Netflix gives first look at new Tim Burton series ‘Wednesday’
Today, (7th June) Netflix revealed a teaser trailer for their upcoming comedy-horror series, Wednesday, directed by none other than Oscar-winning director, Tim Burton. The series, which is an Addams family spin-off, stars Jenny Ortega (You) and seems like a match made in heaven. The new series will be a coming-of-age tale about Wednesday Addams, a teenager who is obsessed with death and will follow her adventures as a high school student.
To mark Burton’s return, HUNGER has rounded up a few of his most memorable characters (there’s been a few) down the years…
Edward (Edward Scissorhands, 1991)
Edward Scissorhands marked the beginning of Johnny Depp and Tim Burton’s lengthy professional relationship. While Depp would eventually become an A-list Hollywood actor, many of his starring roles were in films directed by his friend, Burton. Edward Scissorhands is a romantic story about forbidden love. The titular character is an artificial being created by an inventor (Vincent Price). Before Edward can be completed, however, his creator passes away, leaving him in an unfinished state with scissors for hands.
Jack Skellington (The Nightmare Before Christmas, 1994)
The face of The Nightmare Before Christmas, Jack Skellington’s songs and musings on the joy-filled Christmas season and his place in the universe will forever be synonymous with the film. As the Pumpkin King in Halloweentown, Jack Skellington leads the troupe of monsters, and ghouls in the Halloween festivities as they seek to scare the wits out of the world population.
Betelgeuse (Beetlejuice, 1988)
It’s not easy to make a parasitic ghoul who takes glee in tormenting the recently deceased a likeable character, but Michael Keaton did just that. Plus, the work of the costume designers and makeup artists can’t be discredited, since they created a look for the character that audiences would never forget.
The Joker (Batman, 1989)
While the definitive screen version of the Joker will always be Heath Ledger’s turn in The Dark Knight, Jack Nicholson’s iteration from Tim Burton’s 1989 Batman movie holds its own. This version of the Joker was given an origin story: he’s a gangster who falls into a vat of chemicals that permanently stains his skin in the colours of clown makeup.
Sparky (Frankenweenie, 2012)
Tim Burton’s feature-length remake of his spooky stop-motion animated 1984 short of the same name was an unusual little movie that didn’t make a huge splash at the box office, but it was a lot of fun. It was a lighthearted take on the Frankenstein story. Instead of a mad scientist reanimating various corpses mashed together, a boy who misses his pet dog, Sparky, brings him back to life. And while the boy, Victor, is technically the lead character of the film, it’s his reanimated canine that remains in the memories of the audience.
Sweeney Todd (Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street, 2007)
In this day and age, it’s not easy to make musical movies work – especially if they revolve around barbers who slit people’s throats and then bake their flesh into pies and serve those pies to the public – but if anyone could walk that line between the whimsical and the gruesome, it’s Tim Burton. Luckily, Burton also tapped Johnny Depp to play the murderous Todd who brought a passionate adaptation to the murderous barber.
Emily (Corpse Bride, 2005)
Helena Bonham Carter was another actor favoured by director Tim Burton — especially during the period in which they were romantically involved. Carter provided the voice behind Emily, the titular character. As the Corpse Bride, she sought to continue the happiness she lost by pushing Victor into marrying her and joining her in the land of the dead.
