Ed WoodBurton's offbeat biopic, shot in luminous black and white, is a free-wheeling adaptation of the life and low-budget times of Edward D. Wood Jr., the Z grade film director and would-be auteur whose name became synonymous with an endearingly disproportionate self-confidence in the face of an acute lack of talent.
Johnny Depp effortlessly slips into character (and a fetching angora sweater) as the indefatigable Ed Wood, a man determined to follow his muse despite the vagaries of the Hollywood movie business - and aforementioned deficit of directorial nous.
Returning to a more personal scale of filmmaking after the Batman Returns special effects-driven juggernaut, Burton revelled in the luxury of working with an ensemble of actors. "This group of people are so special and tragic", the director explained, describing the real-life characters that populate the film.
"Tor Johnson, Vampira, Bunny Breckinridge, Ed Wood and Bela Lugosi. They're like faded royalty. There's something very compelling about seeing Dracula (Martin Landau, achingly sympathetic as a past-his-prime Bela Lugosi) at this stage in his life. It''s like a weird Andy Hardy movie."
Landau deservedly won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar. The terrific cast also features Bill Murray, Sarah Jessica Parker, Patricia Arquette and Burton regular Jeffrey Jones (Beetlejuice, Sleepy Hollow).
