Tim Burton had made some mega-hits before "Ed Wood," but "Ed Wood" itself was a commercial failure. Also, it's regarded, generally, as Burton's greatest film. Go figure!
-You can see certain trends in Burton's career. For example, Burton employed the actress Lisa Marie as "Vampira," and he later gave her a roll in "Mars Attacks!" I believe you can draw a straight line from Lisa Marie to Eva Green, Burton's muse in "Dark Shadows" and "Dumbo." Same sultriness, same pallor, same strange mix of dryness and intensity. Another trend: Burton is fascinated with the figure of The Artist. The Artist as Protagonist. I'm thinking of the Pumpkin King ("Nightmare Before Christmas"), Amy Adams's character in "Big Eyes," and of course the title character in "Ed Wood." (You could argue that Sweeney Todd is also an artist-figure. "A barber and his wife....a proper artist with a knife....")
-A story is nothing without great characters, and witness the feast in "Ed Wood": the heroin-addled Bela Lugosi, who is still a committed genius; the pompous Bill Murray character; SJP's character, with her risible screen-acting; and Ed Wood himself, making bizarre deals just as quickly and easily as anyone breathes. The movie is fun because you wonder: Who would ever think to take Mr. Wood seriously? Only Tim Burton. It's just a strange subject for an expensive big-studio film. It's an idea that *had to* happen. And it had to come from Burton's brain. So, as you watch, you feel you're seeing something both surprising and inevitable, something delightful and fated--the way you feel when you encounter "Rear Window," or maybe Mark van Doren's writings on Shakespeare.
-Martin Landau was the first person to win an Oscar for playing a Hollywood real-world legend. Later, Cate Blanchett would do the same. (K. Hepburn, "The Aviator.") Also, had you realized that Landau's career reached all the way back to "North by Northwest"? Johnny Depp says he'd almost abandoned acting when "Ed Wood" came along--he had grown bored with the profession--but Landau awakened him to new possibilities. You can see the esteem Depp and Landau have for one another--it's visible on the screen--and that esteem works well, since Wood and Lugosi are meant to be great friends.
-A final memorable character: The woman at the bar who refuses to touch liquid, and won't explain why. She informs Mr. Wood that she will donate all she has if she can be in his picture--and she knowingly allows him to think that this figure is astronomical--and then all hell breaks loose. The figure is just $300. One irony: This pretender actually seems to be a better actress than the more-established person she replaces. I'm enchanted by Johnny Depp's Wise Fool and by the weirdos who gather around him. Moths to the flame. The movie makes you fall in love with storytelling--or, at least, it has that potential. I'm eager to see the soon-to-be-released live-action Burton 2019 extravaganza: "Dumbo."
-You can see certain trends in Burton's career. For example, Burton employed the actress Lisa Marie as "Vampira," and he later gave her a roll in "Mars Attacks!" I believe you can draw a straight line from Lisa Marie to Eva Green, Burton's muse in "Dark Shadows" and "Dumbo." Same sultriness, same pallor, same strange mix of dryness and intensity. Another trend: Burton is fascinated with the figure of The Artist. The Artist as Protagonist. I'm thinking of the Pumpkin King ("Nightmare Before Christmas"), Amy Adams's character in "Big Eyes," and of course the title character in "Ed Wood." (You could argue that Sweeney Todd is also an artist-figure. "A barber and his wife....a proper artist with a knife....")
-A story is nothing without great characters, and witness the feast in "Ed Wood": the heroin-addled Bela Lugosi, who is still a committed genius; the pompous Bill Murray character; SJP's character, with her risible screen-acting; and Ed Wood himself, making bizarre deals just as quickly and easily as anyone breathes. The movie is fun because you wonder: Who would ever think to take Mr. Wood seriously? Only Tim Burton. It's just a strange subject for an expensive big-studio film. It's an idea that *had to* happen. And it had to come from Burton's brain. So, as you watch, you feel you're seeing something both surprising and inevitable, something delightful and fated--the way you feel when you encounter "Rear Window," or maybe Mark van Doren's writings on Shakespeare.
-Martin Landau was the first person to win an Oscar for playing a Hollywood real-world legend. Later, Cate Blanchett would do the same. (K. Hepburn, "The Aviator.") Also, had you realized that Landau's career reached all the way back to "North by Northwest"? Johnny Depp says he'd almost abandoned acting when "Ed Wood" came along--he had grown bored with the profession--but Landau awakened him to new possibilities. You can see the esteem Depp and Landau have for one another--it's visible on the screen--and that esteem works well, since Wood and Lugosi are meant to be great friends.
-A final memorable character: The woman at the bar who refuses to touch liquid, and won't explain why. She informs Mr. Wood that she will donate all she has if she can be in his picture--and she knowingly allows him to think that this figure is astronomical--and then all hell breaks loose. The figure is just $300. One irony: This pretender actually seems to be a better actress than the more-established person she replaces. I'm enchanted by Johnny Depp's Wise Fool and by the weirdos who gather around him. Moths to the flame. The movie makes you fall in love with storytelling--or, at least, it has that potential. I'm eager to see the soon-to-be-released live-action Burton 2019 extravaganza: "Dumbo."
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