Both Steven Spielberg and Tim Burton have directed some great movies over the years, although their styles and stories are very different. But it turns out that one film in Burton’s repertoire appealed to Spielberg, and he was first in line to take it on.
An adaptation of Daniel Wallace’s 1998 book Big Fish: A Novel of Mythic Proportions, became Tim Burton’s 2003 hit movie, Big Fish, a visually stunning story about a man who is reflecting on his father’s life as it comes to an end. It’s a larger-than-life spectacle, which is the type of movie each of these filmmakers are known for, so it makes sense that it made an impact on each of them.
According to the biographical book Burton on Burton (via /Film), Big Fish script writer John August spent roughly a year putting together various versions of the script for Spielberg, who became attached to direct the film in 2000 after reading August’s initial draft.
“Spielberg was never quite satisfied with the script, though, and while he originally planned to make Big Fish as his follow up to Minority Report, he ultimately departed the project.”
August then proceeded to assemble his “Best Of” draft, which included certain elements from previous iterations while disposing of others.
This also led to most of the script additions made at Spielberg’s request being dropped, although some of them still made their way into the final film (in particular, a scene where creepy trees in a dark forest come alive and attack McGregor as the younger Edward Bloom — though that feels very Burton-esque).
Spielberg had also wanted Jack Nicholson to play the older Edward, though the role ultimately went to Albert Finney. But when Burton replaced Spielberg as director, he similarly approached his old friend, Nicholson, for the role before casting Finney, having previously collaborated with Nicholson on Batman and Mars Attacks!
Burton had even toyed with the idea of digitally altering Nicholson so he could portray Edward when he was younger as well. “That was a funny discussion but it didn’t really go anywhere,” as Burton put it in Burton on Burton. Good call, that would have been weird, and we would’ve missed out on Ewan McGregor’s absolutely delightful and beautiful performance.
Much like Spielberg became alienated from his father at a relatively young age, Burton actually moved into his own apartment when he was only 15 years old and remained distant from his parents up until his father and mother died in October 2000 and March 2002, respectively.
“I don’t know if there’s any real reason why I didn’t get on with my parents,” Burton confessed in Burton on Burton. “It had more to do with the fact that when I was living there [with them], I felt old for my age.” He added that he “didn’t get along” with his mother and his father was “away a lot, and [he and my mother] were having whatever their problems were, and I was just always remote.”
It’s little wonder, then, that Burton found himself drawn to Big Fish, which he became formally attached to direct just a month after his mother died.
While Will has a mostly solid relationship with his mother Sandra (who’s played by Jessica Lange in the film’s present and Alison Lohman as a younger woman), she also tolerates and embraces Edward’s stories for reasons that Will struggles to understand.
Meanwhile, Edward’s job meant that he, like Burton’s own father, was gone for prolonged periods of time while Will was growing up, which enhanced his mystique when Will was an impressionable boy but only added to the sense that Will didn’t really know his dad as an adult.
As Burton noted in Burton on Burton, directing Big Fish allowed him to go on a journey much like the one Will does in the movie when, while Will and his wife Joséphine (Marion Cotillard) are spending time with Edward and Sandra after Edward is diagnosed with terminal cancer, he sets out to uncover the truth behind his father’s tales (which are shown in flashback, albeit in the way Edward recounted his experiences, fantastical elements and all).
“I’ve had therapy but I’ve never discussed my parents. But in reading this script I thought, ‘This is it exactly, this puts an image to the uncommunicable,'” Burton explained.
The result was one of Burton’s most personal films, and as for Spielberg, he went off and directed his own outstanding picture about a person growing up and coming to see their parents as real, flawed human beings with Catch Me If You Can.
via: /Film
