Legendary filmmaker Tim Burton said no matter how successful his Netflix series Wednesday is, he will never stop making movies.
The iconic Batman and Beetlejuice director presented a fan screening of the Addams Family spinoff series at the Lucca Comics & Games conference in Italy. The series marks Burton's return to the small screen since directing episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents and Faerie Tale Theatre in the '80s. While Burton delighted in bringing his trademark gothic style to the series, he maintains his true love remains on the silver screen.
"I enjoyed doing this TV series, just because it was interesting to have a different pace, a slower kind of burn. But obviously, for me, I still love movies. I still think there’s a place for movies these days," Burton said.
Tim Burton Is Returning to TV
Burton's leap to the small screen after decades of memorable cinematic masterpieces like Edward Scissorhands and Ed Wood was a big surprise to many in the film industry. Even Wednesday showrunners Alfred Gough and Miles Millar were shocked by Burton's acceptance to the medium when they pitched their Addams Family spinoff to him. "If you don’t ask, the answer's no," Gough said. "We sent him the first script and three days later his agent called and said, 'Tim loves it.'"
Burton had an affinity for the original Addams Family since creator Charles Addams' original one-panel comics. The director was in contention to helm 1991's The Addams Family film adaptation before passing on it to direct Batman Returns. In 2010, Burton was set to co-write and potentially co-direct an Addams Family stop-motion film that was eventually canceled in favor of the Conrad Vernon and Greg Tiernan CGI animated movie released in 2019. Wednesday grabbed his interest when the COVID-19 pandemic halted most film productions.
"It was a weird period of time," Burton said. "I'd never really had a burning desire to do television. Then it came to me, and it was interesting."
In his future on the big screen, Burton remains open to being involved with Beetlejuice 2, which he says is in the early days of development. What will not be in Burton's future are more film projects with Disney following the failure of his live-action Dumbo remake. "The thing about Dumbo, is that's why I think my days with Disney are done, I realized that I was Dumbo, that I was working in this horrible big circus and I needed to escape," Burton explained.
Wednesday premieres on Netflix on Wednesday, Nov. 23.
Source: via Variety