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Conversations With Filmmakers Series
Tim Burton: Interviews
Starting his career as an animator for Disney, Tim Burton made his feature film directorial debut with the visually dazzling, low-budget Pee-Wee's Big Adventure. When it became a surprise blockbuster, studios began to trust him with larger budgets and the whims of his expansive imagination. Mixing gothic horror, black comedy, and oddball whimsy, Burton's movies veer from childlike enchantment to morbid melancholy, often with the same frame.
His beautifully designed and highly stylized films-including Batman, Edward Scissorhands, Beetlejuice, Big Fish, Sleepy Hollow, and Ed Wood-are idiosyncratic, personal visions that have found commercial success. In Tim Burton: Interviews, the director discusses how animation and art design affect his work, how old horror films have deeply influenced his psyche, why so many of his protagonists are outcasts, and how he's managed to make personal films within the Hollywood system. He gives tribute to writers he's worked with, his favorite actors-including Johnny Depp and Vincent Price-and talks enthusiastically about pulp horror fiction and the works of Edgar Allan Poe.
These interviews show his progression from an inarticulate young director to a contemplative and dry-witted artist over the course of twenty years. In later interviews, he opens up about being in therapy and how his childhood fantasies still affect his art. Tim Burton: Interviews reveals a man who has managed to thrive inside Hollywood while maintaining the distinctive quirks of an independent filmmaker.
Kristian Fraga, New York City, wrote and directed the award-winning PBS documentary The Inside Reel: Digital Filmmaking. He is a founding partner of Sirk Productions, LLC, a Manhattan-based film and television production company.
His beautifully designed and highly stylized films-including Batman, Edward Scissorhands, Beetlejuice, Big Fish, Sleepy Hollow, and Ed Wood-are idiosyncratic, personal visions that have found commercial success. In Tim Burton: Interviews, the director discusses how animation and art design affect his work, how old horror films have deeply influenced his psyche, why so many of his protagonists are outcasts, and how he's managed to make personal films within the Hollywood system. He gives tribute to writers he's worked with, his favorite actors-including Johnny Depp and Vincent Price-and talks enthusiastically about pulp horror fiction and the works of Edgar Allan Poe.
These interviews show his progression from an inarticulate young director to a contemplative and dry-witted artist over the course of twenty years. In later interviews, he opens up about being in therapy and how his childhood fantasies still affect his art. Tim Burton: Interviews reveals a man who has managed to thrive inside Hollywood while maintaining the distinctive quirks of an independent filmmaker.
Kristian Fraga, New York City, wrote and directed the award-winning PBS documentary The Inside Reel: Digital Filmmaking. He is a founding partner of Sirk Productions, LLC, a Manhattan-based film and television production company.
- GenresNonfictionFilm
234 pages, Paperback
First published April 29, 2005
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
September 16, 2017
As someone who doesn't always think critically about the movies I watch, it nice to know that on a deeper level I've understood what Tim Burton was trying to say with his movies, both emotionally and intellectually.
Going through and reading the numerous interviews he's done over the years helped solidify his status as one of my favourite directors. These interviews pulled back the curtain and gave me a glimpse into the mind of the man behind the movies along with a better understanding of his oeuvre.
A solid read for any fan!
Going through and reading the numerous interviews he's done over the years helped solidify his status as one of my favourite directors. These interviews pulled back the curtain and gave me a glimpse into the mind of the man behind the movies along with a better understanding of his oeuvre.
A solid read for any fan!
April 19, 2017
This book contains a huge collection of interviews from Tim Burton. Its set up in chapters of his films which made it easily accessible for my dissertation. I also found out some interesting things.
September 4, 2015
Love Tim Burton? Read this collection of interviews and come to know him better. He's... kinda awesome, humble, flawed, extremely talented, lousy at business, un-Hollywood yet in Hollywood and always struggling with that dichotomy. Fascinating collection of interviews beginning with Pee Wee's Big Adventure and ending with Big Fish.
July 9, 2013
such an interesting yet not so interesting figure.. he's just like any other misunderstood person who just so happens to not care what others think and does not pretend to be someone or to fit a mold..
July 10, 2016
I grew up a HUGE Tim Burton fan, his movie "The Nightmare Before Christmas" is the reason I wanted to be an artist as a kid, am an art major now and got me to where I am today, I put off reading this book for a while and I'm not entirely sure why but it just reminded me of all the reasons why I love Tim Burton and almost everything he does and creates, I highly recommend this book not only for Tim Burton fans but for any film enthusiasts or anyone who has had a connection with a Tim Burton film!
October 27, 2015
Well - how to intellectualize a subject that hates that noise?
All I can say is however fashionable it has become to say he is a self parody, he'll be as bizarre and bizarrely compelling as ever as a person, no matter his slate of movies he could direct a ice cream advert, and something, just something, would lead someone to ask why. That's true power, there.
All I can say is however fashionable it has become to say he is a self parody, he'll be as bizarre and bizarrely compelling as ever as a person, no matter his slate of movies he could direct a ice cream advert, and something, just something, would lead someone to ask why. That's true power, there.
November 9, 2013
Gives a glimpse into the mind of Tim Burton.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews