The 2022 edition of the Lumière Festival, held in Lyon, celebrates the work of Tim Burton. The director met his audience during a masterclass. Third and last part dedicated to his collaborations and his love for monsters.
A few hours before receiving his Prix Lumière, in Lyon, Tim Burton gave a masterclass inside the Théâtre des Célestins. During this meeting, organized as part of the Lumière Festival, he returned to his childhood, his place in Hollywood and his passion for horror.
AlloCiné attended the event and invites you to relive it through three parts. After discussing his complicated relationship with Hollywood and his adventure on Batman, this third installment focuses on his inspirations “monstrous” and his long-standing collaborations.
When he talks about his childhood in Burbank, a city located in California, Tim Burton remembers a monotonous life. The only way to break the boredom? The movie theater. “I have often taken refuge in the darkness of the hallshe recalls. Films were my form of therapy, of exploration. They fed my dreams, my creativity. I felt like I belonged to something.“
Touchtone Pictures In “Ed Wood”, Tim Burton pays homage to Béla Lugosi, the emblematic actor of Dracula. Martin Landau embodies it on the screen.
The object of his fascination? Monster movies from an early age. “As a kid, I wanted to be Godzilla. I wanted to step into one of these costumes and destroy Tokyo“, he launches. The director specifies: “I’ve never been afraid of these films, on the contrary, I’ve always had a great affection for monsters. I have a very strong bond with them, both psychologically and aesthetically.“He will even pay homage to a figure of horror, Béla Lugosi, the interpreter of Dracula, in Ed Wood in 1994.
Among the artists he admires, Tim Burton cites Roger Corman and Mario Bava, icon of Italian cinema. “My goal was to become someone like him“, he explains. The filmmaker also claims his European sensibility. “Universal horror movies, even though they were made in America, were directed by European directors.”
Twentieth Century Fox
from left to d. : Vincent Prince, Tim Burton and Johnny Depp.
He pursues : “Their worlds referred to fantasy, fairy tales, fables, through strong graphic images. I have always felt a connection with Japanese, Italian and French cinema. There’s a cinematic dynamic that I think swept me away.”
In the world of Tim Burton, some names are major, such as that of musician Danny Elfman. He composed the score for his first feature film, Pee-Wee Big Adventure, and followed it in most of his works. “We survived over 30 years of friendship, so I will continue my work with him. We just did the miniseries Wednesday.”
Impossible not to also think of Johnny Depp. Since their meeting on Edward Scissorhands, the duo have found themselves on seven other films. “He’s a very different man from mesays Tim Burton. He comes from a suburb a bit white trash, but I immediately felt that we were going to get along, even without speaking. I knew he was capable of trying new things. He never hesitated to impose challenges and that’s probably why we get along so well..”
The director also returned to his work with Marion Cotillard and Eva Green, two French women whom he describes as “real old fashioned movie stars“. He met the first in 2003 on Big Fish: “I didn’t know her work very well, but she was amazing. She survived in Alabama for six months and for that alone, hats off!“
As for Eva Green, he worked with her twice, for Dark Shadows in 2012 and for Dumbo in 2019: “She was so prepared and precise. For Dumbo, she learned to do trapeze and she was so good at it that she could have joined a circus if she wanted to. An actress like her, you feed off her energy, you never know what she’s going to do next. It’s a real joy to work with people like that.“
Tim Burton obviously mentioned Vincent Price, who played an important role in the start of his career. In 1982, he even dedicated his short film Vincent to her. “I drew a lot of inspiration from my relationship with him for Ed Wood“, he reveals. In 1991, he played in Edward Scissorhands. It was one of his last appearances before his death in 1993.
The awarding of the Lumière Prize to Tim Burton, on October 21, 2022:
Interview by Thomas Desroches, in Lyon, October 21, 2022.