Johnny Depp Meets Tim Burton In Animated Clip From Burton Docuseries

Forbes

21-03-2025

A Tim Burton-style animated sequence recreates Johnny Depp's first meeting with the director in a new clip from filmmaker Tara Wood's upcoming Tim Burton Docuseries.
Wood unveiled the first episode of the yet-to-be-officially titled four-part docuseries on the iconic director at the Tribeca Film Festival in June of 2024. The docuseries covers Burton's life and career from childhood through the release of his 2024 blockbuster Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.
Several of Burton's collaborators over the years are featured in the docuseries, including Winona Ryder, Michael Keaton, Helena Bonham Carter, Danny DeVito, Christopher Walken, Christoph Waltz, Mia Wasikowska and Jenna Ortega.
Also featured extensively in the documentary is Wood's interview with Depp, who first collaborated with Burton on 1991's fantasy film classic Edward Scissorhands.
In the docuseries, Depp said he was looking to escape from the fate of being typecast while working on the FOX series 21 Jump Street and knew he found his path when he read the screenplay for Edward Scissorhands.
'What I felt from reading that screenplay was … it had passed through everything, anything solid and went to the very core of whatever I am,' Depp said in the docuseries. 'The writing was beautiful. The character was beautiful. What I suppose attacked me emotionally was that Edward was me … it's exactly what I should be doing.'
See the clip of Depp (via JoBlo) below, where he describes the events leading up to his meeting and a Burtonesque animated sequence that details the fateful encounter.
In Tara Wood's Tim Burton Docuseries, Johnny Depp shared some of the names of some of the A-list talent looking to play the title role in Edward Scissorhands and his doubts that he had of landing the role because of it.
"Tim got calls from Michael Jackson saying (doing a Jackson impersonation), 'I'm perfect for the part, Tim, I can do him.' [He heard from] Tom Hanks. Everybody," Depp recalled. "Tom Cruise was not that far away from actually playing Edward Scissorhands. True story.'
Effectively, Depp said his thoughts were, ''He's never going to cast me. Everyone in Hollywood is after the part. Everyone.' He's also dealing with 20th Century Fox. Tim's really juggling because he's getting hit by his agent. He's getting hit by the studio. Everybody.'
Even while Depp knew he was perfect for the role, he tried to back out of the meeting with Burton.
'So I called my agent after I read the screenplay and said, 'Just cancel the meeting. I'm not going.' She was like, 'Are you f---ing nuts?'' Depp humbly recalled. 'It was weird because there's always that bastard in your skull that goes, 'Come on, man. Hey, man. What are you nuts? You're on a TV show. You're a TV actor guy,' because at that time it was almost kind of either or.' Finally, I gave in and said, 'Alright, alright. I'll have a meeting with the guy.''
Wood hired world renowned artist Jim McKenzie to draw the animated sequence for Depp and Burton's fateful meeting. In a recent Zoom conversation, Wood said the sequence turned out exactly as she envisioned it, where Depp turns into several of his famed Burton characters right before the director's eyes.
'I worked very closely with Jim on it. I was very specific about how I wanted it to look, Wood said. 'I wanted to see Johnny turning into all the characters because I really wanted it to be like Tim seeing Johnny's future.
Wood's four-part docuseries also includes interviews with several of Burton's filmmaking collaborators, including Rick Heinrichs, Danny Elfman, Denise Di Novi, Colleen Atwood, Allison Abbate and Derek Frey.
Wood's Tim Burton Docuseries is seeking a distributor and is still awaiting a release date.