CORPSE BRIDE director Tim Burton was on hand in New Yorks Union Square Virgin Megastore on Feb. 11, 2006, for an afternoon of DVD signing, photographs and handshakes.
Hundreds of fans spent hours snaked around the store entrance, down the street and past the multiplex a block away for their chance to say hi to the former Disney animator turned fantasy filmmaker. Burtons return to his stop-motion roots has earned CORPSE BRIDE a nomination for this years Best Animated Feature Oscar.
After close to two and a half hours of signing Bride DVDs, posters and one NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS hoodie, Burton chatted for a few moments with AWN. He sidestepped comparing his Oscar chances vs. Nick Park (WALLACE AND GROMIT: THE CURSE OF THE WERE-RABBIT) or Hayao Miyazaki (HOWLS MOVING CASTLE), only saying it was great to see animated features recognized by the Oscars, and that CORPSE BRIDES competitors were both "great films." Burton credited his career move from animator to live-action director to luck, describing himself as merely a bad Disney animator before directing PEE-WEES BIG ADVENTURE.
Might CORPSE BRIDE and WERE-RABBITS success be due in part to stop-motions resemblance to CGI animation? You can see the difference between stop motion and CGI, Burton maintained, while acknowledging the digital realm had provided a touch of help in creating smoke and other effects for his film.
I hope so was Burtons response when asked if there might be another animated feature in his future. Its such a special process I want to make sure I have the right story to do in this kind of medium. He admitted to poking his head in every now and then on the production of the animated BEETLEJUICE TV series, and having a hand in the creation of the shows Prince Vince character, a lonely and sensitive outsider.
From Pee-wee Herman to Brides Victor Van Dort, and with everyone from Edward Scissorhands to Willy Wonka inbetween, Burton is the movies #1 chronicler of lonely, sensitive and misunderstood outsiders. That their stories more often than not end with the outsider triumphant may be a reflection of Burtons own saga.
