Ed Wood (1994)

The mostly true story of the legendary director of awful movies and his strange group of friends and actors.

Director:

Tim Burton

Writers:

Rudolph Grey (book), Scott Alexander,

Stars:

Johnny Depp, Martin Landau, Sarah Jessica Parker

Won 2 Oscars. Another 23 wins & 13 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Johnny Depp	...	Ed Wood
Martin Landau	...	Bela Lugosi
Sarah Jessica Parker	...	Dolores Fuller
Patricia Arquette	...	Kathy O'Hara
Jeffrey Jones	...	Criswell
G.D. Spradlin	...	Reverend Lemon
Vincent D'Onofrio	...	Orson Welles
Bill Murray	...	Bunny Breckinridge
Mike Starr	...	Georgie Weiss
Max Casella	...	Paul Marco
Brent Hinkley	...	Conrad Brooks
Lisa Marie	...	Vampira
George 'The Animal' Steele	...	Tor Johnson
Juliet Landau	...	Loretta King
Clive Rosengren	...	Ed Reynolds

Storyline

The life of 'Edward D. Wood Jr.' , hailed as the worst director (of Plan 9 from Outer Space, Glen or Glenda and Bride of the Monster) of all time.

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Plot Keywords:

director | friend | actor | 1950s | friendship | 

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Taglines:

Movies were his passion. Women were his inspiration. Angora sweaters were his weakness.

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Genres:

Biography | Comedy | Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for some strong language

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

28 September 1994 (USA)

Also Known As:

Ed Vud

Filming Locations:

California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$18,000,000 (estimated)

Gross:

$5,887,457 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Touchstone Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

127 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The sweeping music during the epilogue is based on the music from Glen or Glenda.

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Goofs

When Ed visits Bela Lugosi's home, sidewalk outside his house appears and disappears depending on whether camera is aimed at exterior of house or is depicting Lugosi's view from front door, indicating two different houses were used for scene.

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Quotes

[Bela, in his Dracula costume, hears the doorbell on Halloween night]
Bela Lugosi: Children! I love children.

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Crazy Credits

Immediately preceding the final credits, the film features a "What Ever Happened To" and/or "Where They Are Now" sequence about 'Edward D. Wood Jr.', Kathy Wood, Bela Lugosi, John Breckinridge, Dolores Fuller, Tor Johnson, Vampira, Paul Marco' , 'Conrad Brooks (I)', Tom Mason, and Criswell. The commentaries include such statements as: "Bela Lugosi never rose from the grave, but after appearing in 103 films, he is more famous than ever. Today, his movie memorabilia outsells Boris Karloff's by a substantial margin" and "Dolores Fuller, after leaving Ed, went on to a successful songwriting career. Her compositions include the Elvis Presley hits 'Rock-a-Hula Baby' and 'Do the Clam.'"

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Connections

References Glen or Glenda (1953)

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Soundtracks

"SERINGA"
Written by Jon Arkell

User Reviews

An Unlikely Masterpiece

I hear that ED WOOD took just $6,000,000 on its initial cinematic release in the USA. I'm not surprised. The extraordinary thing is that the film was financed and released at all. Had it not been for the prestige that Tim Burton had already earned from his previous projects, ED WOOD would no doubt have foundered long before the cameras began to roll. The result could have been another 1941 – but it wasn't. What came out of Tim Burton's fascination with the `Worst Director of All Time' was something very rich and strange – perhaps the most un-Hollywood Hollywood picture of the 90s.

I see two main themes in ED WOOD. The first is the dreadful fear that hovers over everyone who enters the creative arts – `Am I any good?' `Is my work any good?' `How do I know if it's any good?' `What if I think it's good, but everybody else thinks it's rubbish?' Artists use all kinds of strategies to deal with these fears – some become eccentric, others arrogant, others diffident. Without the right to fail, no artist is likely to take the sort of risk that sometimes, just sometimes, leads to great work. Tim Burton knew this.

Edward D Wood Jnr believed himself to be a creative artist. Oh, how he believed. But he still failed to create anything worthwhile. And this leads to what I believe to be the second theme of the movie, and the reason why I think it failed commercially.

Look at all the things Ed did right. He believed in himself. He followed his dream. He worked hard. He was an entrepreneur – he did his best to make others believe in his dream and help him to turn it into reality. In short, he did all the things that the self-help books, the daytime TV shows, the junk ballads and the feel-good movies tell us will give you success. Just wish upon a star, work all the hours there are to turn your vision into reality and you will succeed. Ed did all of these things. And still he failed. He died short of his 60th birthday, living in a crime-riddled apartment building, drunk, broke, supporting himself and his loyal wife Kathy by writing formula pornography and making sex instruction flicks on 8mm.

America doesn't want to hear this. Hollywood doesn't want to tell America this – that you can try and try and try and still get nothing but heartbreak. This is why ED WOOD is such an un-Hollywood film – and why it's one of the best Hollywood films of the 90s.