Tim Burton

Made films the shows talk about.

Wikidata Q56008: matched by corpus:resolve, told apart by Wikidata joins them to Planet of the Apes, which Planet of the Apes with Matt Singer credits them on.

Counted as craft. The films the hosts said they worked on, which the two lists below run through too: The Fox and the Hound (1981); The Black Cauldron (1985); The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993). Count them as director (17 films), writer (1 film) instead.

Draws on

What the speakers say they, or a film of theirs, drew on. Each is a speaker's account: “the maker said so” when they report the maker's own words, “the host's read” when the read is theirs.

Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988): 1 line

  1. industry (industry) · through The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), which they worked on as artwork brought to life by Selick / producer-figure who handled studio notes: Who Framed Roger Rabbit ⇒ The Nightmare Before Christmas (the host's read). Katzenberg was looking at Roger Rabbit's success as a reason to try different styles and techniques.
    “looking at the success they had with Roger Rabbit and saying, like, we should try different styles”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 0:29:00 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)

Drawn on by

What the speakers say drew on them or a film of theirs, marked the same way.

Henry Selick: 2 lines

  1. people (people) · them, directly: Tim Burton ⇒ Henry Selick (the maker said so: Selick's quote in the dossier ("Tim's egg")). Selick says the film began as Burton's idea and he was the one who finished it.
    “it was Tim's egg, but I was the one who hatched it”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 0:49:55 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  2. lineage (artwork source) · them, directly: Tim Burton ⇒ Henry Selick (the host's read). Nightmare Before Christmas brought Burton's artwork to life; Peach got Lane Smith; Coraline Tadahiro Uesugi; Wendell & Wild Pablo Lobato.
    “Zalek is kind of bringing the artwork of Tim Burton to life.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Wendell & Wild · 1:09:35 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)

James and the Giant Peach (1996): 1 line

  1. industry (industry) · through The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), which they worked on as artwork brought to life by Selick / producer-figure who handled studio notes: The Nightmare Before Christmas ⇒ James and the Giant Peach (the host's read). The film's long tail made Disney try stop motion again, back to back with Peach, before Laika and others.
    “James and the Giant Peach is almost made like right back to back with this movie”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 1:40:45 · Michael Rianda (0.50 sure it was them)

What the speakers said they did

Directing (34) everyone in directing

Craft (3) everyone in craft

Other (3) everyone in other

Writing (1) everyone in writing

What was said about them, by kind

career (6)

  1. career (career): Tim Burton → Pee-wee's Big Adventure. Pee-wee set Burton up as a significant filmmaker, though his last five or six films baffle the speaker.
    “Incredibly strange film obviously sets up Tim Burton as one of the more significant filmmakers of the 80s and 90s.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 0:57:21 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
  2. career (career): Vincent → Tim Burton. Burton's student short Vincent has an energy not found in his last twenty years of films.
    “there is an energy and creativity there that even I can't argue consistently exists in any of his films in the last 20 years”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 0:19:15 · Griffin Newman (0.60 sure it was them)
  3. career (career): Henry Selick → Tim Burton. Burton said Selick was the only CalArts student who moved between the experimental and character-animation camps.
    “Burton said that Selleck was the only guy in his time who actually coexisted between the 2 camps.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 0:20:17 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  4. career (career): Rick Heinrichs → Tim Burton. Heinrichs is Burton's right-hand cohort and his art director for years.
    “Rick Heinrich is a, yeah, his right hand cohort, right, and becomes his big sort of art director for years and years.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 0:25:53 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
  5. career (career): Tim Burton → Frankenweenie. Disney funded live-action Frankenweenie instead of this project because it was cheaper and faster.
    “Disney basically gives him the money to make live action Frank and Weenie rather than make this because Frank and Weenie would be cheaper and faster.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 0:26:33 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
  6. career (career): Danny Elfman → Tim Burton. Elfman and Burton's working relationship is called very up and down.
    “I feel like Elfman and Burton have had a very up and down relationship in general, right?”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 1:03:39 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)

contrast (1)

  1. contrast (contrast): Tim Burton → Walt Disney Pictures / Touchstone Pictures. Burton and his peers all rebelled against Disney while still loving it.
    “It's like, oh, Disney's sweet and I will be dark.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 0:44:26 · Michael Rianda (0.50 sure it was them)

craft (2)

  1. craft (craft): Ed Wood → Tim Burton. Ed Wood is both a Tim Burton movie and a Scott and Larry movie.
    “it is 1000% a Tim Burton movie from frame one to frame N, but it's also a Scott Larry movie”
    The Big Picture · The 10 Best Horror Movies of the Decade | The Big Picture · 1:22:13 · unknown (Alexander or Karaszewski) (0.40 sure it was them)
  2. craft (craft): Tim Burton → Batman (Tim Burton). Merchant recalls Burton making the Joker the killer of Batman's parents, which he first hated as a comics fan.
    “Burton makes the Joker, the person who killed Batman's parents”
    The Big Picture · Pro Wrestling Goes to the Movies, Plus Stephen Merchant on ‘Fighting With My Family’ | Interview (Ep. 130) · 0:35:16 · Stephen Merchant (0.95 sure it was them)

industry (1)

  1. industry (studio-notes buffer): Tim Burton → Henry Selick. Burton played the calming intermediary on Nightmare and, less so, James and the Giant Peach; Monkeybone had no such figure.
    “Burton doing that for him to a far lesser degree on the 2nd movie.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Wendell & Wild · 1:03:28 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)

lineage (1)

  1. lineage (artwork source): Henry Selick → Tim Burton. Nightmare Before Christmas brought Burton's artwork to life; Peach got Lane Smith; Coraline Tadahiro Uesugi; Wendell & Wild Pablo Lobato.
    “Zalek is kind of bringing the artwork of Tim Burton to life.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Wendell & Wild · 1:09:35 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)

people (2)

  1. people (casting): Tim Burton → Mark Wahlberg. Wahlberg skipped the script and agreed to work with Burton after five minutes, trusting a strong director.
    “And Mark Wahlberg pointedly didn't read the script, went to a meeting with Tim Burton.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Planet of the Apes with Matt Singer · 0:51:55 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
  2. people (people): Henry Selick → Tim Burton. Selick says the film began as Burton's idea and he was the one who finished it.
    “it was Tim's egg, but I was the one who hatched it”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 0:49:55 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)

theme (1)

  1. theme (personal trilogy): Tim Burton → Ed Wood. One commenter argued Ed Wood, Edward Scissorhands and Batman Returns say everything Burton has to say; after that he took what was offered.
    “Ed Wood, Edward Scissorhands, and Batman Returns, or like this perfect triptych of everything that guy sort of has to say in his heart”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Planet of the Apes with Matt Singer · 0:51:03 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)

unmapped (6)

  1. unmapped (rebound): Tim Burton → Pee-wee's Big Adventure. Burton stepped aside for Scorsese and immediately rebounded onto Pee-wee, which came out the same year.
    “And then he just like immediately rebounds onto Pee Wee, which comes out the same year or the year after this.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · After Hours with Alison Sivitz · 0:17:05 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
  2. unmapped (shadow): Henry Selick → Tim Burton. A host says Burton's name overshadows Selick; people hear Nightmare Before Christmas and assume it is Burton's.
    “It does really feel like the Burton thing is a shadow.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Wendell & Wild · 0:04:02 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
  3. unmapped (hated pair): Tim Burton → Alice in Wonderland. Alice in Wonderland and Apes are the only two Burton films the speaker hates; Alice has too much burden and no center.
    “Because even like Alice in Wonderland, which is the other movie of his that I hate.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Planet of the Apes with Matt Singer · 0:02:10 · unknown (0.50 sure it was them)
  4. unmapped (defensibility): Tim Burton → Sleepy Hollow. Sleepy Hollow is a defensible Burton film; Apes marks the transition from good to bad.
    “Like Sleepy Hollow is a fully defensible movie.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Planet of the Apes with Matt Singer · 0:03:56 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
  5. unmapped (outsider perspective): Tim Burton → Dark Shadows. Even in lesser films like Dark Shadows he comes from a perspective of not understanding behavior, which is missing from Apes.
    “even like Dark Shadows, it's like, well, he still is coming from that perspective of, like, I don't understand behavior.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Planet of the Apes with Matt Singer · 0:55:39 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
  6. unmapped (Burton muse): Tim Burton → Helena Bonham Carter. Burton meets Bonham Carter on Apes and the speaker thinks he relates to her ape character more than the hero.
    “I think he's kind of relating more to the Hell on the Bottom Carter character.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Planet of the Apes with Matt Singer · 0:59:52 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)

what-if (3)

  1. what-if (almost-director): Tim Burton → After Hours. Burton was originally signed to direct After Hours as his first feature before Scorsese took it.
    “Now, so now they're packaged. Griffin Dunn is the star, and Tim Burton is the director.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · After Hours with Alison Sivitz · 0:47:17 · unknown host (0.40 sure it was them)
  2. what-if (what-if director): Tim Burton → After Hours. Burton was originally set to direct but stepped aside when Scorsese wanted it.
    “This was originally supposed to be directed by Tim Burton.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘After Hours’ with Bill Simmons and Sean Fennessey · 1:13:40 · Bill Simmons (0.60 sure it was them)
  3. what-if (what-if): Mary Reilly → Tim Burton. Burton was supposed to direct Mary Reilly but dropped out very late.
    “but Tim Burton was supposed to do and dropped out very late.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · 2025 March Madness Update 1 · 1:01:59 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)

Fun items about them

  1. fun, about Tim Burton: Burton had the idea of a love story between ape and human; the studio said no, so Ari became a princess subtext.
    “Well, so that's the only other thing the idea I think that Tim Burton had very strongly was he wants to make a love story between ape and a human.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Planet of the Apes with Matt Singer · 0:30:18 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
  2. fun, about Tim Burton: Burton and Selick fought over the Oogie ending (Scooby-Doo reveal that he's Finkelstein); the fight reportedly ruined an editing bay.
    “Selleck wanted the ending to be that Oogie Boogie was actually Dr. Finkelstein in disguise.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Nightmare Before Christmas with Michael Rianda (Ad-Free) · 0:53:50 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)