A Minute With: Director Tim Burton Showcases Drawings, Calls Movies His ‘Troubled Children’

US filmmaker Tim Burton poses at the Mole Antonelliana landmark building in Turin, Italy, 10 October 2023, on occasion of the exhibition 'The World of Tim Burton'. Tim Burton will receive the Stella della Mole Award. (EPA)
US filmmaker Tim Burton poses at the Mole Antonelliana landmark building in Turin, Italy, 10 October 2023, on occasion of the exhibition 'The World of Tim Burton'. Tim Burton will receive the Stella della Mole Award. (EPA)
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A Minute With: Director Tim Burton Showcases Drawings, Calls Movies His ‘Troubled Children’

US filmmaker Tim Burton poses at the Mole Antonelliana landmark building in Turin, Italy, 10 October 2023, on occasion of the exhibition 'The World of Tim Burton'. Tim Burton will receive the Stella della Mole Award. (EPA)
US filmmaker Tim Burton poses at the Mole Antonelliana landmark building in Turin, Italy, 10 October 2023, on occasion of the exhibition 'The World of Tim Burton'. Tim Burton will receive the Stella della Mole Award. (EPA)

Oscar-nominated director Tim Burton says he has no favorites when it comes to his movies, describing them all as "troubled children".

Known for films including "Edward Scissorhands", "Frankenweenie" and "Corpse Bride", Burton has also been showcasing his drawings and models in exhibitions.

In an interview, Burton reflected on the show's latest incarnation, the "The World of Tim Burton", which opened on Wednesday at the Mole Antonelliana in Turin, Italy.

Below are excerpts edited for length and clarity.

Q: How involved have you been with the exhibition?

Burton: "It started with the MoMA (Museum of Modern Art) show (in 2009) which took a couple of years to curate. This (show in Italy) is sort of an offshoot of that."

Q: What is it like seeing your work?

Burton: "When I first saw it (the show in New York), it did feel like laundry hanging on the wall. I felt quite exposed. I feel that way with films, I like making them but then I get sort of terrified of showing them."

Q: How important are your drawings to your movie making process?

Burton: "When I first started out I didn't really communicate very well, some people say it remains to this day, but I always felt drawings were a way for me to get ideas out. (For example) I'd just draw like a Jack Skellington character (from 1993 film "The Nightmare Before Christmas") and I didn't even know what it was for. Drawing brought out my subconscious."

Q: How did the strikes in Hollywood affect production on "Beetlejuice 2"?

Burton: "I've got two days of shooting left. I know exactly what we need to do, as soon as the strikes are over, take off the pause button and go do it."

Q: Do you have a favorite of your own films?

Burton: "I have no favorites. They're all your troubled children."



'Barbie' Director Gerwig Honored by 'Terrifying' Movie Industry

Greta Gerwig was honored at the Will Rogers Motion Picture Pioneers Foundation gala, which raises funds to support movie industry workers suffering injury or illness. Amy Sussman / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP
Greta Gerwig was honored at the Will Rogers Motion Picture Pioneers Foundation gala, which raises funds to support movie industry workers suffering injury or illness. Amy Sussman / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP
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'Barbie' Director Gerwig Honored by 'Terrifying' Movie Industry

Greta Gerwig was honored at the Will Rogers Motion Picture Pioneers Foundation gala, which raises funds to support movie industry workers suffering injury or illness. Amy Sussman / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP
Greta Gerwig was honored at the Will Rogers Motion Picture Pioneers Foundation gala, which raises funds to support movie industry workers suffering injury or illness. Amy Sussman / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP

"Barbie" director Greta Gerwig paid tribute to risk-takers in the "terrifying" entertainment industry as she was honored for her pioneering filmmaking at a prestigious Hollywood gala on Wednesday.
Gerwig, 41, is the first-ever female director to make a $1 billion movie, and all three of her solo directorial movies to date -- "Lady Bird,Little Women" and "Barbie" -- have been nominated for best picture at the Oscars.
"A showperson is the only person I've ever wanted to be," she said, as she was named Pioneer of the Year at the Will Rogers Motion Picture Pioneers Foundation gala in Beverly Hills, AFP said.
"I wanted to be one of those people who are a little bit wild, a little bit on the edge and filled with a kind of joyful madness.
"I think pioneer is the right word."
Gerwig's most recent artistic gamble paid off as her $1.4 billion-grossing feminist satire "Barbie" became the top-grossing movie of 2023.
Improbably based on the popular doll franchise, but given unusual creative license, the film's success came at a crucial time for an increasingly risk-averse industry reeling from the pandemic, strikes and swingeing job cuts.
The film, alongside Christopher Nolan's Oscar-sweeping "Oppenheimer," was widely credited with keeping the movie theater industry afloat last year.
Gerwig is reportedly set to write and direct two Netflix film adaptations of C.S. Lewis's "The Chronicles of Narnia."
"There are easier ways to make money, and there are less terrifying businesses, but there are none that are more exciting and filled with as much joy and wonder," she said.
Wednesday's Pioneer of the Year gala raises funds to support movie industry workers suffering injury or illness.