Fans of “The strange world of Jack” already know how every character in the movie died, but what few know is that the director of the movie is not Tim Burton.
Although audiences have always associated the director of “Beetlejuice,” “Batman,” “Sweeney Todd,” “Dumbo” and “Wednesday” with the Christmas horror classic, he had nothing to do with its production.
‘The Nightmare Before Christmas’: A Halloween and Christmas Classic
Let’s remember that the stop-motion animated film is about Jack Skellington, the pumpkin king who enters Christmas town and tries to bring this colorful holiday home to Halloweentown.
The film was released in 1993 and was a success. Additionally, it became a Christmas and Halloween classic, but even though Tim Burton’s name is in the title, he only served as a producer.
- Tim Burton directed the movie ‘Big Eyes’, which you can watch for free on ViX.
Tim Burton didn’t direct ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas’
The story of “The Nightmare Before Christmas” dates back long before Tim Burton was a well-known director when he started working at Disney’s animation studios in 1982.
That year, Burton wrote a poem and drew a sketch of the characters Jack and Zero and suggested that Disney adapt it to the screen, but because he was still unfamiliar with the medium and the story was somewhat odd, the idea stuck. on the shelf..
Once Burton became famous with films like “Batman” (1989) and “Edward Scissorhands” (1990) the studio decided to salvage his poem to turn it into an animated film.
But by then Burton was already busy directing “Batman Returns” and found the frame-by-frame animation process too slow and tedious, so they turned to another director to take on the project.
The chosen one was Henry Selick, who had just made his debut in the director’s chair. After this film, he was responsible for other projects such as ‘James and the Giant Peach’, ‘Monkeybone’, ‘Coraline’ and Netflix’s ‘Wendell & Wild’.
The director of “The Nightmare Before Christmas” unfairly credits Tim Burton
Although Tim Burton remained as a producer on the film, his name appearing in the title was a late inclusion, coming just three weeks before release.
New characters were even created and the story expanded far beyond Tim Burton’s original poem, thanks to screenwriter Caroline Thompson and input from director Henry Selick.
Regarding Tim Burton’s small involvement and eventual recognition in the film, Henry Selick spoke to the ‘AV Club’ on October 31, 2022 and said it seemed unfair that he was given so much credit.
Selick explained that Burton created a great story with “The Nightmare Before Christmas” and designed the main characters, but ultimately it was he and his team who made the movie happen.
The director said that Burton only appeared in the studio a few times and at the end of production to do the final edits. He also commented that composer Danny Elfman congratulated him for believing the film to be his creation.
However, Selick has no malice or is against collaborating and adapting someone else’s story. For example, ‘Coraline’ is based on a play by Neil Gaiman and his recent film ‘Wendell & Wild’ was the brainchild of Jordan Peele and Keegan-Michael Key.
Source: univision
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