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| This attractive poster for Tim Burton's Ed Wood lacks its priceless (but essentially ridiculing) American tagline: 'Movies were his passion. Women were his inspiration. Angora sweaters were his weakness.' |
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Ed Wood (Glen or Glenda (1953)) was the world's arguably worst filmmaker, who wrote, directed, often also acted in, produced and edited some rather incredible films in the 1950s and 1960s, while befriending ailing horror movie icon Bela Lugosi (Dracula (1931)).
As a tribute to someone recognized as the worst filmmaker ever, (although he hardly was, in fact, because his films do have something infectious and human to them), I suppose it is really almost fitting that master filmmaker Tim Burton (Batman Returns (1992)) has made a sub-par biopic about him.
Ed Wood does have some good elements: Martin Landau (Edtv (1999)) is eminent as Lugosi, a deservedly Oscar-winning performance. SPOILER The fight with the plastic octopus and the baptism scene with Bill Murray (The Man Who Knew Too Little (1997)) are also fun.
But apart from these things, Ed Wood is a sticky, melodramatic, pathetic plate of dribble. Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski's (The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996), both) script, based on Rudolph Grey's Wood biography Nightmares of Ecstasy (1992), certainly carries its share of the blame. The biggest problem, though, must be Johnny Depp (The Rum Diary (2011)), who is awful in the title role, treading water throughout with an accent as irksome as the strange grimace he insists on carrying throughout.
Most of the scenes of Ed Wood are simply too shallow and light-weight. Burton loves society's outsiders, and as such Wood should have been a prime source of material for him, but this one regrettably doesn't work.
Related poss:
Tim Burton: Dark Shadows (2012) - Fun, flamboyant vampire romp is a celebration of culture
Corpse Bride (2005) - Impressive, loud, hollow, dark doll fairytale
1994 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess
Top 10: The best action movies and TV-series reviewed by Film Excess to date
Batman Returns (1992) - Burton gives us the ultimate, Gothic spin on Gotham City and its sinister characters
Batman (1989) - A huge, glitzy, empty joker
Beetle Juice (1988) - Burton and team serve one of the best horror comedies ever
Cost: 18 mil. $
Box office: 5.8 mil. $ (North America only)
= Uncertainty (likely at least a big flop)
[Ed Wood premiered September 23 (New York Film Festival) and runs 127 minutes. Alexander and Karaszewski devised the script after being tired of writing family movies, and Michael Lehmann was supposed to direct. Other obligations brought Burton to the project, who was a Wood fan. Columbia set the project in turnaround, because Burton insisted on shooting it in B/W. It was picked up by Disney, who gave Burton, who took no salary for the film, his budget and total creative freedom. The film was shot in 72 days in and around LA. Burton worked with Howard Shore on the score, after he had fallen out with his regular composer Danny Elfman during Batman Returns. Ed Wood contains several inaccuracies concerning Lugosi, Wood's relationship with Dolores Fuller and time distortions, (read about them here.) The film opened wide (in just 623 theaters) #9 to a 1.9 mil. $ first weekend in North America. 357k paid admission in France and Spain, but other than that, world numbers aren't known, and so its theatrical status cannot be made up, although it was almost certainly at least a big flop. Ed Wood was shown in competition at the 1995 Cannes Film Festival, where it lost to Emir Kusturica's great Underground. Landau won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar, and the film also won the Best Makeup Oscar. At the Golden Globes, Depp and Landau were nominated, with Landau winning. Ed Wood is certified fresh at 92 % with an 8 average on Rotten Tomatoes.]
What do you think of Ed Wood?
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