Latest news with #TimBurtonDocuseries
Forbes
23-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Clip: Jenna Ortega Talks ‘Wednesday' Cello Challenge In ‘Tim Burton Docuseries'
Jenna Ortega in "Wednesday" Season 1. Wednesday star Jenna Ortega recalls the daunting task of learning to play cello in a new video clip from director Tara Wood's upcoming Tim Burton Docuseries. Ortega appears in the fourth episode of the unofficially named four-part Tim Burton Docuseries, which held its premiere with the unveiling of Episode 1 at the Tribeca Film Festival in the summer of 2024. The docuseries also features Wood's interviews with several of Tim Burton's closest collaborators, including Johnny Depp, Winona Ryder, Helena Bonham Carter, Michael Keaton, Christopher Walken, Christoph Waltz, Mia Wasikowska and Danny DeVito. The episodes chronicle everything from Burton's childhood to the release of the director's 2024 Beetlejuice sequel Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, which in addition to Keaton reprising his role as 'The Ghost with the Most,' stars Ryder, Catherine O'Hara and Ortega as Deetz family members Lydia, Delia and Astrid. Before the release of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, Burton first collaborated with Ortega on Season 1 of The Addams Family spinoff series Wednesday, which stars the actor in the title role. During her time at Nevermore Academy, Wednesday shows off her skills as an expert cellist. That provided a challenge for Ortega off-screen, though, she didn't play cello before being cast in the role. Watch Ortega discuss the challenge in the video clip below that first appeared on Screen Rant. Lucky for Jenna Ortega, Tim Burton's longtime music collaborator Danny Elfman was able to step in to help the actor learn the instrument with sharp precision. 'The thing about it is Danny is such an overachiever and so artistically brilliant,' Ortega says in the new clip from the docuseries. 'It technically should be played by two cellos but because Wednesday is this magical being she just has to play it on one.' When it came to filming her cello playing, Ortega said she was assured by Burton that everything was going to look great. 'I've never been more uncertain in my life,' Ortega says, laughing, in the clip from the docuseries. 'Tim knew that I was nervous and he said, 'Oh, don't worry about it. Just as long as your chin is down and you do what you're doing you're all good.'' Reflecting on her interview with Ortega for the Tim Burton Docuseries, Tara Wood said the actor was an 'amazing' person to talk to about her work with the director because she fits completely within Burton's oeuvre of stories. 'She said she's still an outsider, she still feels weird, and she still feels like she doesn't fit in but she's very proud of it,' Wood said in an exclusive Zoom conversation about her docuseries. Perhaps not surprisingly, Wood added, is that Ortega is schooled in the same storytelling sensibilities as Burton, including the director's love for old-school horror. 'She loves monster movies and she's so versed in everything,' Wood said. 'Her worldliness and her confidence make it feel like she's been here forever.' Wood's four-part Tim Burton Docuseries is seeking distribution and is still awaiting a release date. Jenna Ortega will reprise her title role in Wednesday Season 2, which will be released sometime in 2025 on Netflix.
Forbes
21-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Johnny Depp Meets Tim Burton In Animated Clip From Burton Docuseries
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.
