Tim Burton
is a bit like the character he creates in his movies—whimsical, highly animated,
and quite appealing in a quirky kind of way and larger- than- life.
His latest movie ‘Big Eyes’, opens on February 25,
across the Philippines!
In Manhattan, Burton’s hair
and beard were a bit scraggly, and he spoke with his hands waving in the air.
It is clear: he is passionate about three aspects of his life: his films, his
art and his family.
Among his unique movies,
most with a strong cult following, are, Batman,
Batman Returns, Mars Attacks, Sleepy Hollow,
Ed Wood, Big Fish and Sweeny Todd: The
Demon Barber of Fleet Street.
Burton has creatively
directed from his vivid imagination numerous darkly-themed children’s movies,
including: Charlie and the Chocolate
Factory, The Nightmare Before
Christmas, James and the Giant Peach, Frankenweenie, and Alice in
Wonderland.
Big Eyes, from The
Weinstein Company, is the biographical drama film directed by Tim Burton.
The film focuses on Walter
Keane (Christoph Waltz), an artist
known in the 1950s and 60s for his kitsch paintings of large-eyed waifs and his
then-wife Margaret Keane, (Amy Adams).
The film tells the
outrageous true story of their heated divorce battle wherein Margaret accused
her husband, Walter, of stealing her paintings. The bazaar and shocking truth
would later be discovered: Walter did not create any of the art work, but
instead his wife did, and the Keane’s had been living a colossal lie that had
fooled the entire world.
The movie is too incredible
to be fiction, and focuses on Margaret’s awakening as an artist, the success of
her paintings and her tumultuous relationship with her husband , who was
catapulted to international fame while
taking credit for her work.
The script was
written by Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski, the screenwriters behind Ed
Wood, and is based in Los Angeles. In 2003, they began researching the story
that would take 10 years to become a
film.
“There
were a lot of reasons why we wanted to make this movie,” Karaszewski explained. “We thought that Margaret was a great
female character that embodied the beginning of the Women’s Movement. It stars
with her as a 1950s housewife, who does everything for her husband. Through the
course of the story, she learns to stand up for herself.”
Burton has long
been involved with Helena Bonham Carter, and they have two children: a son
Billy Raymond, 11, and a daughter, Nell,7.
Please
talk about approaching this story of Big Eyes as a parent?
I
don’t know if that has everything to do with it for me. I mean, I came at
strangely, from growing up in that era. Because growing up in that era and
understanding the cultures that I grew up in, it was sort of the end of the
American Dream. And that kind of idea.
How
so?
The
sort of the idea of this dysfunctional couple coming together. And ..creating
these mutant children! It just felt like my family! You know, it just felt like
of like this sort of…So it had this strange, so I sort of came at it in this
strange way. But you know..I’ll never show this film to my children! I’ll show
ém Sleepy Hollow, Sweeney Todd. But not this one!
What grabbed your attention about these
actors [Amy Adams and Christoph Waltz] you chose for your new Tim Burton
universe, Big Eyes?
It was just fresh energy for me to work
with these new people. And uh, because you know
everybody’s been getting sick of the
people I was working with! And, I know. It’s sad, isn’t! And I showed up
occasionally, yes!
I am sure you were there more than
that. Please talk about your attention to those Keane paintings?
I
found them fascinating, but quite disturbing, actually! Like Big Brother
watching you –those big eyes. And the sort of polarized responses to it. Some
people love it, obviously. And some people just wanted to…rip it off the walls!
So that kind of response is what I found quite fascinating.
How
did this project come about, between you and the writers –Scott Alexander and
Larry Karaszewski?
We
were actually working in parallel! universes! Because I didn’t know that the
screenwriters were writing a script! And I knew Keane’s work, because I grew up
with it. But I didn’t know the real story. And a friend of mine told me the
story. And went to San Francisco and met Margaret Keane. And I commissioned a
painting from her. Then I don’t know how long after that, but we had done Ed
Wood together. And they approached me about doing this movie.
Were you drawn at all to Margaret Keane
because of your own personal experiences, in a Hollywood movie industry
dominated by business interest over art?
Well,
yes. I mean; that’s why I enjoyed Ed Wood, because to me, there’s a fine line. Or
it’s perceived as good and bad. And you know; I’ve been through that myself.
You know, when they had that MOMA [The
Museum of Metropolitan Art in New York] show her, the critics… It was
about
100 times worse than Keane! You know what I mean?
Then what happened?
It got so lambasted. And at the same time …it
had a high attendance rate! So I’ve experienced that kind of thing, of like
good and bad. Because when you do something, you’re very passionate about it.
Whether it’s Ed Wood or the Keane’s , you know, there’s just such enthusiasm.
And they thought they were making probably like..Michelangelo! As Ed Wood thought he was making Star Wars. You
know, when he was making Plan 9 From
Outer Space! So you understand that kind of misguided enthusiasm. And then you
sort of understanding the polarization of people’s response to things.
Why do you think the Keane art was not embraced by the psychedelic world
by then?
But it
was very druggie! You know, big eyes, large pupils. I mean, It’s somehow
weirdly fit into that scene! And I always admired Margaret’s high-waisted look!
Why do you think that this film isn’t as dark as your other movie?
For me.
you have the time, the era, and you have the paintings. Which suggest
something, strange color schemes that are those paintings; part of the vibe of
it. And then, just the story. I mean, the relationship between Margaret and
Walter and the other characters, in my own mind, it started to feel like a
weird sixties, kind of slightly Hitchcock.
Please elaborate—what do you mean by this?
Well, I
found myself strangely drawn. I mean; the color scheme just fit the era and the
paintings, and the kind of psychological relationship, and feel of the movie.
So you know whether it’s black or white or color, you try to support that. And
make it a character, in a way.
So just
all of those elements made it…what it turned out to be!
The movie is in large part struggle between abstract and popular art,
Where do you stand in that struggle personally?
Again, it’s a fascinating thing about people’s
perception of art. And you see it today. Either it speaks to you, or it
doesn’t. And I think the reason the story really sort of flew under the radar,
is that most critics, most people, didn’t really consider it art. So it didn’t
hit the major headlines.
Please, tell me more?
You know; it was sort of on the back pages.
Whatever. But like I said. I myself have
experienced from the very beginning of my career, people loving
and hating me. And also, people would say about my movies, ‘Oh it’s so much
lighter.’ And at the same time, it’s so much darker. So I found that a sort of
juxtaposition. How could something be light, and then other people see it as
completely dark. So people’s perceptions of things fascinate me, you know?
Is that how you see the film Big Eyes?
Yes, in
that way I think this is perfect story , and an example of that sort of
question. And it’s kind of an unanswerable question! It’s just sort of a
presentation of that dynamic. But I loved it, because I also hated it! You know
what I mean ? There’s something about it like, why would grown people
have…images of children hanging in their living room!
It seems like people do
that.
I do too!
If you put yourself in
Walter Keane’s shoes for minute, what do you think was going on inside his
crazy head?
In his version, he was
Henry Higgins! She was ElizaDoolittle, and, it was a failed experiment!
“BIG EYES” is released and distributed by CAPTIVE CINEMA! (PR)
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