FEATURE EDWARD SCISSORHANDS a H _ g r j H V j A cut (ouch) above the average Hollywood fantasy picture. Tim l ' Burton‘s Edward Scissorlnuals‘ offers both mainstream ; entertainment. and some sharp points (ooh) about small-town 3 America. Tom Lappin took a sneak preview at what escaped the i cutting-room floor (aah. that‘s enough .
HANS N EXPERIENOE
ywomctimc in We lost). wc'rc in the ; to turn down the opportunity of making
leth ('entury l’ox production and Batman 1/. but hey. maybe he needed a new
development department. Producer ; T'Blrd 0r sonlcmlng'
Denise Di .\’ovi is looking expectant~ Edwardscissor/Ian(1s came as a welcome
executive producer Richard I lashimoto “mm!” ‘0 WC dlSill’llmmmél "wilil‘hl'd‘ém ,
jgjn1pusgiv'c_11nd[hc [11111191955 3 ll'CZillllCllI 0i th‘ Caped (‘l‘llbélLlCIl ll \VUIl‘l ‘ accountants in suits are flicking regretfully gross as much as Batman. nor spawn the through the stubs in the corporate f wealth of merchandise ( I expect listher cheque—books. The centre of attention is Rantzen or similar spoilsports would have
director Tim Burton. attired in various pieces of Batman merchandise. with a distinct gleam in his eye.
'So 'l‘im. babes.’ says Di Nov i. 'whaddaya got for Us this time'." ‘We-eeell.‘ says
something to say about a Scissorhands doll). but it does employ Burton’s idiosyncratic talents to the full. and it is an infinitely more satisfying film.
lissentially it's a simple fairy-tale
Burton. ‘You‘re gonna love this. It‘s called 3 transferred to the American suburbs. but lit/wart! St'issorliam/s. and it's about this Burton gives the form new life with his i cute guy who's got. like. scissors for ‘ ability to bring out the darker elements of I hands. . .‘ Fortunately Di Novi had just i the tale. and offer something rather more ' produced Michael l.ehmann‘s .11ch The ' than a hack fantasy job. lidward App/yearns. and had presumably had to f Scissorhands. all black leather. (iothic i listen to Lehmann saying ‘lt's about these hairstyle and blades for fingers. is the ? huge Amazonian beetles who transform ; creation ofa loopy inventor. played themselves into suburban Americans.‘ So i hammin enough by Vincent Price. who she didn‘t bat an eyelid. [n the organised inconveniently drops dead before he can fit a insanity of the L'S movie business. it pays to set ofconventional hands. liddie is left to remember that there’s no such thing as a T mope around doing the odd bit of topiary. preposterous idea. It also helps if you‘vejust 3 until rescued by Avon lady l’eg Boggs. and directed the box-office smash of the year in ; brought into town. 'l‘here. his talents for Batman. Burton got the backing for his creating wonderful things out ofhedgerow movie. g and hairstyle alike make him a hit. and be
And a guy with scissors for hands isn‘t ; falls madly in love with l’eg‘s daughter Kim really all that strange when you think about (in the shape of Winona Ryder). Kim‘s it. In fact. for Burton it was almost a ' thuggish boyfriend .lim isn't too chuffed reversion to gritty realism. The director, about this. and a series ofaccidents and whose childhood ambition was to be the misunderstandings occur that arouse the actor who played (iodzilla. has gained : hatred of the whole neighlmurhood. ln something ofa reputation for fantastical. terms of narrative. then. [canard escapist films with the emphasis on the .S‘r'istw)rlianrls is unexceptional. but there are visual effect and imaginative concept. After plenty of more sinister elements working a spell as an animator with Disney . he made ' beneath the surface that give the film a his feature debut on I’ve ll'ee's Big power that Burton's previous work has only xldl'WIIIU't’. essentially only a tiny step on hinted at. from animation. l lis first major success lidward is another one ofthose classic came with Beetle/tare. an amiable farce loveable movie monsters with a family tree about an irascible spook causing trouble in a that would take in The lllllI(‘/I/)(l('/\ ()anrre New lingland village. the type of Name. La Belle [fl l.a Bela. King Kong. The background setting Burton would esplore Phantom ()f'l'ln' ()[H‘I'tl and li‘l‘. the tragic more fully in lit/ward St'ismrliant/s. In the doomed outcast from society. offered a meantime. we had to suffer Barman. the chance of redemption through love. whether blockbuster that launched a billion l-shirts. it be lismerelda. Fay \Vray. lilliot or Burton himself was unhappy with it. saying: . Winona Ryder. Burton takes his creation _ ‘Because it's a big movie. there‘s a certain deadly seriously. 'l le‘s a very funny. warm " x! I kind of convention that's involved with it ' guy.~ he says. 'but he‘s perceived as dark and l . i" that I‘m not good at.‘ It should be noted that difficult and weird. and also just judged by I ‘ ' h the regrets were not sufficient to induce him his looks. and he‘s almost completely the D
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