Burton first began working as an apprentice animator at Disney and made immense contributions to stop-motion animation before going on to direct blockbusters such as Batman (1989) and Batman Returns (1992).
When asked whether he would return to directing a film from the superhero genre, his response was a quick “no”.
“It felt new at the time,” he reflects. “There was pressure because it was a big movie and it was a different interpretation of comic books. So that was a pressure, but it wasn’t the pressure that you would experience now.”
Burton demurs when asked about what he wants to shoot next. Perhaps the horror classic Frankenstein?
“No, no,” he laughs. “I’ve done my version with a dog [referring to his 2012 film Frankenweenie]. That’s fine.”
He admits to feeling invigorated with recent successes of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice and the Netflix series Wednesday, of which he directed four episodes.
“The Hollywood journey is an Alice in Wonderland kind of journey. You go up, you go down, you go sideways. That’s the way it is,” he said.
“What I realize now, maybe because I’m older as well, is OK I’m just gonna do what I want. And if you want to do it, fine. If not, then you don’t have to go on this journey with me”.