| Ed Wood | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Tim Burton |
| Written by | Scott Alexander Larry Karaszewski |
| Based on | Nightmare of Ecstasy: The Life and Art of Edward D. Wood Jr. byRudolph Grey |
| Produced by |
|
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Stefan Czapsky |
| Edited by | Chris Lebenzon |
| Music by | Howard Shore |
Production companies |
|
| Distributed by | Buena Vista Pictures Distribution |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 127 minutes[1] |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $18 million[2] |
| Box office | $13.8 million[3] |
Ed Wood is a 1994 Americanbiographicalcomedy-drama film directed and produced byTim Burton and starringJohnny Depp as theeponymouscult filmmaker. The film concerns the period in Wood's life when he made his best-known films as well as his relationship with actorBela Lugosi, played byMartin Landau.Sarah Jessica Parker,Patricia Arquette,Jeffrey Jones,Lisa Marie, andBill Murray are among the supporting cast.
The film was conceived by writersScott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski. Alexander first proposed it as a documentary, when he was a student at theUSC School of Cinematic Arts. Years later, irritated at being thought of solely as writers forfamily films with their work onProblem Child (1990) andits 1991 sequel, Alexander and Karaszewski struck a deal with Burton andDenise Di Novi to produceEd Wood. Initially,Michael Lehmann was chosen to direct the project, but due to scheduling conflicts with his work on the filmAirheads (1994), he had to vacate the director's position which was taken over by Tim Burton.
Ed Wood was originally in development atColumbia Pictures, but the studio put the film in "turnaround" over Burton's decision to shoot inblack-and-white.Ed Wood was taken toWalt Disney Studios, which produced the film through itsTouchstone Pictures banner. The film provedfinancially unsuccessful, returning only $13.8 million against an $18 million budget, but was met with critical acclaim upon release, with particular praise for Depp and Landau's performances and the makeup, and won twoAcademy Awards:Best Supporting Actor for Landau andBest Makeup forRick Baker (who designed Landau'sprosthetic makeup),Ve Neill andYolanda Toussieng. The film is now considered to be acult classic and one of Burton's best works.
In 1952, aspiring writer and directorEd Wood is struggling to break into thefilm industry. After learning that producerGeorge Weiss is trying to purchaseChristine Jorgensen'slife story, Ed meets with Weiss to direct a now fictionalized film titledI Changed My Sex! but is rejected. Ed then meets his longtime idol, horror film actorBela Lugosi, whom he befriends. Ed persuades Weiss to let him direct by arguing that having a star in the film would sell tickets, and they could sign the financially struggling Lugosi for a low price. Ed shows the film's completed script to his girlfriend,Dolores Fuller, and reveals that he is secretly a transvestite, (having worn women's clothing for personal comfort since childhood) but Fuller struggles to accept this.
During production forGlen or Glenda, which is now about a transvestite, Ed shoots only one take per scene, gives actors little direction, and uses stock footage to fill in gaps. The film is released to critical and commercial failure, preventing Ed from getting work at Weiss' Screen Classics or making a partnership withWarner Bros. executive Feldman. On the advice of Fuller, Ed decides to finance his next film,Bride of the Atom,independently. He befriendsTor Johnson after a wrestling match and casts him. Meanwhile, Ed discovers that Lugosi has developed amorphine addiction.
Following a failed fundraising dinner at theBrown Derby, Ed meetsLoretta King, whom he mistakes for a wealthy heiress; he asks her to fund the film and casts her as the lead instead of Fuller, who is relegated to a smaller role, infuriating her. Filming begins but is halted when it is revealed that Loretta is actually poor, so Ed convincesmeat-packing industry tycoon Don McCoy to continue funding the film, who agrees as long as his son is cast as the lead. At thewrap party for the film, now retitledBride of the Monster, Fuller breaks up with Ed due to his cross-dressing and the poor quality of his films.
After the government cuts off Lugosi'sunemployment benefits, he checks himself intorehab to cure his drug addiction, and Ed meets Kathy O'Hara, who is visiting her father there. He takes her on a date and reveals his transvestism to her, which she accepts, and they begin a relationship. After Lugosi is checked out of rehab, he and Ed shoot scenes for a new film outside his home. Ed and company—including TV horror hostVampira—later attend the premiere ofBride of the Monster, where an angry mob chases them out of the theater.
Lugosi dies, leaving Ed without a star. After learning that his landlord's church is struggling to produce a series of religious films about theTwelve Apostles, Ed convinces him to have his church fund his script for a science fiction film,Grave Robbers from Outer Space, which could result in a box-office success and generate enough money for the landlord's dream project. Ed hires Vampira, Tor,The Amazing Criswell, and Kathy's chiropractor Dr.Tom Mason to star in the film (the latter being a stand-in for Lugosi), and he and all his friends partake in a baptism ceremony at the church.
During filming, Ed clashes with the Baptists over the title, script content, and Ed'sB movie directing style, eventually renaming the filmPlan 9 from Outer Space. Frustrated, Ed goes to the nearest bar, where he encounters filmmakerOrson Welles who, struggling with similar issues while working onDon Quixote, encourages Ed to assert his artistic vision, and citesCitizen Kane as the project where he had complete creative control. Filming concludes with Ed defying his producers' wishes.
At the premiere ofPlan 9 from Outer Space, Ed dedicates the film to Lugosi, and as the film plays, he quietly tells himself, "This is the one I'll be remembered for." Afterwards, Ed and Kathy head toLas Vegas to get married. A textual epilogue reveals that Ed failed to achieve mainstream success in Hollywood before his death in 1978, and was posthumously named "Worst Director of All Time", though that honor eventually earned him worldwide acclaim and a new generation of fans.
The film also includes cameos from actors who worked with Wood onPlan 9 from Outer Space,Conrad Brooks (as a bartender) andGregory Walcott (as a potential backer).
WritersScott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski conceived the idea for abiopic ofEd Wood when they were students at theUSC School of Cinematic Arts.[9] Alexander even proposed making a documentary about Wood,The Man in the Angora Sweater, in his sophomore year atUSC.[10] However, Karaszewski figured, "there would be no one on the planet Earth who would make this movie or want to make this movie, because these aren't the sort of movies that are made."[10] Irritated at being thought of solely as writers forfamily films for their work onProblem Child andProblem Child 2, Alexander and Karaszewski wrote a 10-pagefilm treatment forEd Wood andpitched the idea toHeathers directorMichael Lehmann, with whom they attended USC film school.[9] The basis for their treatment came fromRudolph Grey'sNightmare of Ecstasy: The Life and Art of Edward D. Wood Jr.,[11] a full-length biography, which draws on interviews from Wood's family and colleagues.[12] Lehmann presented their treatment to his producer onHeathers,Denise Di Novi. Di Novi had previously worked withTim Burton onEdward Scissorhands,Batman Returns andThe Nightmare Before Christmas, and a deal was struck with Lehmann as director and Burton and Di Novi producing.[9]
Burton began readingNightmare of Ecstasy and some of Wood's letters. He was taken by how he "wrote about his films as if he was makingCitizen Kane, you know, whereas other people perceived them as, like, the worst movies ever".[12] Burton admits to having always been a fan of Ed Wood, which is why the biopic is filmed with an aggrandizing bias born of his admiration for Wood's work, rather than the derisive attitude of Wood's detractors.[13] The relationship between Wood and Lugosi in the script echoes closely Burton's relationship with his own idol and two-time colleague,Vincent Price. He said in an interview, "Meeting Vincent had an incredible impact on me, the same impact Ed must have felt meeting and working with his idol."[14] Meanwhile, Burton had been asked to directMary Reilly forColumbia Pictures withWinona Ryder in the title role.[9]
However, Burton dropped out ofMary Reilly over Columbia's decision to fast-track the film and their interest withJulia Roberts in the title role instead of Ryder. This prompted Burton to become interested in directingEd Wood himself, on the understanding that it could be done quickly.[9] Lehmann said, "Tim wanted to do this movie immediately and direct, but I was already committed toAirheads."[6] Lehmann was givenexecutive producer credit. Alexander and Karaszewski delivered a 147-page screenplay in six weeks. Burton read the first draft and immediately agreed to direct the film as it stood, without any changes or rewrites.[9]Ed Wood gave Burton the opportunity to make a film that was more character-driven as opposed to style-driven. He said in an interview, "On a picture like this I find you don't need tostoryboard. You're working mainly with actors, and there's no effects going on, so it's best to be more spontaneous."[15]
Initially,Ed Wood was in development with Columbia, but when Burton decided he wanted to shoot the film inblack-and-white, studio headMark Canton would not agree to it unless Columbia was given afirst-look deal.[16] Burton said black-and-white was "right for the material and the movie, and this was a movie thathad to be in black-and-white". He insisted on total creative control, and so in April 1993, a month before the original start date, Canton putEd Wood intoturnaround. The decision sparked interest fromWarner Bros.,Paramount Pictures, and20th Century Fox inoptioning thefilm rights, but Burton accepted an offer fromWalt Disney Studios, who had previously producedThe Nightmare Before Christmas. Similar toThe Nightmare Before Christmas, Disney releasedEd Wood under theirTouchstone Pictures banner. With a budget of $18 million, Disney did not feel the film was that much of a risk, and granted Burton total creative autonomy. Burton also refused a salary, and was not paid for his work onEd Wood.Principal photography began in August 1993, and lasted 72 days.[17][5] Despite his previous six-film relationship withDanny Elfman, Burton choseHoward Shore to write thefilm score. Under the pressure of finishing the score forBatman Returns, Burton's relationship with Elfman became strained and Burton admitted he and Elfman experienced "creative differences" duringThe Nightmare Before Christmas.[18][19]
The film was shot at various locations in and around the Los Angeles area.[20]
When describing the film's accuracy, Burton explained, "It's not like a completely hardcore realistic biopic. In doing a biopic you can't help but get inside the person's spirit a little bit, so for me, some of the film is trying to be through Ed a little bit. So it's got an overly optimistic quality to it."[9] Burton acknowledged that he probably portrayed Wood and his crew in an exaggeratedly sympathetic way, stating he did not want to ridicule people who had already been ridiculed for a good deal of their life. Burton decided not to depict the darker side of Wood's life because his letters never alluded to this aspect and remained upbeat. To this end, Burton wanted to make the film through Wood's eyes.[13] He said in an interview, "I've never seen anything like them, the kind of bad poetry and redundancy– saying in, like, five sentences what it would take most normal people one ... Yet still there is a sincerity to them that is very unusual, and I always found that somewhat touching; it gives them a surreal, weirdly heartfelt feeling."[21]
According toForrest Ackerman,Dolores Fuller, Richard Sheffield, and Lugosi's sonBela G., the film's portrayal of Lugosi is inaccurate: in real life, he never used profanity, owned small dogs, or slept in coffins. Additionally, contrary to what was presented in the film, Bela was not thrown by a comic's ad-libbing in a skit on a TV show involving Wood, but on another show years earlier before the two ever met.[22][23]
Burton biographer Ken Hanke criticized the depiction of Dolores Fuller. "The real Fuller is a lively, savvy, humorous woman," Hanke said, "while Parker's performance presents her as a kind of sitcom moron for the first part of the film and a rather judgmental and wholly unpleasant character in her later scenes."[24] During her years with Wood, Fuller had regular TV jobs onQueen for a Day andThe Dinah Shore Show, which are not mentioned. Fuller criticized Parker's portrayal and Burton's direction, but still gaveEd Wood a positive review. "Despite the dramatic liberties, I think Tim Burton is fabulous. I wished they could have made it a deeper love story because we really loved each other. We strove to find investors together, I worked so hard to support Ed and I".[24]
Ed Wood had its premiere at the 32ndNew York Film Festival atLincoln Center.[25] The film was then shown shortly after at the 21stTelluride Film Festival[26] and later at the1995 Cannes Film Festival, where it was in competition for thePalme d'Or.[27][28]
TheDVD edition ofEd Wood initially had difficulty reaching store shelves in the United States and Canada due to unspecified legal issues. The initial release had a featurette on transvestites — not relating to the film or its actors in any way — which was removed from subsequent releases. An initial street date of August 13, 2002, was announced[29] only to be postponed.[30] A new date of February 3, 2003 was set,[31] only for it to be recalled again without explanation, although some copies quickly found their way to collectors' venues such aseBay. The DVD was finally released on October 19, 2004.[32] It was released onBlu-ray in September 2012.[33]
Ed Wood had itslimited release on September 30, 1994. It went intowide release on October 7, 1994 (just three days before what would have been Wood's 70th birthday) in 623 theaters. The film grossed $1,903,768 in its opening weekend.[34] The film went on to gross $5,887,457 in the United States and Canada[34][2] and $13.8 million worldwide,[3] less than the production budget of $18 million.[35]
OnRotten Tomatoes,Ed Wood holds an approval rating of 92% based on 73 reviews, with an average rating of 8/10. The website's critical consensus states, "Tim Burton and Johnny Depp team up to fête the life and work of cult hero Ed Wood, with typically strange and wonderful results."[36] OnMetacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 71 out of 100, based on 20 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[37] Audiences polled byCinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.[38]
Roger Ebert gave a largely positive review: "What Burton has made is a film which celebrates Wood more than it mocks him, and which celebrates, too, the zany spirit of the 1950sexploitation films, in which a great title, a has-been star, and a lurid ad campaign were enough to get bookings for some of the oddest films ever made."[39] Ebert andGene Siskel gave the film "Two Thumbs Up" onSiskel and Ebert, with Siskel calling it "a tribute to creative passion and also to friendship" and "one of the year's very best".
Peter Travers ofRolling Stone praised Burton's decision to not make a directsatire orparody of Wood's life. "Ed Wood is Burton's most personal and provocative movie to date," he wrote. "Outrageously disjointed and just as outrageously entertaining, the picture stands as a successful outsider's tribute to a failed kindred spirit."[40]
Janet Maslin, writing inThe New York Times, thoughtJohnny Depp "proved" himself as an established "certified great actor". "Depp captures all the can-do optimism that kept Ed Wood going, thanks to an extremely funny ability to look at the silver lining of any cloud."[41] Todd McCarthy fromVariety calledEd Wood "a fanciful, sweet-tempered biopic about the man often described as the worst film director of all time. Always engaging to watch and often dazzling in its imagination and technique, [the] picture is also a bit distended, and lacking in weight at its center. The result is beguiling rather than thrilling."[42]
Richard Corliss, writing inTime magazine, gave a negative review. "The script byScott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski posits Wood as a classic American optimist, aCapraesque hero with little to be optimistic about since he was also a classic American loser. That's a fine start, but the film then marches in staid chronological order." Corliss continued, "One wonders why this Burton film is so dishwatery, why it lacks the cartoon zest and outsider ache ofBeetlejuice,Edward Scissorhands orBatman Returns."[43] Burton callsEd Wood one of his best films he made.[44]
Ed Wood was nominated for threeGolden Globes:Best Musical or Comedy, Johnny Depp forBest Actor in a Musical or Comedy and Martin Landau forBest Supporting Actor.[66] Landau won in his category, while Depp lost to Hugh Grant (forFour Weddings and a Funeral).[66] Landau andRick Baker wonAcademy Awards for their work on the film.[67] Landau also wonBest Supporting Actor at the firstScreen Actors Guild Awards. Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski were nominated forBest Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen by theWriters Guild of America, which was a surprise as few predicted that it would be considered.[68]
