It has been 32 years since Tim Burton released a movie based on one of cult cinema’s most notorious directors, and it ended up being the best movie of Burton’s career. By 1994, Burton had developed an eclectic reputation in Hollywood. He got his start with some quirky short films that caught the eye of Paul Reubens, who demanded that Burton direct his movie, Pee-wee’s Big Adventure. Following this, Burton became the king of gothic-themed movies, with the horror-comedy Beetlejuice, the DC reinvention of Batman and its sequel Batman Returns, and the quirky romantic fantasy Edward Scissorhands. In 1994, Burton decided to make a biopic, but he did it in a way that no one expected.
On September 30, 1994, Ed Wood hit theaters, telling the story of the man considered to be the worst director of all time. While Wood’s career has been mocked for decades since he was working in Hollywood, Burton’s movie was a massive critical success. Though it was a box office flop, it won two Oscars and stands among the best movies Burton ever directed.
Tim Burton did some interesting things with his movie about the life of Ed Wood. For one thing, he shot it in black and white, which was a risky move in 1994. Because of mainstream audiences’ rejection of black-and-white movies on a grand scale, that might have played into the film’s box office failure. However, everything that Burton did was for a reason, and what resulted was a minor masterpiece. Burton brought back Johnny Depp after working with him on Edward Scissorhands, and it was Depp who starred as the eclectic title character. Burton then ended up with a very impressive cast surrounding Depp.
The legendary Martin Landau starred as Bela Lugosi, the man who portrayed the greatest Dracula in movie history, but who was now near the end of his career and was fighting to get roles in any more. Landau won an Oscar for his portrayal of the legendary horror movie star who was trying to remain relevant. Another great casting choice was bringing in professional wrestler George “The Animal” Steele to play actor Tor Johnson, who himself was a professional wrestler whom Ed Wood hired for three of his movies. Add in Sarah Jessica Parker, Patricia Arquette, Jeffrey Jones, Vincent D’Onofrio (as Orson Welles), and Bill Murray as a drag queen, and this was a cast that delivered in spades.
Burton later admitted that he portrayed Ed Wood and his crew in a sympathetic manner that was likely not very realistic to the actual course of events. However, at the same time, this was a movie about a man whose myth is greater than anything from his real life, so romanticizing Ed Wood was all part of the charm of the movie. While Ed Wood flopped at the box office, its legacy is massive. The movie has a 92% Rotten Tomatoes score, and its 88% audience rating shows that it was a beloved movie, but it just needed time, and likely home video, for audiences to appreciate its brilliance.
Before Ed Wood, Burton had already proved he was a director on the rise. His two Batman movies remain films that the later Batman movies were all compared to. Batman Returns might still be the best Batman movie outside of The Dark Knight. Beetlejuice is a cult classic, and Pee-wee’s Big Adventure is still a fantastic ride. However, after Ed Wood’s failure at the box office, Burton’s career was hit-and-miss for many years. Mars Attacks! was a fantastically fun movie, but one that remains highly polarizing to fans thanks to its slapstick nature. Burton’s 1999 Sleepy Hollow was a solid gothic horror movie, but his follow-up, Planet of the Apes, remains known as the worst movie in that franchise.
Big Fish was a touching father-son story, but remains criminally underrated and underseen. Since then, there have been hits (Corpse Bride, Frankenweenie), more cult classics (Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street), and disappointments (Dark Shadows, Dumbo). Since Dumbo, Burton has only directed one movie, the sequel, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. It has been 32 years since Burton directed Ed Wood, a movie that won two Oscars and remains beloved to this day. It was the high point in a career that has reached for the stars, but failed to ever match up to its brilliance.
