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Tim Burton's unrealized projects

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The following is a list of unproduced Tim Burton projects, in roughly chronological order. During a career that has spanned over 30 years, Burton has worked on a number of projects which never progressed beyond the pre-production stage under his direction.

1980s

After the success of Pee-wee's Big Adventure (1985), and before his hiring of Beetlejuice (1988), Warner Bros. sent Burton various scripts. He was disheartened by their lack of imagination and originality, one of them being Hot to Trot (1988).[1]

1990s

Vincent Price documentary

Burton held a fascination with Vincent Price films since his childhood. He first worked with the actor on the 1982 short film, Vincent. During the production of Edward Scissorhands (1990), in which Price portrayed The Inventor, Burton conceived the idea of making an independent documentary film on the actor,[2] using the working title Conversations with Vincent.[3] With self-financing from his own production company, Burton shot the film in black-and-white over a three-day period at the Vincent Price Gallery in East Los Angeles College in April 1991. In addition to Price, Roger Corman and Samuel Z. Arkoff were interviewed. Conversations with Vincent was stalled when Burton went to work on Batman Returns (1992),[2] and after Price's death in October 1993.[3] In December 1994 it was announced that Burton was returning to the hour-long documentary, now titled A Visit With Vincent. Lucy Chase Williams, author of The Complete Films of Vincent Price was working as a consultant. The film likely would have been released in the direct-to-video market,[4] but the project was ultimately abandoned and remains unfinished.[2]

Mai, the Psychic Girl

Beginning in the late-1980s, New Wave rock band Sparks attempted to make the Japanese manga Mai, the Psychic Girl into a musical, with interest from Tim Burton[5] and Carolco Pictures,[6] who purchased the film rights in August 1991. Carolco hoped Burton would start production in 1992, but he chose to work on The Nightmare Before Christmas and Ed Wood for Disney.[7] The option on the film rights eventually expired, and Burton dropped out.[5] Francis Ford Coppola later developed the property in the 1990s. In June 2000, Sony Pictures Entertainment started on a new different project with Kirk Wong attached to direct.[8] By February 2001, a script had been written by Lisa Addario and Joey Syracuse for Sony's Columbia Pictures.[9] The release of The Seduction of Ingmar Bergman, a radio musical by Sparks, in August 2009, was informed by the six years the band spent trying to get their Mai the Psychic Girl produced. The album generated new interest, and gained a "second wind, vocalist Russell Mael explained. "The music is all ready and we are hoping that this still might see the light of day.”[5]

Jurassic Park

Before Michael Crichton's novel, Jurassic Park was published, Hollywood studios were highly interested in purchasing the film rights. This included Warner Bros. and Tim Burton, Sony Pictures Entertainment and Richard Donner, and 20th Century Fox and Joe Dante.[10] Universal Pictures acquired the rights in May 1990 for Steven Spielberg, resulting in the 1993 film adaptation.[11]

Beetlejuice Goes Hawaiian

In 1990 Burton hired Jonathan Gems, who worked on uncredited rewrites for Batman (1989), to write a sequel to Beetlejuice titled Beetlejuice Goes Hawaiian.[12] "Tim thought it would be funny to match the surfing backdrop of a beach movie with some sort of German Expressionism, because they're totally wrong together," Gems reflected.[13] The story followed the Deetz family moving to Hawaii, where Charles is developing a resort. They soon discover that his company is building on the burial ground of an ancient Hawaiian Kahuna. The spirit comes back from the afterlife to cause trouble, and Beetlejuice becomes a hero by winning a surf contest with magic against the evil Kahuna. Michael Keaton and Winona Ryder agreed to reprise their roles, but only if Burton directed.[13]

In early 1991, impressed with Daniel Waters' work on Heathers (1989), Burton approached him for a rewrite. However, Waters,[14] Burton and Keaton eventually became distracted with Batman Returns (1992).[13] By August 1993 producer David Geffen had Pamella Norris (Troop Beverly Hills, Saturday Night Live) rewriting the script.[15] Warner Bros. approached Kevin Smith in 1996 for another rewrite, though Smith turned down the offer in favor of Superman Lives.[16] In March 1997 Gems stated that the rights to the "Beetlejuice Goes Hawaiian script are owned by The Geffen Film Company, and it will never likely get made. "You really couldn't do it now anyway. Winona is too old for the role, and the only way they could make it would be to totally recast it."[13]

Mary Reilly

Producers Jon Peters and Peter Guber acquired the film rights to Mary Reilly in 1989, and optioned them for Warner Bros. with Roman Polanski as director.[17] When Guber became CEO of Sony Pictures Entertainment later that year, he moved Mary Reilly to Sony's sister company, TriStar Pictures, where Burton was approached to direct with Denise Di Novi to produce in 1991.[18] Christopher Hampton was hired to write the screenplay, and Burton signed on as director in January 1993, after he approved over Hampton's rewrite.[17] He intended to start filming in January 1994, after he completed Ed Wood,[19] but Burton dropped out in May 1993 over his anger against Guber for putting Ed Wood in turnaround. Stephen Frears was TriStar's first choice to replace Burton, and Di Novi was fired and replaced with Ned Tanen.[18]

Catwoman

"After the traumas of the Batman Returns she has amnesia, and she doesn't really remember why she has all these bullet holes in her body, so she goes to relax in Oasisburg. What Gotham City is to New York, Oasisburg is to Las Vegas-Los Angeles-Palm Springs. [It's a] resort area in the middle of the desert. It's run by superheroes, and the movie has great fun at making fun at the whole male superhero mythos. Then they end up being not very good at all deep down, and she's got to go back to that whole Catwoman thing."

—Daniel Waters on his script for Catwoman[14]

Batman Returns would be the last film in the Batman film series that featured Tim Burton and Michael Keaton as director and leading actor. With Batman Forever, Warner Bros. decided to go in a "lighter" direction to be more mainstream in the process of a family film. Burton had no interest in returning to direct a sequel, but he did serve as a producer.[20] With Warner Bros. moving on development for Batman Forever in June 1993, a Catwoman spin-off was announced. Michelle Pfeiffer was to reprise her role, with the character not to appear in Forever because of "her own little movie".[21]

Burton became attached as director, while producer Denise Di Novi and writer Daniel Waters also returned to the Catwoman spin-off with Burton.[22] In January 1994, Burton was unsure of his plans to direct Catwoman or an adaptation of The Fall of the House of Usher.[23] On June 6, 1995, Waters turned in his Catwoman script to Warner Bros., the same day Batman Forever was released. Burton was still being courted to direct. Waters joked, "turning it in the day Batman Forever opened may not have been my best logistical move, in that it's the celebration of the fun-for-the-whole-family Batman. Catwoman is definitely not a fun-for-the-whole-family script."[14] The film labored in development hell for years, with Pfeiffer getting replaced by Ashley Judd. The film ended up becoming the critically-panned Catwoman (2004), starring Halle Berry.[24][25]

August 1995: SHE WOULD LIKE TO Reprise her Catwoman role, though in the feline character's own movie, not wedded to Batman Inc. Future projects include a story about the artist Georgia O'Keeffe. "See, I have her hands," she says. She plans to star, with Jessica Lange, in an adaptation of Jane Smiley's novel "A Thousand Acres," but has dropped "Evita," the musical for which she studied voice. Children have changed her priorities, and limited her location travel schedule, she says.[26]

Superman Lives

Main article: Superman Lives

References

  • Ken Hanke (1999). Tim Burton: An Unauthorized Biography of the Filmmaker. Los Angeles: Renaissance Books. ISBN 1-58063-162-2.
  • Mark Salisbury; Tim Burton (2006). Burton on Burton. London: Faber and Faber. ISBN 0-57122-926-3.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  1. ^ Salisbury, Burton, pp. 54
  2. ^ a b c Hanke, pp. 116, 187
  3. ^ a b Salisbury, Burton, pp. 98
  4. ^ Staff (1994-12-09). "Upcoming Projects for Tim Burton and Keanu Reeves". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2009-07-03.
  5. ^ a b c Joseph Galliano (2009-10-30). "Striking Sparks with Bergman". The Sunday Times. Retrieved 2010-11-06.
  6. ^ Jay Carr (1991-03-03). "Batman to battle DeVito's Penguin". The Boston Globe.
  7. ^ Jeff Yang (2009-08-06). "The Pokemon generation grows up". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 2010-11-06.
  8. ^ Dana Harris (2000-06-11). "Wong to helm SPE's 'Psychic'". Variety. Retrieved 2010-10-26.
  9. ^ Claude Brodesser; Cathy Dunkley (2001-02-18). "U opens its heart to Addario, Syracuse spec". Variety. Retrieved 2010-10-26.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference McBride was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ Jurassic Park DVD production notes
  12. ^ Salisbury, Burton, pp. 145
  13. ^ a b c d Anthony C. Ferrante (March 1997). "Hidden Gems". Fangoria.
  14. ^ a b c Judy Sloane (August 1995). "Daniel Waters on Writing", Film Review, pp. 67-69
  15. ^ John Brodie (1993-08-26). "Twentieth, Norris-Clay ink pact". Variety. Retrieved 2008-05-26.
  16. ^ An Evening with Kevin Smith. Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. 2002. {{cite AV media}}: |format= requires |url= (help)
  17. ^ a b Claudia Eller (1993-01-11). "Fox mulls playing 'Pat' hand; TriStar woos Woo". Variety. Retrieved 2010-10-30.
  18. ^ a b Claudia Eller (1993-05-03). "Burton's off 'Reilly'". Variety. Retrieved 2010-10-30.
  19. ^ Staff (1993-02-04). "TriStar Pictures slate for 1993". Variety. Retrieved 2010-10-30.
  20. ^ Tim Burton, Michael Keaton, Joel Schumacher, Shadows of the Bat: The Cinematic Saga of the Dark Knight—Reinventing a Hero, 2005, Warner Home Video
  21. ^ Michael Fleming (1993-06-17). "Dish". Variety. Retrieved 2008-08-14.
  22. ^ Michael Fleming (1993-07-22). "Another life at WB for Catwoman and Burton?". Variety. Retrieved 2008-08-14.
  23. ^ Michael Fleming (1994-01-13). "Seagal on the pulpit may be too much for WB". Variety. Retrieved 2008-08-14.
  24. ^ Michael Fleming (2001-04-02). "WB: Judd purr-fect as Cat". Variety. Retrieved 2008-08-14. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  25. ^ "Catwoman". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2008-08-15.
  26. ^ Tim Egan (1995-08-06). "Michelle Pfeiffer, Sensuous to Sensible". The New York Times.
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