One thing that can be said of Tim Burton is his movie making style is unique and under no circumstances does he follow the crowd.A young Burton, who admits he had an imaginative childhood, found home life and school difficult but once high school was over he won a scholarship to California's Institute of the Arts where he studied animation.He began his career in stop motion animation, a genre he would later return to, with Vincent, a six minute short, in 1982.He followed this up with Frankenweenie about a young boy Victor Frankenstein who brings his dog back to life after it is hit by a car.His first feature movie came in 1988 with Beetlejuice which starred Michael Keaton and Geena Davis and followed two ghosts Adam and Barbara, who seek help from bio-exorcist Beetlejuice to remove the new owners from their home.Made on a very modest $11m budget it went on to gross $73 million, taking $32 million in it's first two weeks.

The film also kicked of Tim Burton's big screen adaptation with death and the macabre subject matter for which he is now famed.

Just a year later he received his first big budget movie, Batman. But the production was not with out problems as Burton and the film's producers clashed over the casting of the lead role.

But Burton got his man, casting Michael Keaton, and the film went on to gross $400 million worldwide, backed by the biggest marketing and merchandising campaign in film history at the time.

In 1990 he went back to a smaller budget movie Edward Scissorhands this film was to kick off Hollywood's most successful partnership with leading man Johnny Depp.

But Depp, who was a television actor at the time, was not first choice for the role as Twentieth Century Fox demanded Tom Cruise, but Burton found him difficult to work with.

With Depp on board the film grossed over $56 million and won an Oscar for Best Make-Up and Johnny Depp received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor in a Motion Picture - Comedy/Musical.

Burton went on to film Batman Returns in 1992 and teamed up with Depp in 1994 for Ed Wood, which was to be the poorest box office performance for any of their collaborations.

2001 brought Burton another blockbuster with sci-fi movie Planet of the Apes. Starring Mark Wahlberg the film follows an astronaut who crash-lands on a planet where humans have been enslaved by apes.

However the film was met poorly by the critics yet it went on to gross almost $360 million at the global box office.

Burton was well known by know for his gothic and macabre movies but 2003's fantasy Big Fish was a departure from the norm for the director.

The film received four Golden Globe nominations, including Best Picture in the musical/comedy genre, and Danny Elfman was nominated for an Oscar for his score.

Burton's next three movies were to be collaborations with actor Johnny Depp.

In 2005 they released Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, based on the Roald Dahl novel with Depp as Willy Wonka.

The film was a critical and commercial success, with British actor Freddie Highmore making a name for himself as Charlie Bucket.

Later the same year Burton went back to his stop motion animation roots with Corpse Bride.

Depp led the all star cast voicing Victor who accidentally marries a corpse and finds himself amongst the dead.

Burton/Depp's latest project is Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, and adaptation of Stephen Sondheim's hit musical.

The movie has been met well critically and has already won two Golden Globes for Best Motion Picture - Musical/Comedy and Best Actor in a Musical/Comedy for Johnny Depp.

Depp has also received a Best Actor nomination for his performance but both Burton and the film itself missed out.

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is released 25th January.

FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw

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