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Tim
Burton Characters
Tim Burton
characters range from sadistic
killers to quirky
candy makers to adventurous
salesmen
and their loyal lovable friends. The director of some of the most
enchanting fantasy movies of all time is as powerful onset as his
characters are on the big screen. He has written, co-written, produced
and/or directed dozens of movies and brought to life some of the
world’s most memorable characters.
CLICK HERE to read about the most memorable Tim Burton movies
Here
are portraits of five of the most memorable Tim
Burton characters, The Joker, Edward (from Big Fish), Ed Wood, Willy Wonka and Edward Scissorhands:
 The Joker
portrayed by Jack
Nicholson in the 1989 movie Batman (left)
Heath Ledger’s
inspired performance as the Joker in the 2008 movie The Dark Knight
shouldn’t be allowed to overshadow Jack Nicholson's Joker, which is just as
memorable – if somewhat less disturbing.
In Burton's Batman, the Joker is
a criminal called Jack
Napier, who
becomes horribly disfigured after falling into a pit of chemicals. He returns a few years later as the psychotic
and unpredictable Joker, ready to take on Gotham and bring Batman down.
This
Joker is less ruthless than the one famously portrayed by Ledger but is
equally destructive in his own way. He disfigures the face of his
girlfriend and murders Gotham residents with a poison that makes them
laugh themselves to death. And in the final scene, he reveals himself
as the murderer of Batman's parents, who he shot to death in an alley.
 Edward
portrayed by Ewan
McGregor (who plays him as a young man - left) and Albert Finney (who
plays him in his later years) in the 2003 movie Big Fish
Many
Tim Burton characters seem to have a way of perceiving the world that
has more to do with fantasy than reality. This is especially true for
retired traveling salesman, Edward, whose stories of his past are full
of fancy
and exaggeration.
In
the movie, we meet Edward at the end of a long and colorful life as he
recalls his most memorable experiences. They include an encounter
with a witch,
a friendship with a giant
and a stint working in a circus, all of which he gives a fairy tale twist.
Edward is a charming, sweet, loveable man and a gifted storyteller. His
stories live on through his son, Will,
who learns to embrace his dad’s gift in the last days of his dad’s life.
 Ed Wood
portrayed by Johnny Depp
in the 1994 movie Ed
Wood (left)
Tim’s
movie, Ed Wood
wasn’t inspired solely by a book or his own imagination but a real-life
man. Edward Davis Wood
lived from 1924 to 1978 and was the jack of all movies trades, the
master of none. He was a screenwriter, director, producer, actor,
author and editor, best remembered for the awful movies he made.
Tim’s portrayal of a young Ed is of a
delightfully delusional and eccentric man with
transvestite tendencies and an unwavering belief in his movie-making skills. The most touching storyline has to be
his relationship with horror star Béla
Lugosi, who he befriends in the last years of Béla's life.
Ed
is one of the most interesting of all the Tim Burton characters. He is
far more adored in death than he ever was in his
life, thanks in part to Burton and Depp, whose combined talents made
this movie a cult hit.
 Willy Wonka
portrayed by Johnny Depp in the 2005 movie Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
(left)
Many
Tim Burton characters are rejected for being different. But it is their
differences that make them special and beloved, - at least to me!
Enter
Willy Wonka, the founder of the Wonka
Candy Company and the greatest candy maker in the world.
The quirky and eccentric character was first conceived of by Roald Dahl in his
1964 book, Charlie and the
Chocolate Factory and famously brought to life on screen
in the 1971 movie, Willy
Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.
In Tim’s version of the movie, which is as weird as it is wonderful, Wonka is the son of a dentist,
who forbids him from eating candy and forces him to wear a large ugly
head brace. In rebellion, Wonka leaves home and opens a chocolate factory where he can eat as much as candy as he wants.
After
rival candymakers try to steal his secret recipes, Wonka shuts up the
factory and hires a team of little men called Oompa Loompas to help him
run it. But faced with his mortality, Wonka opens the factory one last
time to find a worthy heir, with outrageous results.
Edward
Scissorhands
portrayed by Johnny Depp in the 1990 movie Edward Scissorhands
(below)
The day I fell in love with one of the Tim Burton characters was the day I got to know the most
sensitive, compassionate and misunderstood of all his creations,
Edward Scissorhands. Edward is the sole human creator of a lonely
inventor who dies just before giving Edward a real pair of hands. So
Edward has a bunch of scissors for hands and it is in this state that a
kindly saleswoman called Peg
Boggs finds him and takes him in.
Edward’s naïve trusting nature endears him to Peg’s family, especially
her daughter, Kim.
But her neighbors turn on him eventually and drive him back to the
mansion where he was ‘born’ to live out his life in isolation.
CLICK HERE to read Tim Burton Sleepy Hollow
RETURN HOME from Tim
Burton Characters to read more about the top 100 fantasy
books and top 100 fantasy movies of all time
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