Frankenweenie Giveaway & Interview with Director Tim Burton
Posted January 8, 2013 02:01 AM by Webmaster
Blu-ray.com and Walt Disney Home Entertainment are offering three members an opportunity to win a copy of Frankenweenie, which arrives on Blu-ray today. To enter, simply add a comment to this news post with your top three Tim Burton movies of all time. (There are no right or wrong answers.)
The contest is open to all Blu-ray.com members (membership is completely free, click here to join) and will close on Tuesday, December 15th at approximately 11:59pm EST, at which time three randomly selected winners will be contacted via Blu-ray.com PM. Winners will be asked to provide full name and a valid mailing address via PM, but personal information will not be shared or retained in any way. Maintaining our membership's privacy is of the utmost importance. Prizes that are not claimed within three days will be awarded to other entrants.
In the meantime, enjoy the following interview with Frankenweenie director Tim Burton, as well as a preview clip from Captain Sparky vs. The Flying Saucers, the animated short included on both the 2D and 3D Blu-ray releases of the film.
Frankenweenie has been described as a semi-autobiographical project. Are the younger characters in the movie based on your classmates from school?
Filmmaker Tim Burton: The kids in the movie are based on various real people, but they are also based on horror icons like Boris Karloff, Peter Lorre and dubbed Japanese movies that I remember seeing as a child. They relate to movies and actors, as well as real people that I remember from my childhood.
Were you interested in science in grade school?
TB: I liked the idea of making things and creating things, but I guess I always treated science and art as quite similar thematically. I feel like the idea of science and short filmmaking, and doing science fairs and projects like building volcanoes, is all in a similar vein.
Is little Victor Frankenstein's undead dog Sparky based on a childhood pet?
TB: When I was a child, I had a really strong connection with a dog we named Pepe. He was a mutt who was ill for a very long time. [Sparky] is nondescript. He wasn't meant to be like a literal translation of my dog. He is more of an emotional translation.
Victor loves to make homemade movies. Did you when you were his age?
TB: Yes, I did. A lot of kids did, actually. It was a fun thing to do, and it became a very easy way to get good grades. Sometimes I'd make stop-motion movies and sometimes I would make live-action movies. Sometimes I filmed drawings, or I did a mixture of things.
What inspired you to create and present Frankenweenie in black and white?
TB: I find black and white very beautiful. It gives a real sense of emotion. I was really excited about seeing this in black and white because there's a depth in the black and white which I love. I was very happy that the studio went along with the idea. If they wanted it in color, I wouldn't have done it.
Do you dream in black and white or in color?
TB: I've had black and white dreams, as well as color dreams. I've had both. I love black and white; I always have. I think there's a real beauty to it. It's not right for every project, but when you take the color out of something, sometimes you start looking at other things like textures and characters. It does something really interesting.
Frankenweenie is an homage to black and white monster movies from the past. Did those movies frighten you as a child?
TB: I think I was more scared by real life rather than movies. I could watch a monster movie fine, but I'd be terrified if I had one of my relatives come over. I was never scared by monster movies because I felt like the monsters were always the most emotional characters – at least in those old films. I guess it's slightly different these days.
Did you worry that the story might be too dark for Disney?
TB: No. In my mind, I always felt confident that it was quite a traditional Disney movie. Disney movies like Bambi and The Lion King have dealt with emotional issues that are not dissimilar in some ways. Disney films have a certain element of danger or darkness in them, and if all of that stuff was taken out of every Disney movie, they wouldn't feel the same. Frankenweenie has got a happy ending, so I never felt like it was pushing the boundaries very much in terms of that.
You've worked on such a wide variety of projects and movies. How does it feel when people come up to you to tell you that they identify with one of your memorable characters?
TB: The best thing that ever happens to me is not so much about reviews or box office [takings]. I try to make the money back for each film, but the nicest thing is when you get people coming up to admit that they have a personal connection with a character. That's really, really nice. To me, that means more than anything because that's the reason why I do this.
(And, believe it or not, though being of age and mind to fully appreciate it for a long while now, I have not yet gotten around to revisiting Pee-Wee's Big Adventure... Perhaps I should rectify that sooner than later.)
