Tim Burton

Started by tpfkabi, April 20, 2003, 02:42:22 PM

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MacGuffin

Tim Burton to direct 'Monsterpocalypse'
Helmer attached to DreamWorks adaptation of board game
Source: Variety

Tim Burton is developing and is attached to direct the bigscreen adaptation of Matt Wilson's board game Monsterpocalypse for DreamWorks.

Pic will be distributed by Disney.

"Monsterpocalypse" is being produced by Dick Zanuck and Lee, who outlined Burton's involvement in interviews with Slashfilm Monday and in June. Tarik Heitmann, Gerald Moon and Doug Davison are exec producers.

Wilson, a co-producer, is consulting with scribe John August on the script. Board game revolves around giant robots developed by mankind to fend off equally giant aliens.

There's speculation that "Monsterpocalypse" might be released in 3D. DreamWorks couldn't be reached for comment regarding Burton, but insiders say his deal could be finalized in the next few weeks.

Among his other upcoming projects, Burton is reteaming with Johnny Depp on Warner Bros.' "Dark Shadows."

Project, which has been in development for years, recently got some heat when Seth Grahame-Smith was set to work on the script.

Burton was last in theaters with Disney's B.O. hit "Alice in Wonderland."
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


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Stefen

Has anyone ever dodged an original idea as much as Tim Burton?
Falling in love is the greatest joy in life. Followed closely by sneaking into a gated community late at night and firing a gun into the air.

MacGuffin

Tim Burton Reunites With 'Ed Wood' Scribes For 'Addams Family' And 'Big Eyes'
By MIKE FLEMING; Deadline Hollywood
 
EXCLUSIVE: Tim Burton has reunited with his Ed Wood screenwriters Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski on a pair of projects. They will write The Addams Family, the stop-motion animated film that Burton and Chris Meledandri are producing for Illumination Entertainment and Universal Pictures. At the same time, Burton has come on to be a producer of Big Eyes, the fact-based drama which the duo wrote as a directing vehicle, based on artist Margaret Keane's struggle to get credit for the line of paintings of big-eyed children that became wildly popular in the 60s. Burton will produce with Lynette Howell's Silverwood Films banner.

The writers, whose scripts include 1408 and The People Vs. Larry Flynt,  actually made another move, to UTA. They were repped for two decades by Tom Strickler and became charter Endeavor clients when that dealmaker, Ari Emanuel and others left ICM to form the agency. They had been repped by WME since Strickler left before the merger. Alexander and Karaszewski board an Addams Family project that Deadline first revealed in March, when Meledandri bought the rights to the ghoulish, darkly humorous drawings that Charles Addams created for The New Yorker. Those drawings also formed the basis for the toned down TV show and subsequent feature film comedies and Broadway musical. Burton will direct a film that is one of the plum projects on Meledandri's slate for Illumination, the Universal-based family film unit which launched this summer with Despicable Me.

"Both of these projects are based on artwork that Tim absolutely loves," Karasewski told me. "The retrospective in New York of Tim's own artwork showed how much of an influence Charles Addams was to him. We want the tone to be as darkly funny and subversive as the Addams drawings, and we've come up with an approach that nobody has ever done before."

Alexander said while they were discussing The Addams Family, they showed Burton their Big Eyes script.

"It turns out he's a big fan of Margaret and has commissioned artwork from her," Alexander said. "We thought the movie would have been made by now, but just when we were ready to go 18 months ago, the indie market fell apart. We'd pulled it together in that equity/presale/rebate game, but the smartest thing we did was to hang on to the script and not sell it. That has allowed us to set the reset button with Tim, and having him helps a tremendous amount with the way the independent film world is right now."

Big Eyes has a premise that deserves to be seen. Walter Keane became a national celebrity and talk show fixture in the 1950s after he pioneered the mass production of prints of big-eyed kids, and used his marketing savvy to sell them cheaply in hardware stores and gas stations across the country. Unfortunately, he claimed to be the artist. That role was played by Margaret, his shy wife. She generated the paintings from their basement and Walter's contribution was adding his signature to the bottom. The ruse broke up their marriage, and when she tried to make it known that she authored the paintings, they ended up in a court battle after Walter called her crazy. The case culminated in a dramatic courtroom showdown. The judge put up two easels, side by side, and challenged each of them to start painting.  He begged off, blaming a shoulder injury, while she dashed off her familiar big-eyed creation. They will go out to cast and financing for a film that has a budget in the teens.

"I am excited to be working with Scott and Larry again," Burton said in a statement. "I've always been a great admirer of Margaret Keane's work and find her story intriguing."
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


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MacGuffin

Depp, Burton reunite on 'Dark Shadows'
Warner Bros. to distribute project long in the works
Source: Variety

Warner Bros. has slotted its long-simmering "Dark Shadows" project for a spring production start with Johnny Depp starring.

Depp has been attached to star and produce with Graham King's GK Films and Depp's Infinitum Nihil for the past three years with Tim Burton expected to direct. Richard Zanuck, Christi Dembrowski and David Kennedy are also producers.

Seth Grahame-Smith penned the script.

Kennedy brought the project to Depp from the estate of Dan Curtis, the producer-director who created the vampire soap opera that aired weekdays on ABC from 1966 to 1971 with 1,225 episodes.

Studio hasn't set a release date for the bigscreen project.
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


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MacGuffin

Tim Burton Circles 'Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children'
BY MIKE FLEMING | Deadline

EXCLUSIVE: In a match that seems ideal, Tim Burton is in early talks to come aboard Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children, the Ransom Riggs novel that 20th Century Fox and Chernin Entertainment acquired last spring. Burton is in talks to develop the book as a potential directing project, and he would be involved in setting a writer to adapt the tale.

It involves Jacob, a 16-year-old whose childhood was filled with stories his grandfather told him about an orphanage for unusual children. Among the residents: a girl who could hold fire in her hands, another whose feet never touched the ground, and twins who communicated without speaking. When his beloved grandfather dies unexpectedly but leaves a message behind for his grandson, the teen heads off to his grandfather's home on an isolated island off Wales. There he discovers the abandoned remains of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. It is in great disrepair and as Jacob explores its bedrooms and hallways, he can see the children were more than peculiar, they might have been there because they were dangerous. And he can't shake the feeling they are still lurking around. Peter Chernin, Dylan Clark and Jenno Topping are producing. The WME-repped Burton has wrapped Dark Shadows for Warner Bros with Johnny Depp, and directed the feature-length version of his short film Frankenweenie by Disney. Burton also produced the Timur Bekmambetov-directed Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter for Fox.
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


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Sleepless

He held on. The dolphin and all the rest of its pod turned and swam out to sea, and still he held on. This is it, he thought. Then he remembered that they were air-breathers too. It was going to be all right.

MacGuffin

Warner Bros., Tim Burton Courting Robert Downey Jr. to Star in Live-Action 'Pinocchio' (Exclusive)
In the version being developed at Warner Bros., the actor would play Geppetto, the woodcarver who created the boy and who spends much time trying to reunite with his missing marionette.
Source: Playlist

Tim Burton's interest in tackling a live-action version of Pinocchio is heating up, The Hollywood Reporter has learned. And Burton's choice to topline the movie is Robert Downey Jr. as Geppetto, the woodcarver who creates the puppet who dreams of becoming a real boy.

The Pinocchio story was first published in an Italian children's book written by Carlo Collodi and has been adapted several times, including the 1940 animated Disney classic. 

In the version being developed at Warner Bros., Geppetto embarks on a quest to reunite with his missing marionette. The well-regarded script is by Pushing Daisies creator Bryan Fuller. Dan Jinks (American Beauty) is producing.

Neither Burton nor Downey has a deal with Warners, but sources say Burton is keen to direct the film and has begun talks with the studio, so it's just a question of whether Pinocchio will be his next movie. The Alice in Wonderland director also is eyeing an adaptation of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children at Fox, among other projects. Warners wants to move quickly with Pinocchio, so if Burton chooses to make another movie first, the studio might move on to other directors.

According to two well-placed sources, Downey has expressed serious interest in the project (and in working with Burton), but his busy schedule must still be worked out. Warner Bros. is hoping that Burton and Downey commit soon so the project can be fast-tracked. 

If deals are made, Pinocchio would return Downey to Warners, which is behind his Sherlock Holmes franchise, the latest installment of which currently is in theaters. Downey also starred in the 2010 Warners comedy Due Date.

Burton is currently at work finishing Warner Bros.' Dark Shadows, based on the cult television series. That film is set for release in May.

Downey is repped by CAA and Hansen Jacobson. Burton is repped by WME and Ziffren Brittenham.

There are several other Pinocchio projects in various stages of development, including a stop-motion version being shepherded by Guillermo Del Toro.
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


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AntiDumbFrogQuestion

Depp as Jimminy Cricket.

pete

"Tragedy is a close-up; comedy, a long shot."
- Buster Keaton

Reel


Alexandro

it's all very sad, really. doesn't he have a movie he really wants to make? something original he couldn't make before? and what about downey? is this guy so in need of approval he has to make only blockbusters now or else he'll go back to shoot up heroine on a daily basis?

Pozer


MacGuffin

Tim Burton to Next Direct Biopic BIG EYES; Christoph Waltz and Amy Adams Will Star
Source: Collider

Director Tim Burton's long-developing biopic Big Eyes is finally moving forward.  The filmmaker first became attached to the pic back in 2010, when he sparked to a script by Ed Wood scribes Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski that he intended to produce.  The film's story focuses on the artistic coupling of Margaret and Walter Keane.  Walter became famous in the 1950s and 60s for paintings featuring saucer-eyed kids, though it was the shy Margaret who really did the work.  Margaret eventually tired of the misplaced credit, which led to a divorce and a heated court battle to prove authorship of the paintings.

Ryan Reynolds and Reese Witherspoon became attached to play the couple early last year, but now a different promising duo of actors will be bringing The Keanes to life on the big screen with Burton in the director's chair, as Christoph Waltz and Amy Adams have signed on to topline the pic.

Per Deadline, Christoph Waltz and Amy Adams are set to star in Big Eyes with Burton directing.  This is a stellar bit of casting, and both actors are coming off of Academy Award nominations for fantastic work in last year's Django Unchained and The Master respectively, with Waltz taking home the gold for Best Supporting Actor in his second collaboration with Quentin Tarantino.  Burton had yet to commit to his next project as recently as last fall when he was nearing the end of a rather exhausting year that saw the release of two Burton films: Dark Shadows and Frankenweenie.

The filmmaker is also developing a Beetlejuice sequel and a new take on Pinocchio with Robert Downey Jr., but he has now settled on Big Eyes as his next project with filming set to get underway this spring.  Moreover, The Weinstein Company has come aboard to handle financing and distribution for the indie.  Though Burton certainly has a flair for visuals with larger, genre-oriented studio properties, I'm very, very excited about the prospect of him tackling a smaller-scale drama like Big Eyes.
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


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MacGuffin

Johnny Depp To Star in "The Abominable Dr. Phibes" Remake

Johnny Depp is set to play the lead role in a remake of the 1971 Horror Classic "The Abominable Dr. Phibes."

The original film starred Vincent Price as a man bent on revenge against the team of Doctors whom Phibes blames for the death of his wife. Following the Ten Plagues that befell Egypt as the model for the murders, Dr. Phibes is a cult classic film and considered one of Vincent Price's most signature roles.

Director Tim Burton, a longtime fan of Vincent Price and the Phibes films, is on board to direct the updated version of the movie which is at its heart, a gothic love story.

Depp has stated before his genuine affection for the original film and its lead character Dr. Anton Phibes. Director Burton, whose first film was "Vincent" a tribute to Vincent Price, says that "Dr. Phibes was a childhood favorite of mine, a mix of pathos, horror and dark humor."

Burton even attended the Film's Los Angeles premiere in 1971 at Grauman's Chinese Theatre as a 12 year old boy. Everything comes full circle!
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


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WorldForgot



Burton's Poe adoration, boosted by Walken, DeVito, Keaton, and Pfeiffer... Stan Winston, Stefan Czapsky, you can't find a frame that isn't Gothic nightmusic.



" I wouldn't touch you to scratch you"


^ A peak in childhood terror...

Made it out to The New Bev for their Dec 2nd kiddie matinee of Batman Returns, because I've never seen it on  VHS, WB snapbox DVD, but never in a theater. And now, inaugural weekend 35mm! Lotta good vibes but The New Bev also does a raffle for a children's tickets so there was a sorta meta 'ting I hadn't realized. How inundated culture is with Batman as commercial merch. A highlight of my year. I'm think this film defined a genre sensibility for me. The unsettling whimsy is tied to horror but I remember different moments going from repulsive to sinister triumph. A turning point in twisted sympathy to Cobblepot coupled with, like, caring for the Max sidevillain, which i didn't for years, but its a for real uniting ill, and bizarro Thomas Wayne plotline. Gotham's money-ties turn Xmas into an even worse, deeper red. I'm glad this can play broad. You can bring the kids to one of Burton's horniest and brightest. (you're a sucker when you like this last line)