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 Director Tim Burton ponders a question during a news conference for the movie Corpse Bride during the International Film Festival in Toronto, Saturday Sept. 10, 2005. (CP PHOTO/Adrian Wyld) |
A sheik Johnny Depp and a relaxed looking Tim Burton sauntered into the Sutton Place Hotel this morning to discuss the pair's latest collaborative effort - "Tim Burton's Corpse Bride."
Flanked by Helena Bonham Carter (Depp's virtual costar and Burton's real-life partner), producer Allison Abbate, co-director Mike Johnson and composer Danny Elfman, the duo talked about everything from their 15-year-long creative association to why they've never made a sequel.
But from the outset, Burton wanted to separate this latest animated effort from his groundbreaking stop-animation project - 1993's "The Nightmare Before Christmas."
"'Nightmare' was a more complete thing," he offered up. "'Corpse Bride' is more organic and something we worked on all the way through."
The film, which took years to make, uses puppets to tell the story of geeky Victor (voiced by Depp), his bride-to-be, Victoria (Emily Watson) and the gleeful corpse who comes between them (voiced by Bonham Carter). Composer Danny Elfman also gets to have some fun providing the voice for a character named Bonejangles.
While it sounds a bit macabre, Burton thinks it's good that "Corpse Bride" delves into some bittersweet storytelling.
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"All good love stories have a bit of sadness to them," he said.
And though the whole animation thing was new to Depp and Bonham Carter, both couldn't have loved it more.
"I wish I could play puppets the rest of my life," Bonham Carter quipped. "You don't have to worry about hair and make-up. You're not trapped by your envelope."
"I thought it was fascinating to work with people you've never met," Depp, whose youthful chambray shirt, arm bracelets and glasses made him look much younger than his 42 years, chimed.
The film, which Burton and Johnson had been working on for several years, went into overdrive while Burton was filming "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" last year with Depp, Bonham Carter and Danny Elfman in England.
"Grilling Tim on the set was how I prepared for the part of Victor," Depp recalled with a laugh. "I feel lucky that these parts arrived in front of me."
"But," he said looking exasperatingly at the director, "I still can't believe he was able to bounce back and forth between the two."
Doing double duty was something Burton felt his frequent collaborator could handle with ease.
"Ever since 'Edward Scissorhands,' Johnny is someone who likes to change and that's the joy of making a movie with him," Burton said. "This time, it just happened to coincide with something else."
"We felt like we'd had a good week if an animator could give us six seconds of footage," Johnson added with a laugh.
"The whole process we're talking about is quite easy," Elfman said getting into the mix. "I just hope people realize this was done using real sets and real lights."
"The atmosphere he creates," Depp said, looking laudingly at Burton, "is so incredible."
When JAM! asked the pair why they haven't ever tried to make a sequel to one of their films ("Edward Scissorhands" comes to mind), Burton offered up a terse answer.
"I think it's a mistake to do sequels," he said. "There's a spark that's hard to duplicate."
Depp played devil's advocate though.
"It's a different animal for an actor," he said. "When you play a character for a pretty lengthy period of time and you know the clock is ticking, it's a sad separation."
And Depp, who usually has a lot of his own ideas when it comes to bringing a character to life, had so much fun on the set of "Pirates of the Caribbean" that he's enjoying sticking around to play the character Jack Sparrow in two sequels (being filmed concurrently and slated for release in 2006 and 2007).
"In terms of the process for Pirates 2 and 3, the writers came to me and said, 'Why don't we talk about all these different ideas.' So for me to be able to play the same character multiple times is a real gift."
"Who knows," Burton added with a grin, "maybe we can do 'Ed Wood 2 - the porn years."
Elfman added by saying he'd already completed the score to "Edward Scissorhands 2."
Depp laughed, but anyone who was there can tell you, he didn't say no.
"Tim Burton's Corpse Bride," which premiers tonight at Toronto's Elgin Theatre, hits theatres September 16.