Tim Burtom

to Tim Burton
Tim Burton was raised in Burbank, California. He spent most of his childhood as a recluse, drawing cartoons and watching oldmovies (he was especially fond of films with Vincent Price). When he was in the ninth grade, his artistic talent was recognized by a local garbage company when he won a prize for an anti-litter posterhe designed. The company placed this poster on all of their garbage trucks for a year. After graduation from high school, he attended California Institute of the Arts. Like so many others whograduated from that school, Burton's first job was as an animator for Disney. He worked on such films as Tod y Toby (1981) and Taron y el caldero mágico (1985), but had some creative differences from that ofhis colleagues. Nevertheless, Disney recognized his talent, and gave him the green light to make Vincent (1982), an animated short about a boy who wanted to be just like Vincent Price. Narrated byPrice himself, the short was a critical success and won several awards. Burton made a few other short films, including his first live-action film, Frankenweenie (1984). A half-hour long twist on the taleof Frankenstein, it was deemed inappropriate for children and wasn't released. But actor Paul Reubens (aka Pee-Wee Herman) saw Frankenweenie (1984), and believed that Burton would be the right man todirect him in his first full-length feature film, La gran aventura de Pee-wee (1985). The film was a surprise success, and Burton instantly became popular. However, many of the scripts that wereoffered to him after this were essentially just spin-offs of the film, and Burton wanted to do something new. For three years, he made no more films, until he was presented with the script for Bitelchus(1988). The script was wild and wasn't really about anything, but was filled with such artistic and quirky opportunities, Burton couldn't say no. Bitelchus (1988) was another big hit, and Burton's...