Timothy Walter “Tim” Burton was born in Burbank, California on August 25, 1958.1)
He is the son of Jean Burton, a cat-themed gift store owner, and Bill Burton, a former minor league baseball player who eventually worked for the Burbank Park and Recreation Department.2)
Burton used to produce short films in his backyard on Evergreen Street as a teen, utilizing basic stop motion animation techniques or shooting them on 8 mm film without sound. One of his oldest known juvenile films is The Island of Doctor Agor.3)
Burton attended Burbank High School, although he was not a particularly bright student.4)
He was a highly contemplative guy who enjoyed painting, sketching, and watching movies.5)
His subsequent work would be significantly influenced by Dr. Seuss and Roald Dahl, two of his boyhood heroes.6)
Burton attended the California Institute of the Arts in Valencia, California, after graduating from Burbank High School alongside Jeff Riekenberg.7)
Burton created the short films Stalk of the Celery Monster and King and Octopus while studying at CalArts. The animation section of Walt Disney Productions took notice of Stalk of the Celery Monster and offered Burton an animator's apprenticeship at the company.8)
He worked on films such as The Fox and the Hound (1981), The Black Cauldron, and Tron as an animator, storyboard artist, and concept artist. His concept work was never used in the completed films.9)
In 1982, while working at Disney, Burton created his debut short film, Vincent, a six-minute black-and-white stop motion picture based on a poem written by the filmmaker and featuring a young kid who fantasizes about being his hero Vincent Price, with Price himself narrating.10)
This was followed by Burton's first live-action film, Hansel and Gretel, a Japanese-themed rendition of the Brothers Grimm fairy tale that culminates in a kung fu battle between Hansel and Gretel and the witch.11)
Frankenweenie, Burton's next live-action short, was released in 1984. It relates the story of a little kid who attempts to resuscitate his dog after it is hit by a vehicle.12)
Following the completion of Frankenweenie, Disney dismissed Burton on the grounds that he was wasting the company's money creating a picture that would be too dark and terrifying for children to watch.13)
Griffin Dunne invited him to direct the black comedy film After Hours in pursuit of an opportunity to make a full-length picture. Following the cancellation of Martin Scorsese's film The Last Temptation of Christ, Scorsese expressed interest in directing After Hours. Burton exited with dignity.14)
Soon after, actor Paul Reubens saw Vincent and Frankenweenie and picked Burton to make a film based on his popular character Pee-wee Herman.15)
After directing episodes for the revived version of Alfred Hitchcock Presents and Shelley Duvall's Faerie Tale Theatre, Burton was given his next major project: Beetlejuice (1988), a supernatural comedy horror about a young couple forced to deal with life after death, and the family of pretentious yuppies who invade their treasured New England home.16)
Burton's ability to create hits on a shoestring thrilled studio officials, and he was given his first big-budget feature, Batman.17)
Burton co-wrote (with Caroline Thompson) and directed Edward Scissorhands in 1990, reuniting with Winona Ryder, who he had previously worked with on Beetlejuice. Johnny Depp, a teen sensation at the end of the 1980s due mostly to his performance on the successful TV series 21 Jump Street, was cast as Edward.18)
Even after Warner Brothers rejected to create the more intimate Scissorhands sequel despite Batman's popularity, Burton ultimately agreed to film the sequel for Warner Brothers on the condition that he be given complete control.19)
As a result, Michael Keaton reprised his role as the Dark Knight, and a new trinity of villains was introduced: Danny DeVito (as the Penguin), Michelle Pfeiffer (as Catwoman), and Christopher Walken as Max Shreck, an unscrupulous business billionaire and unique character developed for the picture.20)
Burton authored and produced (but did not direct) The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) for Disney, which was initially intended to be a children's book in rhyme. The film's stop motion animation, musical score, and innovative plot got favorable reviews, and it was a box office triumph, grossing $50 million.21)
Burton and Selick worked together again in James and the Giant Peach (1996), which Burton co-produced. The picture contributed to a revived interest in stop motion animation.22)
Before Johnny Depp, several prominent names were associated to 'Edward Scissorhands.' Burton had hoped to cast Tom Cruise as the titular role, but a contract never materialized. Tom Hanks was also considered for the role.23)
He picked 'Mars Attacks!,' a film based on a set of violent trading cards, over another series of violent trade cards in 1996. The inspiration for Burton's crazy alien invasion comedy originated from a set of famed and controversial Topps playing cards called 'Mars Attacks!,' which depicts the invasion of Earth by aliens from Mars in a very brutal and deadly manner.24)
Burton's 2001 remake of the legendary Charlton Heston sci-fi epic needs the same type of unexpected finale that made the original such a classic. One of Burton's ideas was to have Mark Wahlberg's astronaut crash land in Yankee Stadium during a baseball game to return to what he thought was the present.25)
Burton was married to German-born artist Lena Gieseke. Their four-year marriage ended in 1991.26)
He moved on to cohabit with model and actor Lisa Marie, she appeared in the films he made throughout their partnership from 1992 to 2001, most notably in Ed Wood and Mars Attacks! 27)
Burton fell in love with English actress Helena Bonham Carter, whom he met while filming Planet of the Apes.28)
Burton was awarded the Chevalier of Arts and Letters insignia by then-Minister of Culture Frédéric Mitterrand on March 15, 2010.29)
Dracula A.D. 1972, The Wicker Man, The Golden Voyage of Sinbad, The War of the Gargantuas, and The Omega Man are among Burton's favorite films.30)