“It’s a gem in spite of myself”: Johnny Depp believes that it is the best film of his career, a film which unfairly failed at the box office but which won 2 Oscars…
You have to go back to a 2009 article, published by EW, in which Johnny Depp reviewed his favorite films, to know that among them was one of his own. Indeed, in his filmography of nearly 100 credits, there is a film that the actor cited among his cinema essentials – in the same way as Down by Law (1986) by Jim Jarmusch, The Harbor of Anguish (1944) by Howard Hawks, Time of the Gypsies (1988) and Underground (1995) by Emir Kusturica and Withnail and I (1987) by Bruce Robinson.
And if we say Tim Burton, you might think of Edward Scissorhands or Sleepy Hollow, the legend of the headless horseman. No, it’s a black and white film which was not successful at the box office but which was widely recognized by critics… Ed Wood, of course!
“Despite my involvement, this film is a tender and comic gem”, said Johnny Depp. “An incredible cast to work with: Martin Landau, Bill Murray and others, but, of course, with Tim there is an almost brotherly sensitivity, which has made the whole experience a joy.”
“Ultimately, I feel like with the artistic freedom we had, Tim Burton produced an American classic. A love letter to a filmmaker who hasn’t received many”, he added of director Ed Wood.
A critical success, a commercial failure
Released in 1994, Ed Wood received almost unanimous praise from critics – and a rating of 4.4 out of 5 from the press on our site! –, but the public did not show any particular interest in theaters for this biopic about this director whom many have come to consider as the worst of all time. Thus, the film failed at the box office, bringing in only 13.8 million dollars while its budget was 18 million.
Ed Wood thus became the first commercial failure of Tim Burton who had previously only known box office success with Pee Wee Big Adventure, Beetlejuice, Batman, Edward Scissorhands and Batman, the challenge. He will have another failure at the box office with Mars Attacks, having to wait until 1999 to achieve another commercial triumph with Sleepy Hollow.
Touchstone Pictures
Martin Landau and Johnny Depp in “Ed Wood” (1994)
Despite this, Ed Wood won two Academy Awards, for Best Makeup and Best Supporting Actor for the late Martin Landauwhich managed to beat out, that year, tough competitors such as Samuel L. Jackson for Pulp Fiction, Chazz Palminteri for Gunshots on Broadway, Paul Scofield for Quiz Show and Gary Sinise for Forrest Gump.
As for the collaboration between Tim Burton et Johnny Deppit only continued to flower after that, with Sleepy Hollow, the legend of the headless horseman (1999), Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005), The Funeral Wedding (2005), Sweeney Todd, the evil barber of Fleet Street (2007), Alice in Wonderland (2010) and Dark Shadows (2012).
Ed Wood, still rated 3.9 out of 5 by AlloCiné spectators, can be seen again in streaming on Filmo.
