- At the end of Beetlejuice (1988), Beetlejuice metamorphoses into a bizarre creature with a merry-go-round on his head. On the top of this merry-go-round is a smiling skull which became Jack Skellington in The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993). The latter movie had been a pet project of Burton's since his days as an animator at Disney.
- Nearly everywhere he goes, he carries a pocket-size sketchbook and a small watercolor kit.
- Johnny Depp is a godfather of his son Billy Ray Burton.
- In October 2001, he began his relationship with actress Helena Bonham Carter, whom he met while filming Planet of the Apes (2001), and she has appeared in all of his subsequent films. They live in adjoining houses with a hallway that connects the two homes, they have a son, Billy-Ray Burton, born on October 4, 2003, and a girl, Nell Burton, born on December 15, 2007.
- He has a phobia of chimpanzees.
- Usually dresses in black, because he doesn't like spending too much time matching colors.
- Steven Spielberg considered him to direct Gremlins (1984). He decided against it, because at the time, Burton had never directed a full-feature length movie.
- Received a lifelong ban from any and all Comic Con events after the release of his Batman (1989) film, due to it having some 'fundamental' deviations from the canon. He reveals this on a DVD commentary track for the film.
- His childhood dream was to be in a monster costume wrecking Tokyo but since he couldn't be Godzilla he decided to be an animator.
- Credits his former fiancée, Lisa Marie, as his muse. She is often in his projects (Ed Wood (1994), Mars Attacks! (1996), Sleepy Hollow (1999), The World of Stainboy (2000), Planet of the Apes (2001)) or is paid homage in them (she was the inspiration for The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)'s Sally).
- Was at one point going to direct the movie After Hours (1985), but then he graciously walked off the project after he was told by the producers that Martin Scorsese wanted to direct the film instead.
- Bought the rights to a Topps trading card series with the intention of turning it into a film, but couldn't decide between calling it "Dinosaurs Attack!" and "Mars Attacks!". Jurassic Park (1993) then came out, and to avoid comparison, he made it as Mars Attacks! (1996) instead, but then it faced comparison to Independence Day (1996).
- Is a "Bollywood" fan.
- Was at one point attached to direct A Series of Unfortunate Events (2004), with Johnny Depp playing Count Olaf and Glenn Close playing Aunt Josephine.
- Among his cinematic influences are Mario Bava, Vincent Price, Roger Corman and Barbara Steele whom he homaged in Sleepy Hollow (1999).
- His then-partner Helena Bonham Carter inadvertently diagnosed him with Asperger's syndrome. While researching for a role about autism, she found several typical traits shared by him. Although he had no official diagnosis, he believes that he at least falls under the autism spectrum. His assumptions were strongly supported after he watched a documentary about autism.
- He has an interest in clowns, and his films will often include them or make reference to them.
- He once said he never remembers his dreams, apart from five recurring dreams, one of them involving the girl he was in love with when he was a teenager and another involving his parents' bedroom.
- His favorite films are Dracula A.D. 1972 (1972), The Wicker Man (1973), The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1973), The War of the Gargantuas (1966), and The Omega Man (1971).
- Was slated to direct The Fly (1986) with Michael Keaton in the lead role, but he backed out and David Cronenberg took over.
- Was considered to direct X-Men (2000).
- Was voted the 49th Greatest Director of all time by Entertainment Weekly, being the youngest director on this list of 50.
- Was attached to direct the now cancelled 'Superman Lives' film written by Kevin Smith.
- Was originally set to direct Spawn (1997).
- He was offered a chance to direct How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000), but could not due to a conflict with another project he was working on at the time. His version would've been darker, and the Grinch would've been a more despicable character.
- He named Ed Wood (1994) as his favourite film of his own.
- Was working on a documentary about Vincent Price, called "Conversations with Vincent". After Price's death in 1993 he shelved the project and it has never been completed.
- Was originally set to do a re-make of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) in the early 1980s.
- Has directed 2 actors in Oscar-nominated performances: Martin Landau (Best Supporting Actor, Ed Wood (1994)) and Johnny Depp (Best Actor, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007)). Landau won the Oscar for his performance.
- Has his look-alike puppet in the French show Les Guignols de l'info (1988).
- He was offered the chance to direct Dick Tracy (1990), but he turned it down in order to focus on Edward Scissorhands (1990).
- Engaged to Lisa Marie from 1992-2001.
- He was hired as the director of the failed Superman (1997) movie.
- He owns some "Big Eyes" paintings by Margaret Keane. One of them depicts Helena Bonham Carter with their son Billy Burton and as a surprise Margaret drew Tim's face in the clouds, according to the book "Big Eyes: The Film, The Art".
- Grew up in Burbank on Evergreen Street, and his family lived in the 2000 block, near Valhalla Cemetary. Attended Providencia Elementary School in Burbank, California.
- Was interested in directing Watchmen with Johnny Depp playing The Comedian. But, he began work on Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007) and Alice in Wonderland (2010), and passed on the offer.
- Younger brother Daniel Burton is also an artist.
- Played water polo and swam for Burbank High School in California.
- Ranked #6 on Tropopkin's Top 25 Most Intriguing People [Issue #100].
- On May 20, 2017, a Tim Burton-themed bar named Beetle House LA opened in Hollywood, California.
- Is a big fan of Italian director Mario Bava. He once said he would like to remake Bava's classic Black Sunday (1960) with his former partner Lisa Marie. He also appeared in two documentaries about Bava.
- Four of his films won an Academy Award for Best Art Direction, them being Batman (1989), Sleepy Hollow (1999), Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007), and Alice in Wonderland (2010).
- He was originally set to direct The Addams Family (1991). It was reported that he would direct a 3D stop motion animation adaptation, which was confirmed by Christopher Meledandri but the project was scrapped on July 17, 2013.
- Lives in Ojai (California) and New York.
- Is a big fan of "nudie" director Russ Meyer.
- After seeing his performance as 'Big Boy' Caprice in Dick Tracy (1990), he always kept Al Pacino in mind to cast as a villain in a future "Batman" installment. However, after Batman Returns (1992), Burton moved on from the franchise.
- As of 2009, every feature film he has directed has been nominated for some sort of Academy Award, with the exceptions of Pee-wee's Big Adventure (1985), Mars Attacks! (1996) and Planet of the Apes (2001).
- He was thirty-one when Batman (1989) was released, making him the youngest person ever to direct a Batman film.
- From November 22, 2009, to April 26, 2010, Burton had a retrospective at the MoMA in New York with over 700 "drawings, paintings, photographs, storyboards, moving-image works, puppets, maquettes, costumes and cinematic ephemera", including many from the filmmaker's personal collection. The show also included his amateur and student films, music videos, commercials and digital slide shows, as well as a complete set of features and shorts.
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content