Ed Wood (1994)

Ambitious but troubled movie director Edward D. Wood Jr. tries his best to fulfill his dreams, despite his lack of talent.

Director:

Tim Burton

Writers:

Rudolph Grey (book), Scott Alexander

Stars:

Johnny Depp, Martin Landau, Sarah Jessica Parker

Won 2 Oscars. Another 23 wins & 28 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

Because of his eccentric habits and bafflingly strange films, director Edward D. Wood Jr. is a Hollywood outcast. Nevertheless, with the help of the formerly famous Bela Lugosi and a devoted cast and crew of show-business misfits who believe in Ed's off-kilter vision, the filmmaker is able to bring his oversize dreams to cinematic life. Despite a lack of critical or commercial success, Ed and his friends manage to create an oddly endearing series of extremely low-budget films.

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Plot Keywords:

director | friend | film director | misfit | chiropractor | 

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Taglines:

When it came to making bad movies, Ed Wood was the best.

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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:

7 October 1994 (USA)

Also Known As:

Ed Vud

Filming Locations:

California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$18,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$1,900,000, 2 October 1994

Gross USA:

$5,887,457

Company Credits

Production Co:

Touchstone Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

127 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The TV appearance of Bela Lugosi is based on his appearance on The Milton Berle Show (1948) (the Milton Berle show) in September of 1949. While Lugosi had his lines memorized, Berle's ad-libbing completely threw him. This took place years before Wood and Lugosi ever met.

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Goofs

When Bela's morphine addiction becomes apparent, he starts rolling down and buttoning his sleeves so he can put his coat on. He only rolls down the right cuff. The next time the camera is on him, his left sleeve is rolled down, buttoned, and his coat is on. There was not enough time between to accomplish this task.

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Quotes

Bela Lugosi: [about to start filming at night] "All right, lets shoot this fucker!"

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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, Maila Nurmi, Paul Marco' , Conrad Brooks, 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 The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)

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Soundtracks

DESOLATE VILLAGE
Written by Bruce Campbell

User Reviews

Pull the string?!?!

If you ever seen Samurai Cop,The Room or even Dolemite you'll know all about cringe-worthy entertainment. These movies are so outrageously bad that you'll enjoy them on many levels and will be quoting them probably for the rest of your life, more so than well- respected movies. But behind every disaster is a director with heart, and a cast in need of a paycheck.

Call it irony, but Tim Burton assembled a fine cast of character actors and made a film about the worst director of all time and in the process spent more money than Ed Wood could ever dream of. Like Dolly Parton once said, "it costs a lot of money to look this cheap". Say what you want about Ed Wood, but 50 years after his monstrosities were produced, people are still watching them. I doubt you could guarantee this longevity for The Hobbit or any of the current 40 million films that star Benadryl Cabbagepatch.

Martin Landau carried away an Academy Award, as Best Supporting Actor, as did Rick Baker for his make up effects, but, even with these selling points, audiences never gave it a chance, which is a real shame because the movie needs to be seen to be believed, and for all aspiring or struggling filmmakers out there you will find many familiar problems between yourselves and Mr. Wood, regardless of your talent.

Chronicling the events of the mid-Fifties, through the production of three of Wood's classic disasters, Tim Burton's biopic achieves the impossible - we side with Ed, we identify with him, we wish him and his eccentric gaggle of pals only success and happiness in his cozy little world of half-baked ideas and misguided optimism. Success eluded Wood, but he achieved a greater fame and lasting appeal beyond his short life and this eccentric movie, which will make you faceplam for most of its running time, is our portal into Wood's oddball mind.

Alternately hilarious and touching, our sympathies lie with Wood and his ever loyal, declining co-star Bela Lugosi (a barely recognizable Martin Landau). Other characters pop up, including the hairy-as-hell Tor Johnson (George 'The Animal' Steele), wannabe transsexual Bunny Breckinridge (Bill Murray), a very, very buxom Elvira-type (Lisa Marie), Criswell - the most famous predictor in the land (Jeffrey Jones), and a beleaguered Orson Welles (Vincent D'Onofrio) - an atypical assortment of rejects, failures and weirdos.

Burton is inclined to produce a flop, when he indulges too much. Just as the audiences stayed away from Mars Attacks!, they never even considered Ed Wood, because of the black-and-white photography, which was a truly inspired decision. One cannot imagine how much the movie's legitimacy would have been lessened if it was in color. I must assure you that, no matter how offbeat and strange it looks, this film is an absolute classic that begs to be seen. It may not be to everyone's taste, but it has a wicked sense of humor and is sure to have you in stitches.