Conversations with Vincent Burton held a fascination with
Vincent Price films since his childhood. He first worked with the actor on the 1982 short film
Vincent, and a second collaboration on the 1983 television film
Hansel and Gretel . During the production of
Edward Scissorhands (1990), in which Price portrayed the inventor, Burton conceived the idea of making an independent
documentary film on the actor, using the
working title Conversations with Vincent. With self-financing from his own production company, Burton shot the film in black-and-white over a three-day period at the Vincent Price Gallery in
East Los Angeles College in April 1991. In addition to Price,
Roger Corman and
Samuel Z. Arkoff were interviewed.
Conversations with Vincent was stalled when Burton went to work on
Batman Returns (1992), but the project was ultimately abandoned and remains unfinished. who purchased the
film rights in August 1991. Carolco hoped Burton would start production in 1992, but he chose to work on
The Nightmare Before Christmas and
Ed Wood for
Touchstone Pictures. The option on the film rights eventually expired, and Burton dropped out.
Francis Ford Coppola later developed the property in the late 1990s. In June 2000,
Sony Pictures Entertainment started on a different project with
Kirk Wong attached to direct. By February 2001, a script had been written by Lisa Addario and Joey Syracuse for Sony's
Columbia Pictures. The release of
The Seduction of Ingmar Bergman, a radio musical by Sparks, in August 2009, was informed by the six years the band spent trying to get their
Mai, the Psychic Girl produced. The album generated new interest, and gained a "second wind", vocalist
Russell Mael explained. "The music is all ready and we are hoping that this still might see the light of day."
Jurassic Park Before
Michael Crichton's novel
Jurassic Park was published, Hollywood studios were highly interested in purchasing the
film rights. This included Warner Bros. and Burton, Sony Pictures Entertainment and
Richard Donner, and
20th Century Fox and
Joe Dante.
Universal Pictures acquired the rights in May 1990 for
Steven Spielberg, resulting in the
1993 film adaptation.
Mary Reilly Producers
Jon Peters and
Peter Guber acquired the film rights to
Mary Reilly in 1989, and optioned them for Warner Bros. with
Roman Polanski as director. He intended to start filming in January 1994, after he completed
Ed Wood, but Burton dropped out in May 1993 over his anger against Guber for putting
Ed Wood in turnaround.
Stephen Frears was TriStar's first choice to replace Burton, and Di Novi was fired and replaced with
Ned Tanen. The film ended up becoming the critically and commercially unsuccessful
Mary Reilly in 1996, starring
Julia Roberts and
John Malkovich.
Catwoman Batman Returns would be the last film in the Warner Bros.
Batman film series that featured Burton and
Michael Keaton as director and leading actor. With
Batman Forever, Warner Bros. decided to go in a "lighter" direction to be more mainstream in the process of a
family film. Burton had no interest in returning to direct a sequel, but was credited as producer. With Warner Bros. moving on development for
Batman Forever in June 1993, a
Catwoman spin-off was announced.
Michelle Pfeiffer was to reprise her role, with the character not to appear in
Forever because of her own spin-off. Burton became attached as director, while producer Denise Di Novi and writer Daniel Waters also returned. In January 1994, Burton was unsure of his plans to direct
Catwoman or an adaptation of "
The Fall of the House of Usher". On June 16, 1995, Waters turned in his
Catwoman script to Warner Bros., the same day
Batman Forever was released. Burton was still being courted to direct. Waters joked, "Turning it in the day
Batman Forever opened may not have been my best logistical move, in that it's the celebration of the fun-for-the-whole-family Batman.
Catwoman is definitely not a fun-for-the-whole-family script." In an August 1995 interview, Pfeiffer re-iterated her interest in the spin-off, but explained her priorities would be challenged as a mother and commitments to other projects. The film labored in
development hell for years, with Pfeiffer replaced by
Ashley Judd. The film ended up becoming the critically panned
Catwoman (2004), starring
Halle Berry.
Batman Continues During the early development of the cancelled
Catwoman spin-off, Burton expressed his interest in directing the third installment of the
Batman film series that began with
Batman in 1989, which would have been titled
Batman Continues. But Warner Bros. was not interested in
Tim Burton's return as director. Burton noted he was unsure about returning to direct, writing: "I don't think Warner Bros. wanted me to direct a third
Batman. I even said that to them." Burton and Warner Bros. mutually agreed to part ways, though Burton would stay on as producer with
Peter MacGregor-Scott. Warner Bros. was not happy with merchandise sales based on the second movie, they decided to change him and Burton put
Joel Schumacher as the director of the third installment, leading to the release of
Batman Forever, in which Burton was given top-billing producer credit, without being able to contribute ideas; only hiring director and screenplayers.
Cabin Boy In 1993, Burton was set to direct
Cabin Boy, but left to direct
Ed Wood.
Adam Resnick eventually directed the 1994 film, with Burton in a producer role.
Dennis the Menace When Warner Bros. Pictures agreed to produce
Dennis the Menace in 1993, Production President
Terry Semel wanted Burton to direct. The executive producer Ernest Chambers refused and instead hired
John Hughes as a writer and producer based on his work with the
Home Alone films.
The Fall of the House of Usher In 1994, Burton was close to directing an adaptation of the
Edgar Allan Poe short story "
The Fall of the House of Usher" with a screenplay by Jonathan Gems; he chose to direct
Mars Attacks! instead.
Go Baby Go Burton considered directing
Go Baby Go, a beach film in the style of filmmaker
Russ Meyer, with a screenplay by Jonathan Gems. The screenplay was about three
go-go dancers who after exposed to toxic chemicals, become 50 feet tall and rampage across several beaches in California. Burton and Gems left the project after they learned
HBO was
remaking Attack of the 50 Foot Woman. Burton would go on to direct
Mars Attacks! which was written by Gems.
Weird Tales television series In 1995, Burton was reportedly set to collaborate with directors
Oliver Stone and
Francis Ford Coppola on an
anthology series for
HBO based on
Weird Tales, a collection of horror short stories written by the likes of
H. P. Lovecraft,
Ray Bradbury and
Robert Bloch. Burton was to executive produce and direct one of three episodes in a 90-minute
pilot.
Dinosaurs Attack! Around 1995, writer Jonathan Gems wrote a screenplay for a film adaptation of
Dinosaurs Attack!, with Burton as director. However, both Burton and Gems came to the conclusion that the project was too similar to
Jurassic Park.
Superman Lives After
Kevin Smith had been hired to rewrite a script called
Superman Reborn, he suggested Burton to direct. It was Smith who convinced Warner Bros. to change the title to
Superman Lives. Burton signed on with a
pay-or-play contract of $5 million and Warner Bros. set a theatrical release date for the summer of 1998, the 60th anniversary of the character's debut in
Action Comics.
Nicolas Cage was signed on to play Superman, with a $20 million pay-or-play contract, believing he could "reconceive the character". Burton explained Cage's casting would be "the first time you would believe that nobody could recognize Clark Kent as Superman, he [Cage] could physically change his persona."
Kevin Spacey was approached for the role of
Lex Luthor, a role also considered for
Jim Carrey (who portrayed
Riddler in
Batman Forever) and
Gary Oldman (who would portray
Jim Gordon in
The Dark Knight trilogy).
Sandra Bullock,
Courteney Cox and
Julianne Moore had been approached for Lois Lane, while
Chris Rock was cast as
Jimmy Olsen. Burton chose
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania as his primary filming location for
Metropolis, while start dates for filming were pushed back. Warner Bros. ordered another rewrite from
Dan Gilroy, delayed the film and ultimately put it on hold in April 1998. Burton then left to direct
Sleepy Hollow.
Goosebumps When
the Goosebumps film was in early production and was going to be made by
20th Century Fox and
DreamWorks, Burton was originally going to produce it in 1998, with the option to direct. However, the project fell through and was later sold to
Sony Pictures Entertainment, resulting in the
2015 film directed by
Rob Letterman and composed by Tim's friend
Danny Elfman.
X: The Man with the X-ray Eyes Burton developed a script for a remake of the 1963 science fiction B-film
X: The Man with the X-ray Eyes with writer Bryan Goluboff, but it went unproduced.
Black Sunday Around this time, Burton considered directing a remake of the 1960 Italian horror film
Black Sunday. ==2000s==