When a director finds the perfect actor to personify
his vision, it can lead to an interesting collaborative history. The most
prominent ongoing director/actor relationship right now is that of Tim
Burton and Johnny Depp, which has resulted in five films. Charlie and the Chocolate Factoryis their new release, and Depp seemed destined to take on
the role of Willy Wonka.
Successful pairings such as this are not as common as
one would expect. Frank Capra and James Stewart will be forever linked, but
they made only three films together. Alfred Hitchcock apparently had two
favorite actors, James Stewart and Cary Grant, and he used each of them
four times. George Roy Hill gave us both pairings of Paul Newman and Robert
Redford, plus one film separately with each. Hollywood’s
longest-running director/actor collaboration has to be John Ford and John
Wayne, which spanned 24 years and 14 starring roles; the greatest must be
that of Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro, who made eight incredible films
together. It doesn’t get much better than Taxi Driver (1976) and Raging Bull(1980).
Burton first cast Depp in the title role in Edward Scissorhands(1990),
a wondrous modern fairy tale that never dumbs down its story to appeal to
children. Depp has made a career of playing oddballs and eccentrics, and
Edward Scissorhands is one of the most peculiar. The incomplete creation of
an inventor (Vincent Price), he literally has scissors instead of hands.
Edward leaves his lonely existence in a castle on the hill to carve out a
life in suburbia, where he almost fits in. Depp manages to find the right
balance between creepiness and pathos.
Ed Wood (1994) is the
only Burton/Depp film set in the real world, but it is about a director who
has difficulty accepting reality. Edward Wood Jr. directed a small number
of laughingly bad cult films, including the legendary Plan 9 from Outer Space, but he
honestly believed in his work. This Ed is far removed from the previous
Edward, as Depp plunges into the role with enthusiasm and gusto. Ed Woodis one of the best
films ever made about Hollywood, even if it focuses on its bizarre outer
fringes.
Their third film, Sleepy
Hollow (1999), is a far more ambitious project
but ultimately the least satisfying of the three. Depp is Constable Ichabod
Crane, who journeys to Sleepy Hollow to investigate a series of murders
thought to have been perpetrated by the “Headless Horseman.”
The richness of details and atmosphere just don’t seem to compensate
for a lack of emotional involvement. The fifth Burton/Depp project, Corpse Bride, a
stop-motion-animation feature with Depp as the lead voice, is set for
release this year on Sept. 23.
DVDs scheduled for release Tuesday (July 26): xXx: State of the Union and The Upside of
Anger.
This article appears in Jul 21-27, 2005.
