Tim Burton has received a star on The Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Tim Burton received a star on The Hollywood Walk of Fame
The 66-year-old filmmaker and artist - whose credits include 'Edward Scissorhands', 'Beetlejuice', 'Mars Attacks!', 'Batman', and 'Alice Through The Looking Glass' - finally received a sidewalk tribute on Tuesday (03.09.24).
At the ceremony, Burton was joined by the stars of his latest movie 'Beetlejuice Beetlejuice', Michael Keaton and Winona Ryder, and his actress girlfriend Monica Bellucci, 59.
In a speech, Keaton, 72, recalled Burton taking a chance on him and casting him as the titular superhero in 1989's 'Batman', a role he went on to reprise in 1992's 'Batman Returns'.
He shared: “He hands me a script and goes, ‘Tell me what you think.'
“This is after Beetlejuice. After that performance. After that type of movie. He says to the studio, ‘I want that guy.’ I’ll never understand this why anyone cared. The uproar…you would’ve thought we were being invaded. It was unbelievable. The press was going crazy. But he stood by me. The guts it took to stand by that decision will always be appreciated by me.”
The 'Jack Frost' star - who plays the titular role in the pair of 'Beetlejuice' movies - says Burton should be credited for making superhero movies so lucrative.
He continued: “What that [movie] spawned…there are a lot of people making a lot of money out there with their superhero movies because of his choice and his vision of what those movies could be, because he changed everything."
Despite his impact, Burton recently insisted he has no desire to make any more superhero films.
He told Variety: "At the moment, I would say no. I come at things from different points of view, so I would never say never to anything. But, at the moment, it’s not something I’d be interested in."
Burton went on to reveal making 'Batman' in 1988 was a very different experience to the way most comic book films are made these days because the shoot felt "experimental".
He explained to the publication: "I was lucky because at that time, the word ‘franchise’ didn’t exist. 'Batman' felt slightly experimental at the time …
"It deviated from what the perception [of a superhero movie] might be. So you didn’t hear that kind of studio feedback, and being in England [shooting the film], it was even further removed.
"We really just got to focus on the film and not really think about those things that now they think about even before you do it."
Burton walked away from the 'Batman' movies after making his 1992 sequel and he admits the tide was starting to turn while they were shooting the film.
He added: "I got reenergised by the whole thing [when I returned for the sequel]. And that was when we started hearing the word franchise and where the studio started going, ‘What’s the black stuff coming out of the Penguin’s mouth?’
"It was the first time the cold wind of that kind of thing came upon me'."
Burton came close to returning to superhero movies in the 1990s when he signed up to direct 'Superman Lives' which would have starred Nicolas Cage in the leading role, but the film was axed in 1998 and never made it into production.
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