Director Tim Burton could also be tight-lipped on his subsequent venture, a remake of “Assault of the 50 Foot Girl,” however throughout a pink carpet interview on the Marrakech Worldwide Movie Competition, he was forthcoming about why.
“One factor I discovered very early on is till I’m truly on a set doing one thing, I don’t know if I’m doing it,” he instructed IndieWire. “I by no means like to speak about issues an excessive amount of. I’ve labored on so many tasks, generally they occur, generally they don’t occur, so I don’t wish to jinx something. I imply, I used to be doing ‘Superman’ as soon as. There was one other venture that I labored for a 12 months on, and it didn’t occur. It’s fairly traumatic, it’s fairly emotional.”
Impressed by his childhood love of monster films and horror movies, Burton is ready to direct “Assault of the 50 Foot Girl” from a script by “Gone Lady” screenwriter Gillian Flynn for Warner Bros. He can even share manufacturing duties with Tommy Harper and Andrew Mittman.
Nonetheless driving excessive on the success of “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” whose worldwide gross is edging towards half a billion {dollars}, Burton instructed the viewers throughout a Marrakech Q&A to not anticipate him to repeat the trick. The 66-year-old director dominated out revisiting one in every of his most beloved movies, 1990’s “Edward Scissorhands.”
“There are particular movies I don’t wish to make a sequel to,” he mentioned. “I didn’t wish to make a sequel to that as a result of it felt like a one-off factor. I didn’t wish to have a sequel for ‘The Nightmare Earlier than Christmas’ as a result of it additionally felt like a one-off factor. Sure issues are greatest left on their very own and that for me is one in every of them.”
In response to Burton, somebody to not depart alone is “Edward Scissorhands” star and frequent collaborator Johnny Depp. Although their final venture collectively was 2012’s gothic fantasy “Darkish Shadows,” when requested whether or not there can be one other collaboration with Depp, Burton replied, “Nicely, I’m positive there might be.”
“I by no means really feel like, oh, I’m going to make use of this and that actor,” he mentioned. “It normally has to be primarily based on the venture I’m engaged on. That’s what movie is all about. It’s collaboration and bouncing concepts off the individuals round you.”
Since rising from a protracted court docket battle with former spouse Amber Heard in December 2022, Depp has struggled to reclaim his A-list standing. His most up-to-date movies, 2020’s “Minimata” and 2023’s “Jeanne du Barry,” had been launched to damaging evaluations and a small however vocal physique of help. A venture with the director that helped him turn out to be one in every of Hollywood’s most high-profile actors, significantly one presently having fun with his best success in a long time, may very well be the best pairing. Depp is ready to star in Terry Gilliam’s “The Carnival on the Finish of Days” alongside Jeff Bridges, Jason Momoa, and Adam Driver with manufacturing scheduled to start out in January. He’s additionally hooked up to Marc Webb’s thriller “Day Drinker,” alongside Penelope Cruz, marking Depp’s first Hollywood manufacturing in over six years.
Burton has had his personal curious relationship with Hollywood, telling the viewers in Marrakech that his days of working with Disney are over.
“Once I was working as an animator at Disney, I used to be not superb,” he mentioned with a wry smile. “Then they simply let me draw and do no matter I needed to do, which was unimaginable. Then I received the chance to do films, however they didn’t actually wish to do my films, so it was a really lengthy and unusual relationship.” Prompted, Burton opened up in regards to the inspiration behind working with the animation large.
“Creativity is predicated on love, ardour, and possibly generally revenge,” he mentioned. “These are all passionate emotions and generally it was onerous for me to choose which was ardour, which was revenge, or which was love as a result of I handled any sort of studio scenario I had as like being in a bizarre household. Generally they love you, generally they hate you and that appeared fairly regular to me. I’ve no unhealthy emotions in regards to the studio, however I do suppose my days are finished. As studios get an increasing number of company, I really feel like there was much less room for individuals like me.”