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 other. The films the hosts said they were tied to, which the two lists below run through too: After Hours (1985); Mary Reilly. Count them as director (17 films), writer (1 film), craft (3 films) 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.

The Last Temptation of Christ (1988): 3 lines

  1. career (personal projection) · through After Hours (1985), which they were tied to as originally attached director: The Last Temptation of Christ ⇒ After Hours (the maker said so: Scorsese quoted in an oral history). Scorsese worked Kafka's Before the Law into the club doorman scene to reflect his frustration over Last Temptation.
    “inspired by Franz Kafka's before the law. And Scorsese said the short story reflected his frustration toward the production of the Last Temptation of Christ.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘After Hours’ with Bill Simmons and Sean Fennessey · 1:23:31 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
  2. unmapped (cause) · through After Hours (1985), which they were tied to as originally attached director: The Last Temptation of Christ ⇒ After Hours (the maker said so: a Scorsese quote on After Hours being a reaction to the Last Temptation ordeal). After Paramount collapsed Last Temptation, Scorsese wanted a cheap, personal film; After Hours is his reaction to the Hollywood ordeal.
    “it's a reaction against my year and a half into Hollywood trying to get last temptation to Christ made.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · After Hours with Alison Sivitz · 0:50:49 · unknown host (quoting Scorsese) (0.35 sure it was them)
  3. unmapped (sliding door) · through After Hours (1985), which they were tied to as originally attached director: The Last Temptation of Christ ⇒ After Hours (the host's read). Paramount cancelling Last Temptation sent Scorsese to a small fast job; one of movie history's sliding doors.
    “it is one of the massive sliding doors in movie history because him not making it leads to him making this movie”
    The Rewatchables · ‘After Hours’ with Bill Simmons and Sean Fennessey · 0:17:03 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)

Baby It's You (1983): 1 line

  1. lineage (production lineage) · through After Hours (1985), which they were tied to as originally attached director: Baby It's You ⇒ After Hours (the host's read). Without Baby It's You (Dunn/Robinson, Arquette, Ballhaus) there is no After Hours, since it brought Ballhaus to Scorsese.
    “without that movie, we don't have after hours either because they bring Michael Bauhaus to Scorsese.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘After Hours’ with Bill Simmons and Sean Fennessey · 1:16:29 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)

Ernst Lubitsch: 1 line

  1. unmapped (comic technique) · through After Hours (1985), which they were tied to as originally attached director: Ernst Lubitsch ⇒ After Hours (the host's read). The film's elegant timing and characterization is Scorsese flexing Lubitsch, his filmmaking hero.
    “this is the movie where Marty gets to flex a little Lubich stuff, who was obviously a big filmmaking hero of his”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · After Hours with Alison Sivitz · 0:39:55 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)

Fritz Lang: 1 line

  1. lineage (influence) · through After Hours (1985), which they were tied to as originally attached director: Fritz Lang ⇒ After Hours (the maker said so: Scorsese's own account of his influences on the film). Lang's nighttime nightmare noirs (M, Manhunt, Woman in the Window) were influences.
    “And then some Fritz Lange movies. like M, Manhunt, Woman in the Window, you know, nighttime noiry, nightmare movies, stuff like that.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · After Hours with Alison Sivitz · 0:51:36 · unknown host (0.35 sure it was them)

Isle of the Dead (1945): 1 line

  1. lineage (influence) · through After Hours (1985), which they were tied to as originally attached director: Isle of the Dead ⇒ After Hours (the maker said so: Scorsese's own account of his influences on the film). Scorsese cited Isle of the Dead, a one-night Greek island story, as an influence.
    “Isle of the Dead, a Val Luton movie that takes place like over one night on a Greek island.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · After Hours with Alison Sivitz · 0:51:19 · unknown host (0.35 sure it was them)

Joe Frank: 1 line

  1. unmapped (alleged plagiarism) · through After Hours (1985), which they were tied to as originally attached director: Joe Frank ⇒ After Hours (the maker said so: Joe Frank himself, as reported in a 2000 Salon profile). Joe Frank's 1982 monologue 'Lies' was allegedly lifted for After Hours' opening act; 'Lies' was the script's first title.
    “the opening act is basically ripping off a 1982 monologue he had called lies, which is the 1st title of this script.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · After Hours with Alison Sivitz · 0:37:27 · unknown host (reading JJ Bersch's research) (0.40 sure it was them)

North by Northwest (1959): 1 line

  1. lineage (influence) · through After Hours (1985), which they were tied to as originally attached director: North by Northwest ⇒ After Hours (the maker said so: Scorsese's own account of his influences on the film). The world-against-him framed-man structure of North by Northwest was an influence.
    “That's sort of like the world is against him. He's been framed.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · After Hours with Alison Sivitz · 0:51:28 · unknown host (0.35 sure it was them)

Rear Window (1954): 1 line

  1. lineage (stealth homage) · through After Hours (1985), which they were tied to as originally attached director: Rear Window ⇒ After Hours (the host's read). The neighborhood shooting seen through a window is a Hitchcock rear-window moment never mentioned again; Hitchcock and Fritz Lang noir are influences.
    “there's Hitchcock and Fritz Lange Noir movies are a huge influence on this movie, and that's like such a perfect rear window moment”
    The Rewatchables · ‘After Hours’ with Bill Simmons and Sean Fennessey · 0:58:09 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)

The King of Comedy (1982): 1 line

  1. industry (studio retreat) · through After Hours (1985), which they were tied to as originally attached director: The King of Comedy ⇒ After Hours (the maker said so: Scorsese's quote, via Biskind). King of Comedy bombing and Fox pulling it set up Scorsese's retreat to small-scale After Hours; he said 70s directors had lost to studios.
    “And that was when I really understood that the 70s were over for me”
    The Rewatchables · ‘After Hours’ with Bill Simmons and Sean Fennessey · 0:18:28 · Bill Simmons (0.50 sure it was them)

The Wizard of Oz (1939): 1 line

  1. lineage (homage) · through After Hours (1985), which they were tied to as originally attached director: The Wizard of Oz ⇒ After Hours (the host's read). Dark-side-of-the-yellow-brick-road version; Dorothy walks into black and white instead of color, with 'surrender Dorothy' graffiti and Marcy's Seconal tie to Judy Garland.
    “it is like very much a Wizard of Oz kind of homage, and it's like if Dorothy instead walked into the black and white darkness”
    The Rewatchables · ‘After Hours’ with Bill Simmons and Sean Fennessey · 0:11:14 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)

Drawn on by

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

Goodfellas (1990): 2 lines

  1. unmapped (stylistic seed) · through After Hours (1985), which they were tied to as originally attached director: After Hours ⇒ Goodfellas (the host's read). Sean says the fast cutting, whip-pans and close-ups in After Hours are the seeds of Goodfellas' look, via cinematographer Michael Ballhaus.
    “just seeing all the seeds of Goodfellas and all these little edits and camera shots.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘After Hours’ with Bill Simmons and Sean Fennessey · 0:04:02 · Sean Fennessey (0.70 sure it was them)
  2. career (career hinge) · through After Hours (1985), which they were tied to as originally attached director: After Hours ⇒ Goodfellas (the host's read). Bill says Goodfellas does not happen if After Hours does not happen first; the cancelled Last Temptation is the sliding door.
    “I don't know if Goodfellas happens.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘After Hours’ with Bill Simmons and Sean Fennessey · 0:17:21 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)

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)

Date Night (2010): 1 line

  1. theme (genre mutation) · through After Hours (1985), which they were tied to as originally attached director: After Hours ⇒ Date Night (the host's read). Date Night is After Hours turned into an action movie, piling on too much incident.
    “Date night is action movie after hours.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · After Hours with Alison Sivitz · 0:35:40 · unknown host (0.40 sure it was them)

Go (1999): 1 line

  1. lineage (influence) · through After Hours (1985), which they were tied to as originally attached director: After Hours ⇒ Go (the host's read). Go is late-90s After Hours with weird cameos.
    “they should have paid royalties to Sworses.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘After Hours’ with Bill Simmons and Sean Fennessey · 1:31:36 · Bill Simmons (0.50 sure it was them)

The Color of Money (1986): 1 line

  1. career (career bridge) · through After Hours (1985), which they were tied to as originally attached director: After Hours ⇒ The Color of Money (the host's read). The camera moves of After Hours carry into Color of Money's pool table, tied to Ballhaus; both lead to Goodfellas.
    “that same thing, that camera is flying across the pool table.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘After Hours’ with Bill Simmons and Sean Fennessey · 0:30:24 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)

The Lovebirds (2020): 1 line

  1. lineage (unofficial remake) · through After Hours (1985), which they were tied to as originally attached director: After Hours ⇒ The Lovebirds (the host's read). The Lovebirds tried to be the After Hours of its day but never works.
    “on paper, you were like, yeah, sure, it's been too long since someone tried to make after hours.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · After Hours with Alison Sivitz · 0:35:09 · unknown host (0.35 sure it was them)

The Night Before (2015): 1 line

  1. lineage (unofficial remake) · through After Hours (1985), which they were tied to as originally attached director: After Hours ⇒ The Night Before (the host's read). After Hours is the template for modern one-crazy-night New York comedies, none of which reach it.
    “It is one of those movies that kind of is like unofficially remade every 5 years.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · After Hours with Alison Sivitz · 0:34:18 · unknown host (0.40 sure it was them)

Uncut Gems (2019): 1 line

  1. lineage (influence) · through After Hours (1985), which they were tied to as originally attached director: After Hours ⇒ Uncut Gems (the host's read). Uncut Gems owes a heavy debt to After Hours; Go is also described as owing it royalties.
    “could a movie owe more of a debt to after hours than the cut gems.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘After Hours’ with Bill Simmons and Sean Fennessey · 1:31:19 · Sean Fennessey (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)