Ed Wood: A Celebration of an Outsider

Ed Wood: Boy, Mr. Lugosi, you must lead such an exciting life! When is your next picture coming out?

Bela Lugosi: I have no next picture.

Ed Wood: You gotta be joking, a great star like you? You must have dozens of them lined up!

Bela Lugosi: Back in the old days, yes... Now, no one gives two fucks for Bela.

Ed Wood: But you're a big star!

Bela Lugosi: No more. I haven't worked in four years. This business, this town, it chews you up, then spits you out. [pauses] I'm just an ex-boogeyman

Ed Wood is one of the most famous and recognized films directed and produced by Tim Burton. This movie was launched firstly in 1994 and it concerns the period in Wood's life when he made his best-known films as well as his relationship with actor Bela Lugosi, played by Martin Landau. Sarah Jessica Parker, Patricia Arquette, Jeffrey Jones, Lisa Marie, and Bill Murray are among the supporting cast. After having issues with what was his next mooted project Mary Reilly, Burton jumped ship straight into Ed Wood and shot directly from the first draft completed script, deciding that the movie would be more character than style driven. Not a hardcore biography, the movie sheds a rather favourable light onto its main characters, something Burton strived for as he felt they had been ridiculed enough in the past.

The style of the movie itself is not exactly in line with Burton's previous directorial efforts. Filmed in black and white, it stays away from the gothic splendour of the Batman movies and fits exactly into the 50s style that is required. When describing the film's accuracy, Burton explained, "it's not like a completely hardcore realistic biopic. In doing a biopic you can't help but get inside the person's spirit a little bit, so for me, some of the film is trying to be through Ed a little bit. So it's got an overly optimistic quality to it."

Burton acknowledged that he probably portrayed Wood and his crew in an exaggeratedly sympathetic way, stating he did not want to ridicule people who had already been ridiculed for a good deal of their life. Burton decided not to depict the darker side of Wood's life because his letters never alluded to this aspect and remained upbeat. To this end, Burton wanted to make the film through Wood's eyes. He said in an interview, "I've never seen anything like them, the kind of bad poetry and redundancy– saying in, like, five sentences what it would take most normal people one. Yet still there is a sincerity to them that is very unusual, and I always found that somewhat touching; it gives them a surreal, weirdly heartfelt feeling."