Tim Burton was on a roll in the 1990s, but his Oscar-winning cult classic is like an instruction manual for what great biopics should be. Showing his unique style at an early age, Burton was scooped up by Disney where he spent the 1980s as an animation apprentice. Soon he was working on his own projects, and feature films followed.
Burton’s big-screen directorial debut came with 1985’s Pee-wee’s Big Adventure, and he would follow that hit with a string of major successes throughout the late 1980s and early ’90s. Even if he was making an adaptation, like Batman, Tim Burton’s films had an expressionistic style that was based on his own quirky and offbeat personality.
In the middle of the ’90s, Burton directed a biopic about one of Hollywood’s most notorious directors. While the film wasn’t initially a success, the biopic has gone on to become a bona fide cult classic. What’s more, the 1994 film stands as a testament to what makes a great biopic, and few films have rivaled its quality.
Tim Burton’s Ed Wood Is The Perfect Biopic
It Captures Its Subject Without Losing Its Cinematic Qualities
Making a movie about one of Hollywood’s worst directors was an ambitious project, but no filmmaker was better suited than Tim Burton. 1994’s Ed Wood told the story of the director of films like Plan 9 From Outer Space and Glen or Glenda, but it never got too bogged down in pesky details.
Wood’s real story was somewhat sad, but the film that bears his name finds a way to put a fun spin on the B-movie auteur’s exploits. A straightforward story would have been boring, and many biopic movies suffer because they don’t limit their scope. Ed Wood is about a short period in his life, which helps it stay focused.
The movie also invests time in fleshing out the supporting characters, so that it isn’t exclusively focused on Ed Wood and his dreams. Martin Landau’s turn as Bela Lugosi scored him an Oscar, and the movie did justice to the flawed and complex Dracula star. Even if the real-life figure was only minor, they seem larger-than-life in Burton’s movie.
Ed Wood was a box office bomb that only earned $5 million against an $18 million budget (via Box Office Mojo).
Larger-than-life best summarizes Ed Wood, and it gets the audience to care by making the director’s life bombastic and cinematic. Picking a subject for a biopic isn’t easy, and it takes a deft director to give the story some flair. Burton’s particular brand of B-movie-inspired style gelled neatly with Wood’s, and it was a match made in movie heaven.
Ed Wood Is Tim Burton’s Best ‘90s Movie
It Exemplifies All The Best Things The Director Has To Offer
The 1990s were undoubtedly the heyday for Tim Burton, and Ed Wood is the pinnacle of his filmography from that period. While Edward Scissorhands might have more of Burton’s signature touches, Ed Wood is the superior film because it nails a pretty tough genre to get right. Not only does the movie capture its subject, but it exemplifies Burton’s style.
Not only does the movie capture its subject, but it exemplifies Burton’s style.
Within the constraints of the biopic framework, Burton is able to put enough of himself that the project is still recognizably his. He brings the world of 1950s Los Angeles into focus, and he makes the mundane feel exaggerated. Ed Wood isn’t one of Tim Burton‘s most popular movies, but it’s certainly one of his most complete works.
