It is hard to imagine a director as iconic and loved as Tim Burton once feeling out of his depth when making a movie, but that is exactly how he felt working on Batman. The 1989 release ended up being the movie that really catapulted Burton and his directorial flare to stardom, but he couldn’t have done it without Jack Nicholson in his corner.
Any young, up-and-coming director would find it daunting to be working with a big studio and one of the biggest stars of the time. Having to direct Jack Nicholson as the Joker seems like something that would even make a seasoned filmmaker nervous, but for Burton, it turned out to be the best thing that could have happened to him. While Burton referred to the legendary actor as an “anarchist," he told Empire that it was Nicholson’s clout with the studio and support that helped get him through the movie. Burton said:
“I was relatively new to the whole thing. Batman was my first big movie. It was hard; we shot six-day weeks for the whole schedule, in London. It was very extreme, a big production. And here’s this guy, one of the greatest actors of all time, and he protected me and nurtured me, kept me going, by jut not getting too overwhelmed with the whole thing. I felt really supported by him in a very deep way. I was young and dealing with a big studio, and he just quietly gave me the confidence to do what I needed to do. And him being a voice of support had a lot of resonance with the studio. It got me through the whole thing. It gave me strength.”
Tim Burton Recently Made A Move To TV With Netflix Hit Wednesday
Having spent many years making his mark on the big screen, Tim Burton turned his attention to his first small screen project with this year’s Wednesday series on Netflix. Hailed as one of the director’s highest-reviewed projects, the Addams Family series has Burton’s gothic sensibilities all over it and it has become a runaway success. When discussing what drew him to Wednesday, Burton recalled his earlier years, and how feeling like an outcast in his own life brought a personal connection to the series. He previously said:
“When I read this [script], it just spoke to me about how I felt in school and how you feel about your parents, how you feel as a person. It gave the Addams Family a different kind of reality. It was an interesting combination. In 1976, I went to a high-school prom. It was the year Carrie came out. I felt like a male Carrie at that prom. I felt that feeling of having to be there but not be part of it. They don’t leave you, those feelings, as much as you want them to go. You know, Wednesday and I have the same worldview.“
Burton’s younger insecurities could have very easily been his undoing, but who knows, maybe working with Jack Nicholson on Batman was exactly the catalyst the director needed to make it to where he is today.
Wednesday is currently streaming on Netflix.