At Comic-Con, Tim Burton and the Robot-Fighting Rag Dolls
Burton, right, speaks at an "Alice in Wonderland" news conference with actor Patton Oswalt during Comic-Con 2009 in San Diego.
(By John Shearer -- Getty Images)
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Monday, July 27, 2009
SAN DIEGO, July 26 -- Tim Burton is one of the busiest men at this year's 40th Comic-Con International and, really, too busy for the Con.
The filmmaker, famed for his brilliant quirkiness, has trekked to the world's largest fantasy entertainment festival with twin projects in his trunk: the unfinished "Alice in Wonderland," next year's reimagining of the Lewis Carroll tale that stars Johnny Depp, and "9," an animated post-apocalyptic tale Burton has co-produced. The latter is Shane Acker's feature-length version of his own Oscar-nominated 2005 short.
Though Burton is here in body, appearing on Comic-Con panels to promote both "9" (opening 9/9/09) and "Alice," some part of his spirit is back in the studio, eager to complete "Alice."
"I'm going back to work right after this," says Burton, laughing at how filmmakers bend their schedules to tap Comic-Con as a buzz-building whistlestop.
"I just have so much to do," continues Burton -- shades on, clad all in black -- sitting in a hotel room across the street from the Con's Convention Center base. "It's weird -- you usually talk about stuff after you're done. But to talk about it while you're doing it -- you feel like somebody is strangling you. You think: 'Oh man, I shouldn't even be here.' "
Yet here Burton is in the flesh, engagingly talking in tandem with Jennifer Connelly. (When you shake his hand and feel a metallic splint on his injured pinkie, you can't help but flash on his "Edward Scissorhands.")
As for Connelly, after two decades in feature films, the Oscar-winning actress is voicing her first animated character ever.
So why exactly were they drawn to "9," in which a scientist imbues nine "stitchpunk" rag dolls with life shortly before the human race goes extinct? And can an animated film succeed when it traffics in such seemingly adult themes? Their answers:
So what attracted each of you to this plucky band of post apocalyptic stitchpunks?
Connelly: Shane has a really unique vision that I thought was really inspiring.
Burton: Same thing -- I saw the short. You could just feel his passion. My idea of getting involved with it was: You see a lot of personal films, but you don't see a lot of personal animated films.
