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Stalk of the Celery Monster (1979) More at IMDbPro »

2 items from 2013

14 February 2013 7:05 AM, PST | Obsessed with Film | See recent Obsessed with Film news »

Once a director of glorious creative endeavor, there is arguably no filmmaker working today who polarises opinion like Tim Burton. Renowed for his visually appealing, quirky, offbeat, gothically-aligned films – and for his frequent collaborations with both Johnny Deep and his wife, Helena Bonham Carter – Tim Burton has made an admirable 16 pictures over the course of 27 years.

His journey as a feature filmmaker started with Pee-wee’s Big Adventure back in 1985, of course, but as a younger man, his passion for character animation culminated in his short film Stalk of the Celery Monster – one which ran at just 1.5 minutes and was drawn laboriously in pencil. The film was inspired enough to get him noticed, and Burton was offered an apprenticeship at Walt Disney Studios. The rest is history.

In the minds of many movie-goers, Tim Burton’s name has become increasingly synonymous with “has been,” though many still admire him for his deeply personal, »

- T.J. Barnard

2 February 2013 1:00 PM, PST | GeekTyrant | See recent GeekTyrant news »

Here's a great little video from the 1980s featuring a young Tim Burton on the Disney studio lot being harassed by by future Pixar movie director and Disney Executive John Lasseter. The look on Burton's face is hilarious, he has no idea what is going on, he's just got the dumbfounded look.

Burton started his career as an animator at Disney working on film projects such as The Fox and the Hound and Tron. He eventually started making his own short films, both animated and live-action. In 1984 he ended up making his Frankenweenie short which ended up getting him fired, because it was too dark and twisted for the studio. As you know years later he ended up turning it into a feature film for the same studio that fired him for it. 

I've also included an animated short from the director that he made shortly after he graduated from Cal Arts. »

- Joey Paur

2 items from 2013