Five Things You Didn’t Know about Tim Burton

Tim Burton Unveils "Tim Burton: The Exhibition" At ACMI

When Tim Burton first appeared on the film landscape, he brought with him a visual flair and style quite unlike anything else out there. Highly stylized, but very genuine and moving stories buried beneath it all, Burton created a new kind of movie. A sort of fantasy-meets-comedy-meets-goth sub-genre of film which immediately everyone was floored by (and many have since ripped off). Though you may know the man as a writer and director, we have some tid-bits that we are sure you didn’t know about the artistic genius. Here are five things you didn’t know about Tim Burton.

Has Published Kid’s Books

The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy is just one of those. The books meld his art style (which is remarkable in itself) with a sort of Edward Gorey sensibility and storytelling that make for some very unforgettable (and at times, unsettling) material. The books have also been adapted into comics and even a line of vinyl toys.

Was Animator At Disney For Short While

Early in his career, his art work was more of the thing that got him noticed. He actually landed a gig at Disney fairly early on in his career where he helped animated some of the lesser known Disney films, such as The Black Cauldron. This led to further relations with Disney later on in his career, as you will see.

Tom Hanks Was Offered the Part of Edward Scissorhands

We all know Edward Scissorhands was the movie that made most people sit up and take notice of Tim Burton (that and Beetlejuice). But can you imagine how different the film would be if the lead had not been Johnny Depp but rather, had been Tom Hanks? Well, Hanks was offered the role before Depp landed it, and he (among many others) said no. I am kinda glad he did. Johnny Depp injected a great sense of tragedy and innocence to that character. Hard to imagine anyone else playing him.

His Wife Diagnosed Him With Autism

This might be the one that tends to really blow people’s minds when they figure it out. His famous wife, Helena Bonham Carter, truly believes that her husband has autism. From the stories she heard of his childhood, to even how he is as an adult man, she says he has many signs that he may have Asperger’s Syndrome but was never properly diagnosed. A diagnosis that Tim Burton happens to also believe.

Doesn’t Understanding Ending of His Own Planet of the Apes

A lot of people condemn the director for his less than stellar Planet of the Apes reboot. Though most of the movie was okay, the ending kind of made no sense to anybody. Tim Burton has recently admitted in interviews that even he has no idea what that ending means and that is not the ending he wrote for his original movie. The original ending had Marky Mark crashing into Yankee Stadium only to see the players reveal themselves to be apes. Not sure his is much better, but still.

Truthfully, that is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to this enigmatic man. Gifted in music, writing, art,among many other mediums, he is a true renaissance man among lesser men. Now let’s just hope he stops with the remakes and starts bringing us some more of his morbid, hilarious, original work to life on screen again.

(Photo by Scott Barbour/Getty Images)

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