Disney fired Tim Burton for being too dark, then Hollywood hired him for exactly that
In 1984 Disney let go a young animator whose short film about a boy reviving his dog seemed too frightening for children. Paul Reubens watched that same short and immediately wanted its director. Within five years Tim Burton had made Batman, among the biggest box-office hits ever.
Burton was born in Burbank, California, on 25 August 1958; his father worked for the city parks department and his mother later ran a cat-themed gift shop. A quiet child and indifferent student, he shot backyard films on 8 mm and in rough stop motion, adapting The Island of Doctor Moreau at 13. Dr. Seuss, Roald Dahl, Universal monster movies, Vincent Price and Ray Harryhausen's creatures shaped his taste. He studied character animation at CalArts until 1979, and his student short Stalk of the Celery Monster won him a Disney apprenticeship.
At Disney he contributed to The Fox and the Hound and Tron, though none of his concept art reached the screen. In 1982 he made Vincent, a six-minute stop-motion piece about a boy who imagines being Vincent Price, narrated by Price himself. A kung-fu Hansel and Gretel aired once on Halloween night in 1983 and was shelved so thoroughly that some doubted it existed. After Frankenweenie, the studio dismissed him.
Pee-wee's Big Adventure cost $8 million and earned over $40 million in North America, and it began his partnership with Oingo Boingo's Danny Elfman, who has scored all but three Burton features. Beetlejuice took $80 million on a small budget and won an Oscar for makeup. Casting the comic actor Michael Keaton as Batman provoked such fan anger that Warner shares dipped, but Burton wanted an ordinary man in a costume rather than a muscleman. Jack Nicholson's Joker reassured doubters, and the June 1989 release grossed over $400 million worldwide, steering later superhero films toward darker tones.
Burton has said he never followed comics because he could not tell which panel to read next, until The Killing Joke. Later came Edward Scissorhands, Ed Wood and episodes of Wednesday. Venice gave him a lifetime achievement Golden Lion in 2007.
Source: Tim Burton
