Ed Wood
Movies were his passion. Women were his inspiration. Angora sweaters were his weakness.
Ed Wood (1994)
![Watch film Ed Wood — Ed Wood (1994) Theatrical Trailer 1 [4K] [FTD-1037]](https://www.acmodasi.in/amdb/images/posters/a/u/ed-wood-1994-djAuG.webp)
Production
Budget
$18 000 000
Revenue
$5 887 457
Director
Scenario
Composer
Producer
Actors
Johnny Depp
Ed Wood
Martin Landau
Bela Lugosi
Sarah Jessica Parker
Dolores Fuller
Patricia Arquette
Kathy O'Hara
Jeffrey Jones
Criswell
G. D. Spradlin
Reverend Lemon
Vincent D'Onofrio
Orson Welles
Bill Murray
Bunny Breckinridge
Short description
Ed Wood follows an aspiring filmmaker in 1950s Hollywood who pursues his ambitions despite having no formal training and no real gift for directing. Surrounded by an unusual circle of collaborators, he turns out one low-budget horror and science-fiction picture after another. A turning point comes when he befriends Bela Lugosi, the aging star once identified with Dracula, and sets out to build a project around him. The premise rests on the gap between Wood's boundless enthusiasm and the dismissive response his films meet.
Tim Burton directed, working from a screenplay by Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski. The film is the eighth of the twenty-two features Burton has directed, arriving between Batman Returns and Mars Attacks! Johnny Depp plays Wood, with Martin Landau as Lugosi, Sarah Jessica Parker as Dolores Fuller, Patricia Arquette as Kathy O'Hara, Jeffrey Jones as Criswell and G. D. Spradlin as Reverend Lemon. Burton also produced alongside Denise Di Novi and Michael Flynn, and the production credits include Touchstone Pictures with Tim Burton Productions and Di Novi Pictures.
Released in September 1994, the film had a budget of 18 million USD and took about 6 million USD worldwide, a weak return for a studio release. Audiences rate it highly: 7.8/10 on IMDb from 191,000 votes and 7.5/10 on TMDB from 2,591 votes. Critics were more enthusiastic still, at 8.1/10 across 74 reviews, a rare case of press scores exceeding viewer scores.
What's left behind the scenes
- The film is based on Rudolph Grey's book "Nightmare of Ecstasy." (Rudolph Grey, Nightmare of Ecstasy).
- According to the film, Ed Wood met Lugosi, but in reality, the idea of using Lugosi in Wood's films belonged to writer Alex Gordon, who introduced the director to the actor.
- To achieve a resemblance to Bela Lugosi, makeup artist Rick Baker applied special prosthetic makeup to Martin Landau. Baker applied it in such a way that Landau would not experience discomfort in portraying emotions and grimaces. For his role, the actor watched 25 films with Lugosi and seven of his interviews conducted between 1931 and 1956.
- The director decided to film in black and white as an homage to Wood's films. The lighting for the shooting was also set up and selected in accordance with the monochrome image, which gave a realistic effect of filming from that period.
- Principal photography began in August 1993 and lasted 72 days.
- Howard Shore used some musical themes from Wood's original films to create the soundtrack for Burton's film.
- In 1980, two years after his death, Ed Wood was recognized as the "worst director" in the history of Hollywood.
- Wood's 1959 film, "Plan 9 from Outer Space," is considered the worst movie in the history of cinema.
- The film features quotes from Wood's films "Glen or Glenda" (1953), "Bride of the Monster" (1955), and "Plan 9 from Outer Space" (1958). There is also a clip from an early film starring Bela Lugosi – "White Zombie" (1932).
- In reality, "Plan 9 from Outer Space" was shown only 3 years after filming ended, in a small, obscure cinema.
- In fact, Bela Lugosi did not die before filming "Plan 9," but after 10 minutes of footage had been shot.
- According to Depp, less than 10 minutes passed after Tim Burton offered him a role in the film before he agreed. At the time, the actor was somewhat disillusioned with cinema, and this role gave Depp the opportunity to “stretch out and have fun.” And working with Martin Landau “restored” his “love of acting.” Depp was already familiar with some of Edward Wood's work through John Waters, who showed him “Glen or Glenda” and “Plan 9 from Outer Space.” To better embody the image of Wood, the actor studied Jack Haley’s acting in “The Wizard of Oz” (1939), where Haley played the Tin Man. Depp watched several performances by Ronald Reagan, as he considered them a form of blind optimism, and believed this was perfect for Wood. The actor also tried to imitate Casey Kasem’s low voice and “that very confident and lively traveling salesman quality in his voice.” At Burton’s suggestion, Depp studied Mickey Rooney’s acting in later Andy Hardy adventure films.
- Actor Gregory Walcott, who starred in “Plan 9 from Outer Space,” appeared in the film as a cameo. He played the man who introduces Wood to Maila ‘Vampira’ Nurmi.
- Patricia Arquette met Kathy O’Hara during filming. The actress found her “sweet and very pleasant.”
- The idea for the film came to screenwriters Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski while they were studying at the School of Cinematic Arts at the University of Southern California. Alexander even planned to make a documentary about Wood – “The Man in the Angora Sweater” – during his sophomore year. However, Karaszewski was skeptical of the idea at the time. Later, Alexander and Karaszewski co-wrote the screenplays for “Problem Child” and “Problem Child 2,” but they both grew tired of working solely on family films. They then wrote a 10-page screenplay outline about Wood and presented the idea to director Michael Lehmann, whom they had met while at the School of Cinematic Arts. Lehmann introduced the project to producer Denise Di Novi, with whom he had worked on “Fatal Attraction.” Di Novi had previously collaborated with Tim Burton on “Edward Scissorhands,” “Batman Returns,” and “The Nightmare Before Christmas.” Ultimately, Lehmann was contractually obligated to direct the Wood biopic, while Burton and Di Novi would be the producers.
- Burton began reading “Nightmare of Ecstasy” and some of Wood’s letters. He was struck by the fact that in the letters, the director “wrote about his films as if he were filming ‘Citizen Kane,’ despite the fact that people considered his films to be the worst ever made.’” Burton admitted that he had always been a fan of Ed Wood, so the film was an homage, not a mockery, of Wood’s work. The relationship between him and Lugosi in the film echoes Burton’s close relationship with his own idol, Vincent Price. Burton said in an interview: “Meeting Vincent had an incredible impact on me; Ed must have felt the same impact when he met his idol.”
- At that time, Burton was preparing to direct "Mary Reilly" for Columbia Pictures with Winona Ryder in the lead role. However, due to the company's decision to give the role to Julia Roberts instead of Ryder, Burton left the project. This prompted him to take on the direction of "Ed Wood" himself and shoot the film quickly. As a result, he took the director's chair and gave Lehman the position of executive producer. Alexander and Karatzewski wrote a 147-page screenplay in six weeks. Burton read it and immediately approved it as is, without any changes or edits. Burton liked the fact that Wood was little known to the general public, which meant that working on the film could not be constrained by anecdotes about the "worst director." But he considered the most important thing to be the fact that Wood and his team did their job with passion.
- Initially, a contract for the creation of the film was concluded with Columbia Pictures studio. But in April 1993, company chairman Mark Canton rejected the project a month before filming began due to disagreements with Burton, who insisted on shooting the picture in black and white and demanded complete creative freedom. Then, companies such as Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros., 20th Century Fox became seriously interested in the adaptation rights, but Burton accepted the offer from The Walt Disney Company, with whom he had already worked on "The Nightmare Before Christmas." Like that film, "Ed Wood" was also released under the distribution of Touchstone Pictures. Disney took on the project with the expectation that Burton would continue to work with them, but he returned to Warner Bros. with his next film. The company allocated a budget of $18 million and gave Burton complete creative independence, as it did not see the picture as a big risk. The director also waived his fee for working on the project.
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