Ultimate Movie Site : Tim Burton

Tim Burton

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AKA: Tim Burton

Ethnicity: Caucasian

Birthdate: 1958-08-25

Birthplace: Burbank, California, USA

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Biography

Despite his contrarian artiste nature and indie filmmaker persona, director Tim Burton helmed some of the biggest blockbusters in Hollywood history. With his roots in drawing and animation, Burton crafted over his career distinctly designed films that reflected the gothic horror influences of his youth. Starting with “Pee Wee’s Big Adventure” (1985), Burton quickly developed a reputation for a surreal artistic vision that often overshadowed narrative necessities. But his films were financially successful, leading to him directing the first two installments of the lucrative Dark Knight series, “Batman” (1989) and “Batman Returns” (1992). With “Ed Wood” (1994), however, Burton finally earned the respect of critics with his comically optimistic look at a befuddling filmmaker (Johnny Depp)...

Credits

Title	Distributor	Role	Release
Vincent and Me	---	Director	---
Pee-Wee's Big Adventure	Aspen Film Society Productions	Director	08-09-1985
Beetlejuice	Geffen Film Company	Director	03-30-1988
Edward Scissorhands	---	From Story	12-07-1990
Edward Scissorhands	---	Director	12-07-1990

Awards

Award	Category	Project	Year
National Board of Review ...	Best Director	"Sweeney Todd"	2007
Daytime Emmy Award	Outstanding Animated Program	"Beetlejuice"	1990
ShoWest Award	Director of the Year		1990
Venice Film Festival Award	Future Film Festival Digital	"Corpse Bride"	2005
British Animation Award	Best Feature	"Corpse Bride"	2006

Box Office

Release	Title	Distributor	Role	Domestic Box Office
---	Vincent and Me	---	Director	---
08-09-1985	Pee-Wee's Big Adventure	Aspen Film Society Productions	Director	$40,940,662
03-30-1988	Beetlejuice	Geffen Film Company	Director	$72,394,274
12-07-1990	Edward Scissorhands	---	From Story	$54,155,571
12-07-1990	Edward Scissorhands	---	Director	$54,155,571

Education

Institution	Location	Major	Degree	Year range	Notes
California Institute of the Arts	Valencia, CA	animation		1979-1980	Enrolled in the Disney animation program; received scholarship for second year

Milestones

Begin	Through
1982	---	Released first animated (stop-motion) short film, "Vincent"; film won several film festival awards
1984	---	Made live-action short, "Frankenweenie," which inspired Paul Reubens to give him his first feature directing assignment
1985	---	Feature directing debut, "Pee-Wee's Big Adventure," starring Reubens (aka Pee Wee Herman); also marked first collaboration with music composer Danny Elfman
1988	---	First collaboration with Michael Keaton, Wynona Ryder and Jeffrey Jones, "Beetlejuice"
1989	---	Founded Tim Burton Productions

Professions

Profession	Type
director	primary
producer	primary
screenwriter	secondary
animator	occasional
cartoonist	occasional

Relationships

Relationship	Name
father	Bill Burton	A Burbanks parks official
Companion	Helena Bonham Carter	Directed her in "Planet of the Apes" (2001); began dating in October 2001; mother of his son
mother	Jean Burton	Once owned a cat accessory store
wife	Lena Gieseke	German; married from 1989 to 1992
Companion	Lisa Marie	Appeared as Vampira in "Ed Wood" (1994) and an alien in "Mars Attacks!" (1996); together from 1992 until 2001; reportedly were engaged

Notes

On the apoplectic response to "Batman Returns" and parental upset about a McDonald's merchandising tie-in: "I mean, I'm sorry, but I didn't ask to put this stuff on the side of a McDonald's carton. Besides, why aren't these people objecting to the junk McDonald's is pushing as food? I felt the whole controvery was simply remnants of the whole family values baloney. These movies are people running around in bad costumes. How relevant are we being here?" - Tim Burton to the Daily News, Oct. 12, 1993

"Kind of sad, really, the way they experience the seasons in California, walking down the aisles at Thrifty's." - Burton on Christmas in California, quoted in People, Nov. 22, 1993

"Tim is a genius and I don't use that word lightly. The definition of a great artist is someone who doesn't care much what other people think. Tim cares what people think of his movies but he has that core essence, that compulsion, to do his art. I accept that about him. And his instincts are unerring. I've never seen them to be wrong on any small or large decision. Ever. His instincts emanate from a place that's very pure, truly artistic." - producer, Denise Di Novi to Movieline, June 1994

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