Johnny Depp dazzles as the title character Ed Wood, who overcomes his lack of experience and financial limitations, with a Pepsodent smile, and child-like enthusiasm, to break-into Hollywood with his directorial debut, Glen or Glenda (1953). Tim Burton seamlessly blends his own unique style into Ed Wood’s world of one-take filmmaking, eccentric characters, filtered optimism and unsinkable passion, in this enduring love letter to film aficionados. Captured in rich black and white that gives a timelessness to the all-star cast, it’s Martin Landau’s Academy Award winning performance as Bella Lugosi that anchors the film. Landau embodies the legendary horror star’s drug addicted slide down the backside of fame, who jumps at the career comeback opportunity Wood offers him. Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski crafted a script that embraces Wood’s world, rather than lampooning it, and Rick Baker won an Academy Award for Best Makeup. Don’t miss the chance to see Ed Wood’s low-budget Hollywood brought to life so convincingly, and projected on film – just the way he would’ve wanted it.
“When Tim Burton, director of the Batman movies, announced a project named Ed Wood, I assumed it would be some kind of a camp sendup, maybe a cross between The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Sunset Boulevard. I assumed wrong. What Burton has made is a film which celebrates Wood more than it mocks him, and which celebrates, too, the zany spirit of 1950s exploitation films – in which a great title, a has-been star and a lurid ad campaign were enough to get bookings for some of the oddest films ever made.” – Roger Ebert
Marc Edward Heuck discusses director Tim Burton on the New Beverly blog.
Kim Morgan discusses Ed Wood on the New Beverly blog.
