who’s kind of like an average guy. He shows up with very few clothes. There’s contrasts in the story, between the haves and the have-nots, the Union Carbides vs. the locals, so I pushed that side of the contrast a bit. But it’s very research-oriented and real clothes a lot.

Happy Halloween from Tim Burton and Facebook

Have a Facebook account? Then you can send a personalized Happy Halloween greeting card featuring classic or new Tim Burton artwork!:

Burton on "Alice," "9," and More

Cinematical has an extensive interview with Tim Burton:

Cinematical: At Comic-Con, it was informative to watch you first discuss a film which you're directing and then one that you're just producing. In the 9 panel you said that you were there to fight battles with the studio so that Shane Acker could focus on directing the film; when you're serving in a producorial capacity is that what you do or is there a sort of creative consultation?

Tim Burton: Well, yeah. I don't know if Shane said it, but I was an animator and I know what it's like; you have to be so concentrated and have to put so much thought into every detail. I had it easy because it's like you want somebody that's not looking at those every day and has a more fresh perspective on it, which is something I appreciate because when I make something, it's extremely helpful to have people that you trust who have been through it before to look at the big-picture kind of stuff, look at a cut or look at the script or look at the characters inside. Shane's an artist, and the good thing about an artist is that they don't have that ego; he was very open to things. I felt it was quite a good collaboration with everybody, because Timur [Bekmambetov]'s made films, I've made films, and we all liked what Shane did so there was none of this, like, "well I've got to put my stamp on this or that" kind of a thing. So it was kind of creating that kind of an environment to let someone do their thing; even without all of that stuff, just making the film, that's where you want him to put all of his energy.

Cinematical: Both in the program and on stage the film was referred to as "stitchpunk." Do phrases like that mean anything to you?

Burton: No. I mean, I always liked stitching, and maybe I'm a frustrated sewer, but no. I just like the look of it and the feel of it. Personally I think it's intriguing, and I like that fact that someone has given something a name like that, but I don't do that myself.

Cinematical: Even if you're the one inventing such descriptions or names, is that limiting at all in the sense that it creates a specific association? Or does that provide sort of a shorthand that gives people an immediate entry point for what they might be seeing?

Burton: I don't know. The thing I liked about this movie was that I couldn't quite categorize it. We've all seen post-apocalyptic imagery in films – it's not like it's new territory in that sense, although at the same time I liked it because I couldn't quite categorize it. There was an emotional quality, and after myself working on Nightmare and things where you're trying to take characters that are not necessarily perceived as attractive-looking characters, but giving it an emotion, that's what I liked about what Shane was doing, so I felt connected in that way. But I like the fact that you can't really categorize it; the very Hollywood sort-of way of pitching things is kind of like, "well, it's The Terminator meets Wall-E," you know, but you immediately get that's a kind of short-hand, but I was just kind of like, oh, brother. I think we're all lucky with a group of people like Shane and Timur and Jim [Limley] and myself, we all kind of like to avoid that stuff, so there was none of that going on and it was good.

Cinematical: Yesterday at one of the panels a fan asked if you would be interested in remaking The Wizard of Oz. As much as adaptations and interpretations of properties like Alice and Wonderland and Sleepy Hollow are in your wheelhouse, do the commercial opportunities of doing material like that limit you from doing things that are more original or specific to your appetites?

Burton: Well, yeah. It's true, because there are things like Nightmare or Edward Scissorhands, things that I really [put myself into], but I've enjoyed the other things that I've done. But yeah. Also, too Hollywood, it becomes a thing where it's, okay, which TV show haven't we done yet, and I understand it because it's an easy [choice], but yeah. I'm not answering your question, but it's a bit of a danger. Yeah, it is, but that's why I like getting involved with this, and what also was nice about this which you don't get these days is sort of flying under the radar; there's something about him, something new where you don't know a whole lot about it, and it gets made, and it's a bit more of a surprise, and that was really cool with this.

Cinematical: So when you do something like Alice in Wonderland that has a cache of familiarity, does that allow you to be able to do your own projects? For example, you did Big Fish, which wasn't as commercially successful as its follow-up, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Burton: I don't think about that stuff. I mean, I'm aware of the fact that if you make a bunch of movies that don't make any money it's hard to continue to make movies. There is a certain amount of that, but I never sort of said, well, I'll do a big studio movie and then I'll do a personal movie. If you can really sort of maneuver that, because that's the problem – it's a hard way of thinking. I never want to think about making a movie to make money, because it's not an exact science. Things like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, I know it's a known thing, but it's also a book that I loved as a child. So you make a personal connection to everything that you do; even Alice, there's been so many versions of it and there's never been a version that I really liked. So that's my attempt, to make a movie of Alice that's just more than a series of weird events.

Cinematical: How did the technology augment your ideas for that adaptation, both in terms of 3-D and in terms of conceiving these really amazing character designs?

Burton: Well, I'm still in the process, and that's the scary thing. I mean, usually I don't ever talk about stuff in these early days, but the jury is still out on that one. I haven't felt the sort of liberation of technology yet; it's actually a bit more sort of the opposite of the way I usually work, where you have sets and actors and you can see what you get right away. Here, it's the reverse – you've got all of these pieces of stuff and you see a finished shot very, very late in the process. So it's strange.

Cinematical: As must be the case right now with these two films, how difficult is it to juggle your producorial efforts with those that you direct?

Burton: Especially in animation it takes so long that it wouldn't do Shane, it wouldn't do anybody a service to be [controlling], because it's like watching paint dry. It's a long, long process, so again, I love it because especially when I'm thinking of something else, like when I'm on Alice thinking about it, it's actually a luxury to kind of take my mind away for a second and look at something here and have a fresh perspective on it. it kind of keeps my mind stimulated and going, so it's actually been quite good that way.

Cinematical: Has your evolution as a filmmaker been sort of concurrent with the technology you're using now? For example, Nightmare was stop-motion, and potentially 9 could have been as well, but you and Shane are using CGI. Also, Nightmare was retrofitted for 3-D and now you're using it during the production of Alice.

Burton: Each project you try to actually pick the medium for the project, and the thing I liked about 9 is Shane, his inspiration was all stop-motion and it actually has a stop-motion feel. The quality of the animation, it's got that like more naturalistic thing. Now, the reason he couldn't do it [stop-motion], which I understand, is for the budget and the kind of camera moves, the kind of action stuff that he wanted to get. He chose to do it that way, which I think he made exactly the right choice; you get the best of both worlds with that. For me and for things like Alice, it seemed like 3-D and Alice, the material and doing it that way just seemed appropriate with the project, just the mix of animation and manipulate the live-action so it's in a stranger way. But that's not something you pre-plan; you just kind of take it, you see where the technology is at that moment, is this possible, and then take it as it comes, really. Obviously technology is so rapidly changing and it goes through those spurts, doesn't it, and it's in one of those growth spurts at the moment.

Cinematical: Do you feel a sense of protectiveness coming from the world of cel animation? It seems to be used more and more rarely these days, although today at the Disney panel, they showed footage from their next film, which is being done with hand-drawn animation.

Burton: Yeah, that's great. Because I remember somebody, DreamWorks does a cel-animated movie and it doesn't make any money so they go, "we're not making any more cel-animated films." I think Disney even said that at one point. John Lasseter and the real animators know that's just a stupid concept, and Pixar has proven the fact that you just do a project, do it in the medium that fits it and do a good story, and it can be hand-drawn, hand puppets, whatever. It will connect if it's the right thing.

Cinematical: How far into production are you on Alice?

Burton: We shot all of the live-action, and now it's just a lot of animation, and a lot of compositing. That's the thing: you just see pieces of a lot of shots. But there's a lot going on (laughs).

Cinematical: For Alice, how did you arrive at the way these characters would be rendered? Because they are exaggerated but they do have a vaguely real quality.

Burton: It just came down to things in technology that I liked or didn't like. For instance, I'm not a big fan at the moment for mo-cap stuff because I just don't like it personally. A lot of people have used it very successfully, but it's personally not a thing that I like. That's why I decided to go with pure animation for some of the characters, and then for some, live-action, rather than it just being animation or live-action – to blur the lines a little bit. With some of our characters, we're just doing some manipulation with it, so it's their real performance, real faces, real heads, real bodies, everything, but just manipulate it so that it's kind of a weirder crossover into what Wonderland is. It just comes down to sort of things that you like or don't like, and I just find with animation, you're able to achieve more reality by just doing the animation than maybe doing mo-cap stuff. Although it's getting better, I know that; they're doing really good things with it. But it's just a personal choice to do something that way.

Cinematical: So would it be accurate to say you're looking for an artistic authenticity rather than realism?

Burton: No, I don't know. I'm not sure. I think it just really came down to the fact that I didn't want to do the mo-cap thing, and therefore, how do we blend it? Because also, you've got things where you've got animation and live-action, and it's obvious what's animation and what's live-action, so there's a few characters where we can blur those lines a little. I'm not sure how that will manifest itself or how it will turn out, but that's the goal.

Cinematical: At their Visionaries panel, James Cameron talked about the way that Peter Jackson's Gollum showed him that performance capture was at the stage that he felt he could do Avatar. Do you or have you seen films that gave you a similar sense that a technology or design element had made a step forward that would make you want to use it?

Burton: It happens all of the time. I mean, yeah, definitely. That's why, for me, I didn't want to use mo-cap, but it's getting better all of the time, and it's great that people are doing it. I think the more tools, the better; that's why people go, oh, how come you're not doing this this way or that way, and the fact is there's no right way or wrong way. Robert Zemeckis does his things because he wants to do a certain thing, and that's great, and other people have a different way they want to do it. But each one is great; there's no right or wrong way to do it, I think. It should just be open to whatever the elements are, whatever the project is, use those elements, and all tools.

Cinematical: At the 9 panel an attendee said to you, "I'm a huge fan, and not in a hot topic kind of way." Is there any consciousness either consciously ignoring it or being aware of it when you take on new projects, that there is an association between you and a certain persona of being dark, brooding, or this goth guy?

Burton: No. You know, it happens to you in school – once you get a reputation for something, no matter what you do or who you are, it's like it sticks with you. I don't know where that one really came from because I don't consider myself that at all. I don't know if this answers your question, but I try not to think about it too much; it's that kind of thing like, you're a human being, not a thing, you know! I find it nice when people are complimentary or like something you do, and that means the most of anything. That means a lot to me, and when that happens, I feel very grateful for it, but I don't think about any kind of labeling or how people perceive me, because it's a slightly disturbing thought to me (laughs).

Cinematical: How then do you find the projects you do? Do you sort of gravitate to them, or is it a matter of being in the right place at the right time?

Burton: It's a mixture of all of that. That's why I don't like to plan too far in advance, because you don't know how you're going to feel. Sometimes a project can come to you, like this, like Alice in Wonderland in 3-D, and I thought, ooh – that sounds intriguing. That's how that happened, but other projects like Nightmare or Scissorhands are things that you want to have and live inside you and you want to do, and sometimes they take a while to [happen]. Like Nightmare, from thinking about it took ten years to get made; Scissorhands similarly, Corpse Bride, similarly. But those are the kind of things that you know you're sometime going to do just because they're inside you and then there are the ones outside that intrigue you.

Burton on MoMA Exhibit

Tim Burton on the set of Corpse Bride (Photo: Derek Frey)


From November 22nd, 2009 until April 26th, 2010, the Museum of Modern Art in New York City will open their exhibition "Tim Burton," the largest showcase of artwork by the visionary filmmaker. The exhibit will contain over 700 illustrations, sketches, paintings, puppets, photographs, and short and student films by the filmmaker, many of which have never been seen before. There will also be many artifacts from his career as a professional filmmaker, which spans nearly 27 years. Such artifacts will include original puppets from The Nightmare Before Christmas and Corpse Bride, severed head props from Mars Attacks!, and costumes from Batman Returns and Sleepy Hollow. Burton's features will also be screened at the museum from November 18-30.


A familiar sketch of Edward Scissorhands

At a press conference, Burton told reporters that he was excited, but felt a bit surprised by the idea, too. "I didn't grow up in a real museum culture," Burton said at a press conference Wednesday. "I think I went to the Hollywood Wax Museum as my first museum…I was of that generation where I got more out of The Beverly Hillbillies than Monet."

But Burton has found the experience of revisiting decades of his art to be a cathartic and energizing one. "Every now and then, and since I had never done it, it's good to kind of go back and reconnect with yourself," he told reporters yesterday. "It kind of re-energizes you and connects you and gets the nerve-endings going again."

Admission for the MoMA exhibit will be $20 for adults.

Christopher Lee in "Alice in Wonderland"?

Film legend Christopher Lee is just one of many actors who are getting talked about at least a little bit among circles of fans regarding Tim Burton's forthcoming Alice in Wonderland. But a reliable source is hinting that Lee will indeed be in the film.

On the forum of the official website of Christopher Lee, the administrator (Lee's son-in-law), said this:

Mr. Lee will be in this movie but confidentiality agreements prevent me from disclosing his character. I guess we will have to all wait for an official announcement from Disney but I think you all know what the character will be anyway.


Lee has worked with Tim Burton three times before, originally on Sleepy Hollow in 1999, and then Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Corpse Bride in 2005.

He narrated the original poem of The Nightmare Before Christmas written by Burton on the recent DVD release of the film.

Lee was also set to be in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, until his sequence and thus his character was cut while planning in pre-production due to time constraints.

Fans of this deep-voiced thespian will likely rejoice if word of Lee's participation in Alice is true. Until then, we'll have to wait for Disney's official statement.

Burton v. Marie: Legal Battle

Director Tim Burton has been ordered to stand trial in a lawsuit by his ex-girlfriend Lisa Marie, who claims she's owed millions of dollars.

Los Angeles Superior Court Justice Teresa Sanchez-Gordon ruled on the morning of Friday, July 18th, 2008, that a trial is the best means to determine whether Burton verbally agreed to bankroll Marie for life in return for her acting in his films (which include Ed Wood, Mars Attacks!, Sleepy Hollow, and Planet of the Apes) and serving as his personal manager, as her suit contends, before allegedly duping her into a much smaller payout.

Burton had fought to have his lawsuit tossed. There has been no immediate comment from neither his publicist nor his lawyer.

While Marie turned up for the proceedings in California, Burton participated on the phone, since he is in London, busy working on his upcoming Alice in Wonderland.


The article by Josh Grossberg continues as follows:

In his motion seeking dismissal, attorney Joseph Mannis argued that any sort of oral agreement was not applicable in this case, because Lisa Marie signed off on a $5.5 million settlement. Per the terms of that deal, Mannis argued, Lisa Marie relinquished all claims to Burton's assets and promised not to file a palimony suit.

But the model and actress, who appeared in small roles in many of Burton's films and whose real name is Lisa Marie Smith, claims she only received $2.7 million and was victimized by a conspiracy. She claims that Burton worked with her own advisers to shortchange her.

Burton filed a countersuit last September seeking a court declaration affirming she was obligated to live up to the prior deal.

One of the plaintiff's lawyers lashed out at the director's camp for a bullying tactic in which they threatened to take futher legal action against her if she fought Burton's petition to dismiss the case.

"They said that if we had the temerity to file papers in opposition to their motion for some reason that they would file a malicious prosecution action not only against Lisa Marie but also against me," cocounsel Judd Burstein told E! News. "It's going to be very interesting what the jury thinks of that kind of hubris."

Burstein added his camp was "very pleased" by the judge's ruling.

"It's not unexpected to us. Nice to know that just because you're a big celebrity you can't get your way by cheating and bullying."

The attorney also said that a chance for an amicable agreement was past.

"We've had some [settlement] talks, but it's not going anywhere," Burstein said. "We want our day in court, and it will be a very bad day for Tim Burton."

That day is now scheduled for August 11th.

New "Beetlejuice" DVD This September

The official poster for Beetlejuice.
No cover art for the new DVD release is available yet.

Is a new special edition DVD of Tim Burton's classic Beetlejuice coming out this September?! Yes and no. This won't be the Beetlejuice 20th anniversary DVD release of your dreams, with behind-the-scenes featurettes galore and an audio commentary track or two, from the looks of it.

Instead, this upcoming DVD, Warner Bros. has stated, will feature the 1988 macabre comedy in a newly restored and clear presentation. Also, it will include three episodes from the animated series based on the film, which was produced by Burton and David Geffen:

-"A-Ha" from Season One
-"Skeletons in the Closet" from Season Two
-"Spooky Boo-tique" from Season Two

The animated series.

The so-called "Beetlejuice (20th Anniversary Deluxe Edition)" will be released on standard DVD (for roughly $20) and high-definition Blu-Ray DVD ($35) in North America on September 16th, 2008.The Blu-Ray version will also include a sample CD of select tracks from the movie's score by Danny Elfman.

This upcoming DVD release is skimping on the extras for the most part. No confirmation on whether or not it will include the music-only audio track that the original, more primitive DVD release of Beetlejuice from 1998 featured (but most likely, there will not be).

Beetlejuice, released in 1988, was the second feature-length film directed by Burton. It stars Michael Keaton (Batman) in one of his craziest performances, as well as Geena Davis, Alec Baldwin, and Robert Goulet in a brief cameo. Other Burton collaborators in the film include Catherine O'hara and Glenn Shadix (who were both in The Nightmare Before Christmas), Winona Ryder (Edward Scissorhands), and Jeffrey Jones (Ed Wood, Sleepy Hollow), among others.

Burton, Marie Go to Court in August

What was hoped to be a quick settlement has evolved into a drawn-out legal confrontation between director Tim Burton and his ex, Lisa Marie. The trial is set for August 12th, 2008.

Lisa Marie, 39, originally filed a lawsuit against the filmmaker in 2006.

Marie and Burton met in December 1991 and quickly moved in with one another. At that point, according to her complaint, the filmmaker promised to "share equally any and all property accumulated" and agreed to take care of her financial needs for the rest of her life.

Burton did assist Marie's career: the model appeared in four of his films -- Ed Wood in 1994, Mars Attacks! in 1996, Sleepy Hollow in 1999, and Planet of the Apes in 2001.

But while shooting their last film together, Marie's suit states, Burton dumped the model/actress for Helena Bonham Carter, who played the female lead in Apes. Bonham Carter and Tim Burton currently reside in England with their two children.

Lisa Marie's suit claims that while Burton and Bonham Carter pursued their romance, Marie felt "extremely depressed" for several months.



Marie, whose full name is Lisa Marie Smith, eventually received $2.7 million, but in 2004, she complained of a conspiracy preventing her from obtaining her fair share.

Burton fired back with his own petition, seeking a court declaration which would demand Marie abide by the original agreement.

You can read more details of the legal issue in this link.

Elijah Wood Confirms Voice for "9"

Actor Elijah Wood recently confirmed that he has lent his voice for an upcoming computer animated feature film, entitled 9. Here's what Wood said:

[T]here's a movie called 9. It's an animated film directed by Shane Acker and executive produced by Tim Burton. That is actually a fully fleshed-out version of the 9 short film that won Best Animated Short at the Oscars, I believe, a couple of years ago. It's about a post-apocalyptic world, essentially, a world where humanity has been destroyed by the machinery it has created. There are these rag dolls, these mechanized rag dolls, that are the only living thing left and they are trying to figure out who they are, and what they are and why humanity was destroyed. It's sort of (laughs) it's relatively dark fare, but the animation style is extraordinary and the story is quite an adventurous one and quite unique in regards to the animated films that have been released in the past couple of years.



The film is based on a 10 1/2 minute long short of the same name, which was directed by Shane Acker. The short took 4 1/2 years to make. It differs from its upcoming feature adaptation in that the original short did not feature any voices. Instead, an unusual semblance of unique sound effects and music moved the story along. The film was nominated for an Oscar in 2005.

Though it will be made in CGI, the computer animation is said to mimic the movement of stop-motion animation, which Tim Burton is so fond of.

Poster for the original short 9 (2004)

Other actors who have lent their voices for the upcoming project include Martin Landau (who was in Tim Burton's Ed Wood and Sleepy Hollow), Jennifer Connelly, John C. Reilly, Crispin Glover, and Christopher Plummer. Along with Burton, Timur Bekmambetov, Dana Ginsburg, Jim Lemley, and Marci Levine will produce the movie.

9 is set for a U.S. theatrical release of December 26th, 2008.

Oscar Nominees Announced

The nominees for the 80th Annual Academy Awards have been announced. The official website, oscar.com, states that Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street has been nominated for three categories: Best Actor in a Leading Role (Johnny Depp as the title character), Best Art Direction (art director Dante Ferretti and set decorator Francesca Lo Schiavo), and Best Costume Design (Colleen Atwood, making this her second nomination for her work on a Tim Burton film, with Sleepy Hollow being the first). Click on the links for Academy Award history on each of the nominees.


The Oscar Awards ceremony will broadcast on February 24th, 2008, at 5PT/8ET on ABC in the United States.

For Depp, There Are Films, and There Are Tim Burton Films

For Johnny Depp, there are films and there are Tim Burton films. In an interview by Reuters, Depp, promoting Burton and Depp's sixth collaboration, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (which A. O. Scott of the New York Times has called ""something close to a masterpiece"), describes how he always looks forward to working with his director friend. "There are films that you do that you have enjoyed and the process is fantastic and the directors are great," says Depp. "And then there are the phone calls that you get from Tim," added the now 44-year-old actor. "That is a magical moment for me when the phone rings from Tim, because you know you are about to embark on something very very interesting."

Although Depp has been in the acting business for over twenty years, he recalls his latest collaboration with Burton -- taking on the lead, singing role of the murderous barber of Fleet Street -- as being one of his biggest challenges in his career. "It's an obtuse situation to be in when, at the ripe old age of 43, you find yourself suddenly trying to sing songs all the way through for the first time in your life," says Depp. "It's to say the least absurd and it was an odd feeling. So initially just hearing myself doing it, I was embarrassed..." But despite being "no Sammy Davis, Jr." or "no Frank Sinatra," Depp got the part as Sweeney Todd, with Stephen Sondheim's ultimate approval.

Tim Burton also fondly speaks of his many partnerships with Depp, although he feels that each film with the actor is a different experience.

"I've worked with him six times. I feel like I've worked with six different people," Burton said. "There are a lot of people that really do a very good job maintaining their persona ... they are good at being themselves in a movie. I like character actors that like to become different people, that's what energises me."

Depp and Burton at the Tokyo, Japan premiere of Sweeney Todd on January 9th, 2008.
Reuters/Michael Caronna

Burton and Depp first collaborated on Edward Scissorhands in 1990. Since then, they made Ed Wood (1994), Sleepy Hollow (1999), Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005), and the animated film Corpse Bride (2005).

Helena Bonham Carter: "Sweeney Todd," Motherhood, Acting, and More!

The Observer has published a lengthy and highly informative interview with Helena Bonham Carter. In the article, the 41-year-old actress discusses her roles in Tim Burton's films, her relationship with the director, her family life, her professional life, and much more.

Helena Bonham Carter recalls one of the first conversations she had with Tim Burton, long before she and Burton got together, about her home place, Hampstead. The director had stayed there while shooting Sleepy Hollow and told the actress that it was the only place in the world where he felt that he truly belonged. Since then, the pair have become a happy, unmarried couple, with a home in Hampstead, England, and four-year-old Billy and a brand-new baby girl, just born this past December. Bonham Carter states that she is very happy with her relationship and family with Mr. Burton. "I think it's to do with our hair - the lack of comb, the lack of hair care," the actress stated.

Of course, Burton was curious about his next project at the time, Planet of the Apes, and Bonham Carter remembers that the very first thing the filmmaker told her was: "I can really see you in an ape mask." Bonham Carter continued, "'He said: 'Don't be offended, but you're the first person I thought of.' Then he explained himself, which was much more intuitive. He said: 'I just got the feeling you like to change what you look like.' And I said: 'You're absolutely right.'"

Helena Bonham Carter as Ari the chimp in Planet of the Apes (2001)

Bonham Carter explained that she wanted to be in Planet of the Apes for two main reasons: partly because of the ape suit ('I always like to do the thing you're never going to be able to do again'), and also because she wanted to be able to work with the acclaimed filmmaker. "I was excited to work with Tim Burton, even though the script was absolutely crap," she says. "But it wasn't a case of: 'I want to work with him because I'm going to have two children with him, and he's going to be my husband!'"

After Planet of the Apes, Helena Bonham Carter worked with Tim Burton on Big Fish (playing a witch), Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (playing Charlie's poverty-stricken mother), lending her voice for the animated film Corpse Bride (playing the dearly departed bride), and most recently the love-sick, somewhat-maniacal Mrs. Lovett in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.

Bonham Carter states that the horror/musical is "not feel-good," but she adored playing the part of Mrs. Lovett in the cinematic adaptation of the Stephen Sondheim musical. Bonham Carter is a self-described "musical whore." "I've always loved musicals," she says. "Tim thought I was making Billy gay because that's all I'd sing to him." She even claims that singing for Sweeney Todd may have got her pregnant. "It was all the oxygen. And my pelvic floor has never been so fit. I've got great hopes that after this baby it's going to bounce straight back" (Bonham Carter was pregnant with her and Burton's second child while this interview was being made).

A very pregnant Helena Bonham Carter

But the actress asserted that, contrary to accusations, she does not get the parts in her partner's films simply because of their relationship. "I really do have to be righter than right before Tim lets me do a part," she says. "Sexual favours don't get me anything" (nor does it for frequent Burton collaborator Johnny Depp, she said). This was especially the case for Sweeney Todd. Composer Stephen Sondheim, not Tim Burton, ultimately had the final say on whether or not she would play Mrs. Lovett. Luckily, after Bonham Carter auditioned for the Broadway legend, she passed Sondheim's test. She describes getting the part as "the most absolutely amazing thing. I just could not believe it. Nor could Tim, actually. He burst into tears. And I burst into tears."

As happy as Bonham Carter and Burton are in their relationship, she admits that their relationship, like any other, has its rockier moments, and not surprisingly when work is the issue. "There are certain stresses that come with working together," says Bonham Carter, particularly alluding to their experiences on shooting Sweeney Todd. "There's no pretence with us, you see. No 'Let's adopt our formal selves'."

What sort of thing is she talking about? "Well, he was all: (growls) 'How difficult is it to come through the door and cover that spot!' And I'd be (whines): 'I've got wool in my head because I'm fucking pregnant, and there's blood everywhere and I didn't see it, all right?' And all I get is: 'Action!'"

Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter (as Mrs. Lovett) in Sweeney Todd (2007)

But when things got tricky, Johnny Depp was able to step in and act as relationship counselor for the director and actress. Helena said, "Johnny was very helpful because me and Tim would sometimes have little domestics and he was very diplomatic." She continued, saying, "Johnny was very thoughtful because I was pregnant and when you are pregnant, for the first three months it's difficult to concentrate on anything - all your energy goes into the baby. Sometimes he was off-camera and when I had completely forgotten what Tim had told me, Johnny would just sign language, 'Look over there!' or whatever it was I needed to do, so that was particularly helpful!"

On feeding one another's creativity, Bonham Carter stated what she thought of the title of "muse." "I don't know if you could call me a muse," grins Bonham Carter. "Most muses are silent."

But despite minor mishaps during shooting, and despite how much she relished playing Mrs. Lovett, Helena Bonham Carter is absorbed and fully ecstatic with her role as a mother. The actress enthusiastically described motherhood as "the ultimate creativity," and said she'd love to do it again and again. "I'd really like six of them!" Does Bonham Carter feel that having her children in her late thirties and onward makes them all the more precious? "Yes," she says. "Because you really want them by then, don't you? You've made the decision. You don't resent the time, or any loss of freedom. You're just so very happy to have them around."

Tim Burton and Helena Bonham Carter

Bonham Carter reflected on whether or not Tim Burton was equally excited about becoming a parent. "Totally. He's very childlike anyway. He's never let go of his inner child. Or his outer child!" As for Helena?: "It does make you grow up, doesn't it?' she says. 'But it makes you grow down, too. It brings back the child in you."

The actress stated that she does not like to look at herself in the films she acts in ("It's not false modesty... It's torture!"), but she still loves that career. Her being in touch with her childlike sensibilities is what attracted her to acting in the first place. She says acting is "taken way too seriously - it's all just dress-up and make-believe." The actress also said that there should be a role of play in acting. "That and transforming. You know - getting away as far away from yourself as possible." But why would she need to get 'far away' from herself? "Because," smiles Bonham Carter, "that's what makes me feel liberated."

You can read much more on Helena Bonham Carter's career, film roles (including Harry Potter, Fight Club, and more), her family, her personal history, her fashion sense, and much more in the article from The Observer.

Pictures of Burton at AFI Directors Screening in L.A.

Pictures of Tim Burton at last Friday's AFI Directors Screening have been posted, courtesy of Joshua J. Smelser. After a screening of Sweeney Todd, Burton took questions from the audience. A surprise guest introduced the director: Martin Landau, an actor who won an Academy Award for his performance as horror legend Bela Lugosi in Ed Wood and also had a small role in Sleepy Hollow.

Martin Landau and film critic Claudia Puig of USA Today.

More pictures can be viewed here.

Depp Says Burton Dragged Him Through Manure

Johnny Depp recently recalled one of the worst movie-making experiences in his life in an article. The 44-year-old actor remembered when he and collaborator Tim Burton were shooting the film Sleepy Hollow in 1999 and Burton made Depp hold onto a carriage while "curry"-fueled horses pulled him through the stinking mire.

Depp said, "One morning when we were filming 'Sleepy Hollow', Tim called me to the set, pointed to two large horses strapped to a carriage and said, 'This is what we are going to be doing today.' I was to hold on to the carriage behind the horses, being dragged along through the muck."

"The horses must have fed on curry. I've never smelt anything like that."

Being dragged through feces was just one of many traumatizing feats Depp had to pull working with Tim Burton. Johnny Depp faced another terrifying challenge when they worked on their latest film, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. The actor would have to sing extremely difficult songs while acting as the menacing title role. But Depp felt more confident after taking singing lessons from his partner, French singer Vanessa Paradis.

But Tim Burton insists Johnny "exceeded all expectations" with his vocal performance as the murderous London barber.

He said, "I always had every confidence in him and he needn't have worried at all.

"His performance was wonderful and exceeded all of my expectations. He is a great actor."

Johnny Depp and Tim Burton in West Hollywood, California, on December 5th, 2007.
(AP Photo/Kevork Djansezian, file)

You can see Tim Burton and Johnny Depp discussing these issues with one another and so much more concerning their careers in AOL's Unscripted interview with the two collaborators.

There is also a version of this episode on YouTube.com, in three parts:

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

A Very Burton Christmas

Tim Burton's Christmas tree this year will be adorned in a macabre fashion appropriate for the director -- "dead babies and slime." Helena Bonham Carter, Burton's long-time partner, revealed that Burton shuns tradition for a different version of holiday cheer. "Tim decorates the Christmas tree with dead babies and slime balls and things. It looks lovely and glittery from afar, and then as you get closer, you realize it's rather gory," the actress, now pregnant with their second child, said. The couple's first child was Billy Ray Burton, now four years old. The second child is due this December.

Bonham Carter described her tree as looking quite different from her boyfriend's. "Mine looks like Beatrix Potter. He has dead Oompa-Loompas around and multicoloured fiberglass alien lamps. But then he has some nice red-button sofas from Sleepy Hollow. So it's a funny and good mix." But despite the morbid appearance, Bonham Carter assured that they're not sick in the head in a bad way. Helena told Playboy magazine: "We're not that dark. What I love about Tim is that he retains a certain innocence and a childlike quality. He sort of forgot to grow up. I think I've definitely forgotten to grow up, which is great."

Helena jokingly said that their childish outlook on life (and death) might make them odd parents. "At some point, Billy will probably want parents. He'll have to look elsewhere."

Lisa Marie Told to Revise Lawsuit Against Tim Burton

The Associated Press has reported that, on Wednesday, August 22nd, 2007, Tim Burton's ex-girlfriend, Lisa Marie, was told to revise her lawsuit against the director. The article went into detail, saying, "a judge ruled it didn't sufficiently support claims that Burton had backed out of a promise to financially support her. " Marie sued in December 2006, alleging that Burton used fraud to "cheat her out of assets he promised to share with her during their nearly 10-year, live-in relationship." Burton's attorneys said that the director already gave Marie $5 million to sign the contract, "which released him from any further claims to his assets." The judge stated that Marie and her attorneys have ten days to revise the action.



Marie was in four of Burton's films: Ed Wood (1994), Mars Attacks (1996), Sleepy Hollow (1999), and Planet of the Apes (2001).




Photo provided by the Associated Press. This picture was taken at the 47th International Film Festival in Berlin on Saturday, February 22nd, 1997, during a press conference for Mars Attacks.

Christopher Lee Cut From "Sweeney Todd"?

An article on Stephen Sondheim's own website (http://www.sondheim.org/php/news.php?id=2299) from the Sunday Telegraph has stated that Christopher Lee's character, the Gentleman Ghost, has been cut from Tim Burton's upcoming film version of Sweeney Todd. Half a dozen other actors who were to play more singing ghosts have been axed from the film, too. Sondheim had greatly approved of Lee's operatic singing (he recently released a CD), but a tight production schedule is most likely to be the reason that the singing ghosts parts were cut. Lee was eager to participate in what would have been his fourth collaboration with Burton (they first worked together on 1999's Sleepy Hollow). The actor said that "It would have been worse if I had done the scenes, but I never got to film them." Lee continued saying "It's a shame as the lyrics were wonderful, but these things happen."