Timothy William Burton (born August 25, 1958) is an eccentric film director known for his off-beat and quirky style. His films often portray a highly stylized world visually reminiscent of cartoons which could be the result of his beginnings as a Disney animator. One of his most famous works is The Nightmare Before Christmas, a fun children's animated film.
In 1982, Burton made his first short film, Vincent, a six-minute film about a young boy who flashes from reality into a fantasy where he is Vincent Price. This was followed by the live-action short Frankenweenie, which was deemed unsuitable for children due to the concept of reanimating deceased pets and attracted the attention of actor Paul Reubens (better known as Pee-Wee Herman), who was looking for a director for his project Pee-Wee's Big Adventure (1985). The film was made on a budget of $7 million but made much more than $40 million at the box office.7
Burton's second major film was Beetlejuice (1988) which made $80 million and won an Academy Award for makeup. Burton's ability to produce hits with low budgets impressed studio executives and he received his first big budget film Batman (1989).
In 1990, Burton co-wrote (with Caroline Thompson) and directed Edward Scissorhands. Burton went on to direct such imaginative films as Batman Returns (1992) Ed Wood (1994), Sleepy Hollow (1999), Big Fish (2003), Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005) and Corpse Bride (2005).
He also co-wrote and produced, but did not actually direct, The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), originally meant to be a children's book in rhyme. The film was directed by Henry Selick. Burton collaborated with Selick again for James and the Giant Peach (1996), which Burton co-produced. He was attached as producer for Batman Forever (1995), despite having nothing to do with the production, and his believing that the title sounded "like a tattoo you get when you're on drugs".
The rock band Blink 182 included a Tim Burton reference on the song 'I Miss You'. The line "We can live like Jack and Sally" was a reference to Jack Skellington and Sally in the movie The Nightmare Before Christmas.
Beetlejuice was directed by Tim Burton, first released in the USA on March 30, 1988, and produced by The Geffen Film Company for Warner Bros. Pictures. It features two recently deceased ghosts, Adam Maitland (Alec Baldwin) and his wife, Barbara, (Geena Davis), who seek the help of an obnoxious bio-exorcist, Betelgeuse (Michael Keaton), to remove the Deetz family-yuppies who recently moved from the city and now occupy their old house. The Deetz family consists of Charles (Jeffrey Jones); his second wife, Delia (Catherine O'Hara); and moody goth teenage daughter Lydia (Winona Ryder).
Edward Scissorhands (1990) was written by Tim Burton and Caroline Thompson. Tim Burton also directed the film. It was released in 1990. The movie is a fable set in an exaggeratedly stereotypical vision of the United States that intentionally combines clichés from both the 1950s and late 1980s. It also has a central theme of the isolated, misunderstood major character; a theme that recurs in much of Burton's work. It stars Johnny Depp and Winona Ryder. Further, many of the motifs and themes of the 1931 film Frankenstein are referenced in Edward Scissorhands.
The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) is a stop-action animated musical film about the inhabitants of Halloween Town who take over Christmas one year, directed by stop-motion animator Henry Selick. The film is loosely based on drawings and a poem by Tim Burton, and he served as co-producer, though he did not write or direct the film as is sometimes believed.
Sleepy Hollow (1999) is a historical horror film interpreting the legend of the Headless Horseman and based loosely around the Washington Irving story The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.
Tim Burton's Corpse Bride is a 2005 stop-motion-animation film based on a 19th century Russian-Jewish folktale version of an older Jewish story. It was directed by Tim Burton and Mike Johnson, and filmed at Vinton Studios in London. It stars Johnny Depp as the voice of Victor and Helena Bonham Carter as the voice of the Corpse Bride. This is the first animated film in which Johnny Depp has been a voice actor.