Tim Burton

As a kid I was always obsessed with books. But they had to be magical books, weird books, books about witches and wizards, spells and potions, creatures and boogeymen. I loved being scared, loved watching and reading about things that would frighten and yet fascinate me. And then, one day, I watched Sleepy Hollow and I fell in love with Tim Burton's films. A couple of years later I read The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy and re-discovered my love for the weird and wonderful worlds Tim Burton creates. 

The thing I love about Tim Burton is his sense of innocence.  One of my favourite characters of his is Edward Scissorhands which is a wonderfully gothic story about an outcast. It is an innocent story and one of those films I wish was a book before - I hate reading the book of a film I have watched, you always find yourself skimming which is never good. Edward Scissorhands is the kind of character I've always wanted to create and tried to. A few years back I wrote a novella for my grandfather for his birthday - cheap you might say but my grandfather loves reading any of my stories. 

 

The story was about a young boy named Lucifer, a lover of books and a bit of an outcast. (I think I put an extract from it a while back.) Anyway, he escapes into his own world and the forest - ten points for the reference to Alice in Wonderland, Wizard of Oz, Peter Pan etc - and meets a being called the Snowdemon. There he begins a friendship and the friendship is one of magic, wonder and discovery. I am happy to say that that is perhaps one of my stories that has a happy ending...in its own way. 

I'm not sure how I feel about Tim Burton doing that Dark Shadows film, I saw the trailer and it really played on the comedy side of it which didn't interest me at all. Burton's subtle, dark humor - that is evident in Sleepy Hollow really did it for me but his latest film, not so much. Sweeney Todd and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory were great and he really needs to do another adaptation of Roald Dahl - Tim Burton + Roald Dahl = Nerd Heaven!