If you love all things creepy, funny and just plain strange, then Tim Burton is probably one of your favourite filmmakers! He’s been making movies for decades, his style is immediately recognisable, and whether you’re an old fan or a total newbie to his work thanks to Wednesday, you’re bound to learn something new! So, read on… if you dare! And don’t forget to check out the rest of our fun facts – why not learn all about Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, or Wednesday star Jenna Ortega?

1. His mother owned a cat-themed gift shop

Tim grew up in Burbank, California, which is where a lot of Hollywood production companies are based. Neither of Tim’s parents worked in the entertainment industry though – his father was a former baseball player, and his mother owned a cat-themed gift shop! His childhood was pleasant and peaceful, but Tim was quite lonely and always felt he was different. You can see this in Edward Scissorhands, where the pretty pastel neighbourhood is an exaggerated version of his childhood home, and Edward is meant to represent Tim as a boy.

2. He started off making short films

Tim loved films as a kid, especially horror, which he found fascinating rather than terrifying. He started making short films as a kid, using an 8mm camera or stop-motion animation. At the age of 13, he made a short adaptation of H.G. Wells’ novel The Island of Doctor Moreau, which starred Tim and his friends. After high school he studied character animation, and continued making short films.

3. He worked for Disney

Disney hired Tim as an apprentice animator after noticing his work in the short film Stalk of the Celery Monster. Tim worked on storyboarding, graphic design and animation for the films Tron, The Black Cauldron and The Fox and the Hound. He also did concept art, but none of his designs made it into the final films. He had a particularly hard time with The Fox and the Hound because he had so much trouble trying to replicate Disney’s cute art style rather than use his own. He was eventually fired from Disney after he used company resources to make his own short film, a live-action version of Frankenweenie.

4. He didn’t direct the Nightmare Before Christmas!

The Nightmare Before Christmas is often called a Tim Burton film. Tim did create the world and the characters of the film – they originally came from a three-page poem he wrote in 1982. He wanted to turn it into a short film, and he made storyboards, concept art and character designs for the film. He also thought about turning it into a children’s book. It eventually did come out in 1993 as a feature-length film produced by Disney, but it was directed by Tim’s fellow ex-Disney animator Henry Selick. Henry Selick also directed James and the Giant Peach and Coraline, which are also often mistaken for Tim Burton films. Tim was a producer on The Nightmare Before Christmas and James and the Giant Peach, but he was not involved with Coraline!  

5. His big breakthrough was Beetlejuice

Tim’s full-length directorial debut was Pee-wee’s Big Adventure in 1985, but his real big break came with Beetlejuice in 1988! It was made on a low budget but grossed $80 million and won an Oscar for Best Makeup, cementing Tim as a breakout star! Here’s a fun fact about Beetlejuice: despite being the title character, Betelgeuse only appears in the film for 17 and a half minutes!

6. He has a lot of cool inspirations

Every great artist has inspirations, and Tim’s are pretty incredible! His influences include the work of Roald Dahl and Dr. Seuss, the Universal Monsters (especially Frankenstein), Hammer Horror (a British film company that made horror films, often starring Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing), and the films of Vincent Price (more on him later)!

7. He has a distinct style

When you think about Tim Burton you probably have a very clear picture in your mind. Black and white stripes, weird sets with strange geometry, spirals, pastel colours, kitschy costumes, and characters who look like they could use way more sleep… that’s a Tim Burton film! Fans call the style “Burtonesque”. It’s derived from an earlier style of cinema called German Expressionism, which used striking shadows, strange sets, and spooky storylines. Some famous German Expressionist films are Nosferatu and The Cabinet of Dr Caligari, and you can definitely see their influence in Tim’s films. He also has a lot of recurring themes in his work. If you pay attention to the stories, you’ll see that they’re almost always about outcasts discovering themselves and finding beauty in strangeness.

8. Stripes are his lucky charm

Stripes are a big part of Tim’s aesthetic, and so it only makes sense that they’re a good luck charm for him too! Tim often sports a pair of stripy socks to his film premieres for this reason.

9. He got to direct his favourite actor

Tim’s favourite actor of all time is horror icon Vincent Price. Vincent Price was born in 1911, and starred in more than 100 films as well as countless plays, TV and radio shows, and more! You’ve probably heard his voice, as he provided the narration for Michael Jackson’s “Thriller”. He also did the narration for the current version of Phantom Manor in Disneyland Paris! Tim Burton is a huge fan of Vincent’s work – his 1982 short film Vincent is about a young boy who keeps slipping into a reality where he is Vincent Price. Vincent did the narration for the film – which must have been amazing for Tim! Edward Scissorhands was one of Vincent Price’s last film roles – he played The Inventor.

10. He likes to work with the same people

Some directors work with the same actors because they already have an established working relationship. A partial list of Tim’s most frequent actors includes: Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Danny DeVito, Christopher Lee, Winona Ryder, Eva Green, Michael Keaton and Michael Gough. He’s also worked with the same crew members, including composer Danny Elfman, production designer Bo Welch and costume designer Colleen Atwood.

11. He wrote a book!

Tim is not just a director, writer and artist – he’s a poet! He published his poetry collection The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy & Other Stories in 1997. It’s a series of short macabre poems, and Tim did the illustrations, too!

12. He’s scared of chimpanzees!

Another Tim Burton classic is the 2001 sci-fi Planet of the Apes, which is about a planet inhabited by – you guessed it – intelligent apes. This might have been the scariest film for Tim to make, because he’s actually terrified of chimps! He said in an interview that he had to meet real chimps for the film, and compared them to serial killers!

13. He threw a tea party at the White House

It’s quite an honour to be invited to the White House to meet the President, and in 2009 that honour was Tim’s! He threw a tea party themed to his upcoming film Alice In Wonderland, transforming the State Dining Room into a Burtonesque wonderland! The event was invite-only, and it was mostly for the children of White House officials and military personnel. Johnny Depp even appeared in character as the Mad Hatter! The event was kept quiet though, as then-president Barack Obama was worried it would look too lavish.

14. He loves dogs

If you pay attention to Tim’s films you’ll notice that lots of them feature dogs! Frankenweenie, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Corpse Bride, Mars Attacks – and of course that one dog in Beetlejuice who killed the Maitlands! The reason for all these canines is simple – Tim likes dogs! If you were paying attention in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, you’ll remember that a dog appears on the screen when Betelgeuse is reminiscing about his past loves. That dog is Tim Burton’s own pet dog, Levi!

15. There are lots of films he never got to make!

Like all creative people Tim is full of ideas, but not all those ideas make it to the big screen! One of his most famous abandoned projects was an adaptation of Superman starring Nicolas Cage. Tim has already directed two Batman movies so he seemed like a perfect fit, but the film stalled and Tim left to direct Sleepy Hollow. He’s also been attached to a lot of projects that ended up going ahead with different directors, including The Addams Family, Catwoman, Maleficent, Jurassic Park, the Pirates of the Caribbean sequels, and Goosebumps. Of course, he did end up working on another adaptation of The Addams Family, serving as an executive producer and director for Netflix’s Wednesday!