Choi Ed Wood Response

Tim Burton’s film, Ed Wood is a tribute to “the worst film director in the world”, Edward D. Wood Jr. It makes the audience wonder why Tim Burton paid respect to a “bad director” despite Burton himself being one of the most successful film directors of all time. However, upon a closer look, we can totally understand why Tim Burton had such a deep connection and respect for Ed Wood as a film director, as Mr. Wood’s life was strikingly similar to that of Burton’s in many different ways.

The first element of the movie that highlights Burton’s appreciation for Ed Wood lies in Burton’s depiction of the relationship between Ed Wood and Bela Lugosi. In the film, Bela Lugosi is depicted as an old, retired morphine addict who lives in the shadow of his past glory days. However, such miserable traits of Lugosi do not affect Ed Wood’s appreciation and respect for him, as Lugosi clearly is Ed Wood’s hero. Ed Wood takes their relationship a step further by casting Lugosi in his own film, which is the ultimate homage a film director can pay to any an actor. Such experience creates a strong parallel with Tim Burton’s own life as a film director, as Tim Burton had an idol of his own, Vincent Price. Vincent price, too, was a horror actor like Bela Lugosi, and was a significant figure in Tim Burton’s heart as Lugosi was to Ed Wood, and also worked with Tim Burton for his films. These similarities could created Burton’s strong emotional relation to Ed Wood.

Secondly, Burton pays homage to Ed through depiction of Ed Wood’s struggles of working without a major studio. In early part of his career, Burton also had to constantly deal with lack of proper funding and sponsoring, the same exact problem that haunted Edward Wood throughout his career. Despite bad conditions, Edward Wood never gave up on his artistic endeavors, and scraped together whatever resource he could to perpetuate his movie production forward. I believe Ed Wood’s persistence greatly appealed to Tim Burton, and he would have greatly appreciated Wood’s unceasing attempts to achieve his goal, as such struggle is not foreign to Burton himself.

The third element of the film Ed Wood that shows Burton’s appreciation towards Edward Wood is Wood’s production crew. We can easily realize that the members of Wood’s filming crew are very odd, and are outcasts in one way or the other, including Edward Wood himself. Edward Wood is an unsuccessful film director struggling to get a job, Bela Lugosi is an old, retired and forgotten actor who wastes his life away on drugs, and all the other members of his crew have nothing better to do with their lives other than to make movie of Edward Wood. This odd assembly makes us wonder what is going on in Wood’s head, but it is Wood’s non-judgmental attitude towards outcasts that made such a bizarre assembly work. Being an outsider himself, Burton clearly would have felt a strong emotional connection between him and Wood, and anybody would be able to tell that he has a strong appreciation for Wood’s unassuming attitude towards people who are not welcomed anywhere else.

The worst director ever?

Although it is quite clear that Edward Wood isn’t the best film director in the world, his spirit and attitude towards his own art is definitely something that anyone can appreciate and admire. I believe such was the case for Tim Burton, as he would have felt a strong connection and respect towards Wood’s unpretentious and genuine attitude to his own works, hence using some of Wood’s footage in his own film.