Video of Tim Burton in Amsterdam

Here's a video excerpt of Tim Burton taking questions from audience members at the Amsterdam Fantastic Film Festival from April 10th, 2008. The video was provided by jordi and shot by Marin Visser, so go to the link listed below to leave comments:

http://nl.youtube.com/watch?v=68FCA1oCxmI

Rare "Ed Wood" Promo Found

A rare promotional video from 1994 advertising Tim Burton's Ed Wood was recently found and posted on YouTube.com by John Erik Taylor. The short video (a little under seven minutes long) was shown at sci-fi conventions before the film's release, and features behind-the-scenes footage and unseen interviews with the cast and crew. This promo wasn't on the Ed Wood DVD, so fans of the film and Tim Burton will find this to be a rare treat.

The promo features interviews with Tim Burton, Johnny Depp, Martin Landau (in a highly memorable and moving performance as an aging Bela Lugosi), Sarah Jessica Parker (as Dolores Fuller, Wood's girlfriend and actress), screenwriters Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski, and make-up artist Ve Neill (a frequent Burton collaborator who first worked with the director on Beetlejuice).

Here's the link to the video on YouTube.com (you can also watch it below).

2008 Oscars Results

The winners from the 80th Annual Academy Awards have all been announced. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street was nominated for three awards, and won one Oscar for Best Achievement in Art Direction. Italian production designer Dante Ferretti and his wife, Francesca Lo Schiavo, who was the set designer on the horror-musical, each won an award.

Here are the acceptance speeches by the pair (and more information on their nomination history in this link):

Dante Ferretti:
Thank you to the Academy. And thank you to Tim Burton, fantastic director. Thank you to Richard Zanuck. Thank you to everybody, thank you to my team, all the department, everyone. Thank you, Johnny. And I'm sorry, i forgot something, but I'm very -- thank you anyway.

Francesca Lo Schiavo:
Just i would like to say, this time, thank you, thank you to the Academy. I'm so happy, so grateful. And thank you to Tim Burton. Great director. Johnny Depp and all the actors, Everybody, for this fantastic movie.

Dante Ferretti and Francesca Lo Schiavo hold their Oscars
for their work on the art direction in Sweeney Todd (OSCAR.com)

You can watch a "Thank You Cam" video of the two on the official Oscars website.

Colleen Atwood's costume designs for Sweeney Todd were also nominated, but ultimately lost to Alexandra Byrne's costumes used in Elizabeth: The Golden Age. Johnny Depp was also nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role. However, Daniel Day Lewis, who was predicted as the front runner for the award, received the Oscar for his performance in There Will Be Blood. Previous Burton collaborator Marion Cotillard (who played Josephine in Big Fish) won Best Actress for her performance as Edith Piaf in La Vie en Rose (a.ka. La Mome). Neither Tim Burton nor Helena Bonham Carter were present at the awards ceremony. It is likely that they were with their children in London at the time.

Although the famed costume designer did not take home an Academy Award this year, Oscars.com did have a special treat from Colleen Atwood. Atwood filled out a questionnaire. See her personal answers and stories, in her handwriting (click on the image for a closer view):





Information on the other winners and nominees can be read in this link.

"Edward Scissorhands" Ballet Comes to Australia

The acclaimed ballet version of Tim Burton's classic film Edward Scissorhands is coming to Australia. The ballet, brought to the stage by British choreographer Matthew Bourne, was already a big hit when it made its debut in Britain in 2005, and was a celebrated success in the United States, as well.

At the tour launch at the Sydney Opera House on January 29th, 2008, Bourne said that he had wanted to adapt Burton's cult classic since the early 1990s, when he emerged as Britain's most exciting new choreographer.

However, it took nearly a decade to obtain the rights and get Tim Burton, co-writer Caroline Thompson, composer Danny Elfman, and 20th Century-Fox to permit the ballet adaptation.

"I think if I'd asked them for permission to make a TV series or a theme park ride, they would have said no," Bourne said.

"But what intrigued them was the peculiar form of theater I do, which is storytelling without words."

After eight years of waiting, the show was allowed.

Matthew Malthouse as Edward Scissorhands

Bourne said in Sydney that he was initially concerned with the scissors.

"Although they are not obviously actual blades, they move quite fast and you could get injured by them," he said.

"We've had nothing major happen, but the blades do break sometimes or they snap off."

“In a way Edward Scissorhands is Tim Burton,” Bourne observed. Bourne got the mother of Helena Bonham Carter to persuade the director into seeing one of his productions.

But Bourne was most nervous on how the star of the original film version, Johnny Depp, would think of the production, as he was the one who brought Edward to life on screens in 1990. After many months, Depp finally caught the show when it arrived in Los Angeles.

Bourne recalled: “He spent an hour with the company and tried on the hands. He wrote to me afterwards and said he was ‘teetering on the edge of tears all the way through it, mate’.”

The Australian tour of the ballet will commence at His Majesty’s Theatre from July 1 to 6.

You can see a video preview of the Sydney show here.

Yet Another "Todd" Interview

Yup, another Sweeney Todd related interview from the UK. Tim Burton, Johnny Depp, and Timothy Spall discuss musicals and the violence in the movie.

Burton and Depp on "Culture Show"

With Sweeney Todd making its UK debut on Friday, there is still plenty of advertising and promotions going around. Johnny Depp and Tim Burton discuss their latest collaboration in this video from "Culture Show." Depp recalls Iggy Pop and Anthony Newley inspired his voice for Todd and Peter Lorre helped him with the acting.

"Sweeney Todd" London Press Conference Video

You can now watch the London Press Conference of Sweeney Todd online. Tim Burton, Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Alan Rickman, and Timothy Spall take questions and poke fun at one another a bit. Beware of SPOILERS!

Part One:



Part Two:

"The South Bank Show": Tim Burton Episode

Think you've seen everything there is to see and know everything there is to know about Tim Burton? Think again. "The South Bank Show," an award-winning television arts magazine show from Britain, has come out with a new episode featuring the director with rare footage, information, and interviews (with Tim, Danny Elfman, Rich Heinrichs, Helena Bonham Carter, Johnny Depp, and many others) you may never have seen before. From his youngest years and earliest ventures into film (including his student movie "Houdini" and his 2D animated short, "Stalk of the Celery Monster") to the present day, the episode encompasses a great deal of the filmmaker's works.

Little Tim on a pony. Shocking.

Tim Burton in "Houdini."


"Stalk of the Celery Monster"

A young Rich Heinrichs and Tim Burton being interviewed, with puppets from Vincent (1982) between them.

Sketch of Mrs. Lovett and Todd by Burton for Sweeney Todd

Watch the episode on YouTube (in multiple segments) or on Stage6 (which is in one piece. You can also download the video from the Stage6 link). Video courtesy of John Erik Taylor.

40 Minute Tim Burton Video Interview

A new episode of "Lunch with David," starring David Poland, has been put on the Internet. In it, Tim Burton is interviewed. The filmmaker discusses cinematography, Sweeney Todd, his own style, and much, much more. The video is nearly 40 minutes long and very informative. Click here! (BEWARE OF SPOILERS!)

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

Burton and Depp Interview Each Other with Your Questions

The complete and unscripted video interview between Johnny Depp and Tim Burton is now online. The two ask one another various questions about Sweeney Todd and more, submitted by fans, viewers, and Internet browsers to AOL Movies. Check it out!

Burton and Depp Will Be Taking YOUR Questions

Tonight (that is Wednesday, December 5th) Cinematical.com will be hosting an interview with both Johnny Depp and Tim Burton. The visionary duo will be taking your questions, in part of Cinematical's "Celebrity Interviews: Unscripted." Check back the week of December 17th to see if your question was answered in the video interview!

Nine Clips, Three Featurettes, and Behind-the-Scenes Footage from "Sweeney Todd" Online!

IESB.net has posted a whopping nine film clips, three featurettes, and behind-the-scenes footage of Sweeney Todd. The videos on the site feature interviews with the cast and crew on the film, and actual segments from the movie itself. There are also several new high-quality pictures from the movie on the link. I haven't looked at any of the videos myself, as to avoid any potential SPOILERS. But for those of you who just can't wait, there's plenty to offer from this website.

More can be seen and heard on the official website for Sweeney Todd, too, including song excerpts, production notes, a photo gallery, and downloads.

Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter in Sweeney Todd.



Johnny Depp and Alan Rickman.

Burton and Depp Video Interview

Tim Burton and Johnny Depp were interviewed by Access Hollywood to promote the upcoming Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. In between laughing, the director and actor discuss their partnership, fatherhood, singing, the blood in the film, Preparation H (don't ask; just watch the video) and more:

http://video.accesshollywood.com/player/?id=189396