Timothy Walter Burton (born August 25, 1958) is an American film director, producer, writer, and artist. He is known for his dark, gothic, imaginative films and artwork that have developed many cult followings, and have made Tim Burton one of the most influential directors of all time. Some of his most famous creations include, Pee-wee's Big Adventure, Beetlejuice, Batman, Edward Scissorhands, Batman Returns, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Corpse Bride, Frankenweenie and many others. His feature film debut started when comedian Paul Rubens had discovered his short film Frankenweenie, and asked him to direct what would be his first feature him Pee-Wee's Big Adventure.
Personal life[]
Married Lena Gieseke on the 24th of February of 1989, and got divorced on the 31st of December of 1991.
After her, Tim got engaged to Lisa Marie in 1992, who was the inspiration for Sally, from The Nightmare before Christmas, and appeared on some of his movies: Mars Attacks!, Ed Wood, Sleepy Hollow, The World of Stainboy, and Planet of the Apes.
During the filming of Planet of the Apes, he met his latest partner, Helena Bonham Carter, they were engaged since 2001 and have two children, Billy Ray Burton and Nell Burton. They often appear on short scenes of his movies. They broke apart in 2015.
His friend Johnny Depp is also the godfather of his son, and Depp has a tattoo on his chest that represents his friendship with Burton; It says Tim written in runes and has a circle around that represents brotherhood.
Burton and Monica Bellucci briefly met on the red carpet at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival. They reconnected in October 2022 at the Lumière Film Festival in Lyon, and their relationship was revealed by Paris Match in February 2023. In June 2023, she confirmed her relationship with Burton.
Filmography[]
- Vincent (1982)
- Frankenweenie (1984)
- Pee-wee's Big Adventure (1985)
- Beetlejuice (1988)
- Batman (1989)
- Edward Scissorhands (1990)
- Batman Returns (1992)
- The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) idea, characters, producer instead of director
- Cabin Boy (1994) - producer only instead of director
- Ed Wood (1994)
- Batman Forever (1995)
- James and the Giant Peach (1996) - producer only instead of director
- Mars Attacks! (1996)
- Sleepy Hollow (1999)
- Planet of the Apes (2001)
- Big Fish (2003)
- Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005)
- Corpse Bride (2005)
- Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007)
- 9 (2009) - producer only instead of director
- Alice in Wonderland (2010)
- Dark Shadows (2012)
- Frankenweenie (2012)
- Big Eyes (2014)
- Alice Through the Looking Glass (2016) - producer only instead of director
- Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (2016)
- Dumbo (2019)
- Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024)
Gallery[]
Artwork[]
Pee-wee's Big Adventure[]
Beetlejuice[]
Batman[]
Edward Scissorhands[]
Batman Returns[]
Sleepy Hollow[]
Planet of the Apes[]
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory[]
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street[]
Dark Shadows[]
On Set[]
Sleepy Hollow[]
Big Fish[]
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street[]
Dark Shadows[]
Dumbo[]
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice[]
Trivia[]
- At the end of Beetlejuice (1988), Beetlejuice metamorphoses into a bizarre creature with a merry-go-round on his head. On the top of this merry-go-round is a smiling skull which became Jack Skellington in The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993). The latter movie had been a pet project of Burton's since his days as an animator at Disney.
- He has an interest in clowns, and his films will often include them or make reference to them.
- He credits his former fiancee, Lisa Marie, as his muse. She is often in his projects (Ed Wood (1994), Mars Attacks! (1996), Sleepy Hollow (1999), The World of Stainboy (2000), Planet of the Apes (2001)) or is paid homage in them (she was the inspiration for The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)'s Sally).
- He was Engaged to Lisa Marie from 1992-2001.
- He is a "Bollywood" fan.
- Nearly everywhere he goes, he carries a pocket-size sketchbook and a small watercolor kit.
- He usually dresses in black, because he doesn't like spending too much time matching colors.
- His younger brother Daniel Burton is also an artist.
- He was voted the 49th Greatest Director of all time by Entertainment Weekly, being the youngest director on this list of 50.
- He was hired as the director of the failed 1997 Superman movie.
- Among his cinematic influences are Mario Bava, Vincent Price, Roger Corman and Barbara Steele whom he homaged in Sleepy Hollow (1999).
- He is a big fan of "nudie" director Russ Meyer.
- He once said he never remembers his dreams, apart from five recurring dreams, one of them involving the girl he was in love with when he was a teenager and another involving his parents' bedroom.
- He played water polo and swam for Burbank High School in California.
- He has made eight films with Johnny Depp: Edward Scissorhands (1990), Ed Wood (1994), Sleepy Hollow (1999), Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005), Corpse Bride (2005), Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007), Alice in Wonderland (2010), and Dark Shadows (2012).
- He was ranked #6 on Tropopkin's Top 25 Most Intriguing People [Issue #100].
- He is a big fan of Italian director Mario Bava. He once said he would like to remake Bava's classic Black Sunday (1960) with his former partner Lisa Marie. He also appeared in two documentaries about Bava.
- He was a member of jury at the Cannes Film Festival in 1997.
- He has stated to not be a big fan of sequels.
- He grew up in Burbank on Evergreen Street, and his family lived in the 2000 block, near Valhalla Cemetery. Attended Providencia Elementary School in Burbank, California.
- He was slated to direct The Fly (1986) with Michael Keaton, who would go on to play Beetlejuice and Batman, in the lead role, but he backed out and David Cronenberg took over.
- He was originally set to do a remake of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) in the early 1980s.
- He bought the rights to a Topps trading card series with the intention of turning it into a film, but couldn't decide between calling it "Dinosaurs Attack!" and "Mars Attacks!". Jurassic Park (1993) then came out, and to avoid comparison, he made it as Mars Attacks! (1996) instead, but then it faced comparison to Independence Day (1996).
- While at WDFA, he shared an office with Andreas Deja.
- In October 2001, he began his current relationship with actress Helena Bonham Carter, whom he met while filming Planet of the Apes (2001), and she has appeared in all of his subsequent films. They live in adjoining houses with a hallway that connects the two homes, they have a son, Billy-Ray Burton, born on October 4, 2003, and a girl, Nell Burton, born on December 15, 2007.
- Johnny Depp is the godfather of his son Billy Ray Burton.
- After seeing his performance as 'Big Boy' Caprice in Dick Tracy (1990), he always kept Al Pacino in mind to cast as a villain in a future "Batman" installment. However, after Batman Returns (1992), Burton moved on from the franchise, though he did produce Batman Forever (1995).
- As of 2009, every feature film he has directed has been nominated for some sort of Academy Award, with the exceptions of Pee-wee's Big Adventure (1985), Mars Attacks! (1996) and Planet of the Apes (2001).
- He has his look-alike puppet in the French show "Les guignols de l'info" (1988).
- His favorite films are Dracula A.D. 1972 (1972), The Wicker Man (1973), The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1973), The War of the Gargantuas (1966), and The Omega Man (1971).
- He has directed 2 actors in Oscar-nominated performances: Martin Landau (Best Supporting Actor, Ed Wood (1994)) and Johnny Depp (Best Actor, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007)). Landau won the Oscar for his performance.
- He has a phobia of chimpanzees.
- The first Batman book he read was Batman: The Killing Joke.
- He and Danny Elfman consider Edward Scissorhands their most personal and favorite work.