Tim Burton is not interested in working with Disney again because of a bad experience making “Dumbo,” plus some issues with the Marvel multiverse.
The veteran Hollywood director made the statements this weekend at the Lumière Festival in Lyon, France, per Deadline.
Burton discussed the company’s current focus on the Marvel, Star Wars, and Pixar franchises which he doesn’t care to work on.
“It’s gotten to be very homogenized, very consolidated. There’s less room for different types of things,” the 64-year-old director explained.
When asked if he would ever consider directing a Marvel movie, the “Edward Scissorhands” creator said he wasn’t interested. “I can only deal with one universe, l can’t deal with a multi-universe,” Burton explained.
The filmmaker also told the crowd that he had a long relationship with Disney, starting with working as an animator there decades ago. He recalled being “hired and fired” several times and pointed to working on the Disney project “Dumbo” as a deciding factor for severing ties.
“My history is that I started out there. I was hired and fired, like, several times throughout my career there,” Burton said.
“The thing about ‘Dumbo’ is that’s why I think my days with Disney are done,” he continued. “I realized that I was ‘Dumbo,’ that I was working in this horrible big circus and I needed to escape.”
“That movie is quite autobiographical at a certain level,” Burton said.
Despite not wanting to work with Disney, the fantasy and horror master said he’s not keen on making movies independently. “Here’s the thing. Independent film, I don’t know. I’ve only worked mainly with studios so I never really understood what an independent film was,” he said.
Burton was given the Prix Lumière award at the festival, which he told the publication had “re-energized” him and his career.
“That’s why this festival is so great because it’s purely about cinema, rather than business or awards or anything else,” he said of the prize. “All studio executives should be forced to come here to reinvigorate them. To remind them of why they wanted to make movies in the first place. It should be part of their job.”
Burton was asked about his involvement in the remake of his 1988 classic, “Beetlejuice,” to which he replied, “nothing is out of the question.”
“I only know if I’m making a film when I’m actually on the set shooting. I try to go back to the root of everything. It springs from a seed and then it grows, rather than out of these statements,” he said, despite previously denying he had anything to do with it. “I am working on ideas and things but it’s all very early days. We’ll set how it goes. How’s that for a non answer?”
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