Edward Scissorhands

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Edward Scissorhands
Image:Edwardscissorhandsposter.JPG
Directed by	Tim Burton
Produced by	Denise Di Novi Tim Burton
Written by	Tim Burton (story) Caroline Thompson (story and screenplay)
Starring	Johnny Depp Winona Ryder Dianne Wiest Alan Arkin Anthony Michael Hall Vincent Price
Music by	Danny Elfman
Cinematography	Stefan Czapsky
Editing by	Colleen Halsey Richard Halsey
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date(s)	Image:Flag of the United States.svg December 7, 1990 Image:Flag of Australia.svgMarch 21, 1991
Running time	105 min.
Country	Image:Flag of the United States.svg United States
Language	English
Budget	$20,000,000
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

Edward Scissorhands is a 1990 American fantasy film, written by Tim Burton and Caroline Thompson, and directed by Burton. The film features Johnny Depp as the eponymous Edward, Winona Ryder as Kim Boggs, Dianne Weist as Kim's mother, Peg Boggs and Anthony Michael Hall as Jim, Kim's unsympathetic boyfriend. The plot focuses on Avon lady Peg, who encounters a shy and quirky looking man named Edward in a decaying, isolated and highly ornate mansion located on a large hill, overlooking a brightly coloured American suburbia. The man, who has hands made of scissors, is adopted by Peg into her own view on the "typical American" family. There he falls in love with Peg's teenage daughter Kim; however their innocent relationship could potentially threaten Kim's romance with Jim. Although initially Edward struggles to fit into his suburban surroundings, his presence and good-natured personality eventually brings love to everyone in his newly adopted neighbourhood.

The film is a dramedy set in an exaggeratedly stereotypical vision of American suburban life that intentionally combines clichés from both the early 1960s and the late 1980s. It also has a central theme of the isolated, misunderstood major character, a theme that recurs in much of Burton's work. The concept, and many of the motifs, of Edward Scissorhands can be compared to the gothic novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley and the 1931 film of the same name; while Edward's appearance owes a seemingly intentional debt to the titular character of Hans Hoffman's Struwwelpeter. Edward Scissorhands was a hit for Burton commercially and critically, and has become a beloved film amongst both children and adults. Burton has often credited Edward Scissorhands his most personal film.^[1]

Contents 1 Plot 2 Cast 3 Production 3.1 Development 3.2 Filming 3.3 Music 4 Reaction 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Plot

The film begins with an elderly old lady tucking in her granddaughter and telling her the story of a man named "Edward Scissorhands." We are introduced to local Avon saleswoman Peg Boggs as she fails to make any profits in her neighborhood. On a whim, she visits a pseudo-medieval mansion located on a hill above the town. She discovers an elaborate topiary garden, a derelict interior, and Edward, who is an artificial man created by the late owner of the house. This man, a reclusive, eccentric inventor, died while trying to place a long-delayed pair of hands on his creation, leaving him with many long, metal, scissor-like blades instead.

Touched by Edward's loneliness, Peg brings him home to her family; Edward thus must adjust to life in the suburbs. He falls in love with Peg's teenage daughter Kim, who is frightened by Edward at first, but grows to love him through successive acts of compassion on her part. Kim's conformist neighbors, while initially thrilled at his skills at hedge clipping and haircutting, grow to distrust Edward because of his dangerous condition. Two of these, a religious fanatic called Esmeralda and Kim's thuggish boyfriend Jim, dislike him from the start. Eventually, Jim attempts to implicate Edward in theft; Edward is arrested, but is released when a psychological examination reveals that his isolation had allowed him to live without a traditional sense of ethics. At one point thereafter, Peg's husband Bill Boggs asks Edward about what to do if he finds a briefcase full of money. Edward, not thinking about whence the money came or realizing it might have an owner, selflessly declares that he would give all of the money to loved ones. Later, neighbor Joyce suggests that Edward open a haircutting salon with her; when examining a proposed site, she attempts to seduce him. Edward, partly confused, flees the room.

During Christmas, Edward is almost totally ostracized by everyone except for the Boggs family. This is due to a failed robbery attempt by Jim on his own family to steal his father's expensive electronics in order to sell them for his own profit. He uses Edward (who can easily unlock doors) to gain entrance, but the alarm is set off and Edward is abandoned to face the police. This capture turns the neighborhood against him, along with Joyce's lies of Edward's attempted rape and Esmeralda's preachings. While the family decorates the house for the holidays, Edward uses his blades to carve an angel out of a large block of ice. The ice shavings fall to the ground, creating an effect of snow, which was unknown in the area before. Kim comes outside, and seeing the snow, begins to dance in it, creating a joyful experience for herself. Jim calls her by name; at this, both she and Edward turn around suddenly. Edward's hand accidentally gives Kim a shallow cut. Jim sees this and tries to use this as an excuse to turn the town against Edward. He succeeds in getting him away from the house. As Kevin is looking for Edward, Jim's friend almost runs him over with Jim's van because Jim has forced him to drive intoxicated with threats. Edward saves him at the last minute, but Kevin is hurt in the fall and Edward injures him further in a panic while trying to make sure he is alright. The neighbors misunderstand, of course, and Edward is hunted back to his creator's mansion. Officer Allen (who was kind to Edward when he was arrested after the incident at Jim's house) attempts to deceive the mob following him into assuming that Edward is dead by firing a few shots in the air when they are too far away to see him.

Kim, refusing to believe this, hastens to enter the mansion. There, she reunites with Edward. Jim follows them and attempts to kill his rival. Though beaten initially, Edward reacts to Jim's ill-treatment and beating of Kim by stabbing Jim in the chest. Jim stumbles backward as Edward withdraws the blade and falls out of the window, dead. Kim kisses Edward and tells him she loves him. She then goes downstairs and tells the townspeople that her suitors have killed each other. To "prove" this, she holds up a left-over scissored implement which she has taken from the late inventor's laboratory. We then cut back to the elderly, aging old woman telling her granddaughter the story of her relationship with Edward Scissorhands. When the granddaughter asks her how she knows that Edward is still alive in the castle, she answers to this effect; Before Edward came, snow never fell on the valley, whereas after he left, it fell. The old lady attributes the snow to Edward and remarks that she still dances in it, revealing that she is a significantly older Kim. Subsequently, we see Edward, who has not aged at all, creating an ice sculpture in the attic of his mansion. He is surrounded by other ice sculptures that he has created, including one of a girl dancing, as Kim had done. As Edward works, the flurry of ice shavings is thrown, presumably by Edward himself, onto the valley and onto the town below. This proves Kim's assumption that Edward's work is the source of the snowfall. The film ends with a flashback of a young Kim joyfully twirling in the snowflakes and snow pouring from the mansion's broken windows.

[edit] Cast

Johnny Depp stars as Edward Scissorhands, A lonely, naïve and creative being with scissors for hands, and is adopted by Pegg and taken into her neighbourhood. Tim Burton personally expressed the character as "both simple and complicated. Both beautiful and off-putting, both creative and horrifically clumsy."^[1] After casting every other character, Burton still had Edward. Twentieth-Century Fox demanded Tom Cruise^[2][3] The studio wanted a "bankable" actor and Burton felt it was best "to be open about casting." Burton claims Cruise wasn't his ideal choice but found him remarkably interesting; though claims Cruise wouldn't stop asking questions about the character. It got to the point where Burton found it impossible to work with him.^[2] Cruise also wanted the ending to be "happier"^[4] and in addition, cited scheduling conflicts with Days of Thunder^[3] while blaming Edward's "lack of virility."^[1] In due time, Michael Jackson expressed having interest for the role but was ignored. Tom Hanks then turned it down in favor of The Bonfire of the Vanities. William Hurt and Robert Downey, Jr. had both openly expressed interest.^[1] Although Burton was unfamiliar with Depp's previous work, Burton was impressed with his "subtlety and ability to act with his eyes," citing that "for a character doesn't speak a lot; eyes are very important."^[2] In 1989, Depp read the script and "wept like a newborn." Meeting Burton and producer Denise Di Novi in Los Angeles, California, he and Burton got on very well, and he was cast a few weeks later.^[5] In preparation for the role, Depp watched many Charlie Chaplin films to study creating sympathy without dialogue.^[6] Studio executives were so worried of Edward's image that they tried to keep pictures of Depp in full costume under wraps until release of the film.^[7] Burton was so impressed with Depp's performance that he would go on to include the actor in several later films. Johnny Depp has since become Burton's muse, appearing in seven of his other films.^[5]

• Winona Ryder as Kim Boggs: A fragile, beautiful, bright, compassionate teenage girl, who has a progressive attraction to Edward. Burton claimed he couldn't envision any other actress in the role, feeling that Ryder gave a positive performance in Beetlejuice. At the time, Ryder was coincidentally romantically involved with Depp. Burton felt "she could respond to this dark material" and the idea of her as a cheerleader and wearing a blond wig "was very funny." Burton feels that it was the hardest role for her to take at the time, as she herself was "tortured" and made fun of by cheerleaders at school.^[2] Ryder dropped out of The Godfather Part III in favor of this film.^[8]
• Dianne Wiest as Peg Boggs: A typical, sensitive mother, who wants to show Edward the life he deserves by treating him as one of her sons. Peg is having trouble with her job as an Avon lady until she meets Edward. Although Ryder was the first to be attached to the project,^[1] Wiest was the first to sign and read the script. Burton claims that it was "her stamp of approval" that had "others soon interested."^{[citation needed]}
• Anthony Michael Hall as Jim: Kim's uncaring boyfriend, who instantly dislikes Edward's affection for Kim. Hall and Arkin were the last two central characters to be cast.^[1]
• Kathy Baker as Joyce: Peg's seductive neighbor who becomes an admirer of Edward and attempts to seduce him. Baker saw her part as a perfect chance to break into comedy.^[1]
• Robert Oliveri as Kevin Boggs: Kim's obnoxious, curious younger brother who also befriends Edward.
• Alan Arkin as Bill Boggs: Peg's husband and Kevin and Kim's father. Although he is portrayed as a loving father, he often tries to act as if he's listening to his family when in reality he is not. When Arkin first read the script he was "a bit baffled" saying "nothing really made sense to me until I saw the sets," claiming "Burton's visual imagination is extraordinary."^[1]
• Vincent Price in the small, but pivotal role as The Inventor: Edward's inventor who dies in the very act of trying to give Edward hands. Edward refers to him as his father and he is known to have taught Edward poetry and courtesy. Burton chose to cast Price in the role because Price was one of Burton's idols in his childhood. Previously, the two had worked together on Vincent. On Burton, Price quoted, "There is a wonderful cartoon madness in his work, a kind of madness that doesn't exist anymore in film." In response, Burton stated, "I can't tell you what Price meant to me growing up. This sounds dramatic but he helped me live. When you're a child and a teenager it's not unusual to go through a melodramatic phase. Some people find release through heavy metal or whatever. But by watching Price's films, there was a catharsis for me. You're not just watching a low-budget Edgar Allan Poe movie, there's something else there that's not on the screen. I channeled my melodrama into that, as opposed to suicide probably."^[1]

[edit] Production

[edit] Development

The genesis of Edward Scissorhands came from a childhood drawing of director Tim Burton, which reflected his feelings of isolation and being unable to communicate to people around him such as family and friends. Burton stated that he was often alone, and had trouble retaining friendships. “I get the feeling people just got this urge to want to leave me alone for some reason, I don’t know exactly why." In addition to this quote Burton commented, "[it] linked subconsciously and was linked to a character who wants to touch but can't; who was both creative and destructive."^[2] Burton stated that "the movie business, success, life in Hollywood or my childhood, three words repeat themselves with a regularity that would perk up the ears of any dime-store shrink: scary, dangerous and, most frequent of all, disembodied. As in Why does everything feel disembodied to me?"^[9] Burton has described the film as having a basis from his long fascination with scissors. Burton stated, "There's quite an interesting design to a pair of scissors, if you really look at them. How do they work? What do they do? They're both simple and complicated, creative and destructive. It's that feeling of being at odds with yourself."^[7] In addition Burton cited influences from Mary Shelly's Frankenstein, Gaston Leroux's Phantom of the Opera, Victor Hugo's The Hunchback of Notre Dame, King Kong and Creature From the Black Lagoon.^[1]

After the success of Pee-wee's Big Adventure (1985), Burton pitched the idea to his agents at the William Morris Agency,^[1] where they introduced him to Caroline Thompson, thinking the two would get along. Burton read a short novel of hers titled First Born, which was about an abortion that came back to life. He also cited the novella depicted a tone Burton wanted for the film. During pre-production on Beetlejuice felt her to be perfect to write the script, paying her a few thousand dollars by himself, and as such, he commissioned Thompson to write the screenplay. In Thompson, Burton found a kindred spirit who would later write the screenplay for another of Burton's long-cherished projects, The Nightmare Before Christmas.^[2] Thompson claimed she wrote the screenplay as a "love poem" to Burton, calling him "the most articulate person I know, but couldn't put a single sentence together.^[9] Burton originally had plans for the film to be a musical, quoting "It seemed big and operatic to me," but later dropped the idea.^[1]

It wasn't until the commercial success of Batman (1989) that Burton was then Hollywood's newest, hottest and youngest director. This gained him the opportunity to make any film he desired. Instead of doing another blockbuster, or the Batman sequel Warner Brothers was hoping for, Burton felt it was the perfect chance for Edward Scissorhands. Although Burton was linked with Warner Brothers with his three previous films, he found the studio unreceptive to the idea, and sought out another studio which would allow him the freedom to make the film his way. Burton quoted, "Warner just didn't get it, which was good because I knew they didn't want to do it. I try to work with people who want to do what I want to do. Even now I try to gauge if people just want to do it because of me, or if they actually like it." When submitting the script to various studios Burton joked that it was more or less of a package, in terms that Burton and Thompson wouldn't have creative difficulties over rewrites if the studio disapproved over the script. He would eventually find Twentieth-Century Fox to finance the film.^[10]

[edit] Filming

Cast and crew spent 12 weeks filming in Florida, where they found an occupied community to film in, Carpenter's Run subdivision in Land O' Lakes, Florida. On the shooting location, according to the words of the production designer Bo Welch: "a kind of generic, plain-wrap suburb, which we made even more characterless by painting all the houses in faded pastels, and reducing the window sizes to make it look a little more paranoid."^[11] Sixty different houses had to be repainted for Tim Burton's vision of suburbia, all of them occupied, and only changed for the garish exterior paint.

The director felt "A lot of it for me is the memory of growing up in suburbia. It's not a bad place. It's a weird place. It's a place where some people grow up and ask, 'Why are there resin grapes on the wall?' (and others don't). We're trying to walk the fine line of making it funny and strange without it being judgmental. It's a place where there's a lot of integrity."^[1] The production then relocated to a set in Los Angeles, California for the shooting of the mansion scenes.^[11]

[edit] Music

Danny Elfman, who previously collaborated with Tim Burton on Pee-wee's Big Adventure, Beetlejuice and Batman was hired to compose the score. Elfman describes three themes appearing in the film as the first being the Main Titles (what he calls "the storybook mode"). The "emotional" (or second theme) is featured with Kim as a grandmother telling her granddaughter the bedtime story. Elfman claimed it was originally Edward's theme as well as a supposed theme for the Main Titles, though Burton and Elfman decided to "toss it out." Elfman felt this piece created "the heart of the character." The Ice Dance, or the more recognized composition, concludes the third and last theme. Elfman took scoring The Suburban Theme seriously, depicting it as an opportunity. In the scene where Edward is cutting the hair of the various housewives in the neighborhood, Elfman stated it wasn't intentional to "add a gypsy, or Spanish tango beat," calling it coincidental. Elfman described the climax music as "twisting the theme" or "themes that were innocently written; seemed to become worse and worse." The scene where as Edward enters the Boggs' home and looks at the family photos is what Elfman considers his favorite piece of music notes for the film.^[12]

Elfman claims he is usually relieved whenever he finishes work on a film, though on Edward Scissorhands, he felt the exact opposite, claiming he "wanted more" and wished the film were longer. To date, Elfman cites his work on the film as his most personal and favorite film he has ever worked on. In addition Elfman considers it his hardest film he has composed, jokingly stating "even harder than Batman." It wasn't until after his work on Edward Scissorhands that he himself felt he earned the title of a film composer. Nonetheless Elfman jokingly theorizes that pieces and notes of the film score appear simultaneously in television commercials and various movie trailers. Elfman was romantically involved with writer Caroline Thompson during the production of this film. In addition to Elfman's music, three songs performed by Tom Jones appeared in the finished film. Elfman himself cited Burton as being creative when choosing the songs It's Not Unusual, Delilah and With These Hands. It's Not Unusual would appear in Mars Attacks! (1996), another film of Burton's with collaborative effort by Elfman, and with Jones himself featuring a cameo.^[12]

[edit] Reaction

Edward Scissorhands opened in America on December 7, 1990 and grossed $6,325,249 for its opening weekend;^[13] a somewhat disappointment for 20th Century Fox thinking that it could possibly be its success could be in the vein of Tim Burton's Batman (1990) and Steven Spielberg's E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982).^[14] Although it performed well with little advertising (primarily relying mostly on word-of-mouth),^[15] it would eventually gross $56,362,352, worldwide, beating out its $20 million budget.^[13] It received its first VHS cassette and laserdisc release in 1991 and received $27,500,000 in the United States through rentals alone.^[16] The film became the 20th highest grossing film in 1990.^[17]

Based on 42 reviews collected by Rotten Tomatoes, Edward Scissorhands received an average 93% overall approval rating;^[18] the film received an 80% with the five critics in Rotten Tomatoes' "Cream of the Crop."^[19] Those who supported the film were largely enthusiastic. Peter Travers of Rolling Stone stated, "Burton's richly entertaining update of the Frankenstein story is the year's most comic, romantic and haunting film fantasy" and continued: "Edward Scissorhands isn't perfect. It's something better: pure magic."^[20] Desson Howe of The Washington Post praised overall aspects of the film that included casting, design, story and the direction of Burton.^[21] Chris Hicks of The Deseret News was pleased to see a modern fairy tale as he himself felt the genre had "faded out."^[22] Nonetheless, the film was not without its detractors. Roger Ebert of The Chicago Sun Times gave it a negative review citing that, "Burton has not yet found the storytelling and character-building strength to go along with his pictorial flair."^[23] The film received an Oscar nomination at the 64th Academy Awards in the category of Best Makeup and a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor in a Motion Picture - Comedy/Musical for Johnny Depp, while Elfman's score received a Grammy Award Nomination. In addition, the film received a BAFTA win for Best Production Design, and was nominated in three other categories.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Edward Scissorhands at the Internet Movie Database
• Edward Scissorhands at Rotten Tomatoes
• Edward Scissorhands at Metacritic
• Official website for Matthew Bourne's adaptation
• Official website for North American tour of Matthew Bourne's adaptation

v • d • e Tim Burton

Director: The Island of Doctor Agor • Stalk of the Celery • Vincent • Frankenweenie • Pee-wee's Big Adventure • Beetlejuice • Batman • Edward Scissorhands • Batman Returns • Ed Wood • Mars Attacks! • Sleepy Hollow • Planet of the Apes • Big Fish • Charlie and the Chocolate Factory • Corpse Bride • Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street • Alice in Wonderland Producer: The Nightmare Before Christmas • Cabin Boy • Batman Forever • James and the Giant Peach • 9

v • d • e Films starring Johnny Depp
1980s	A Nightmare on Elm Street · Private Resort · Dummies · Platoon
1990s	Edward Scissorhands · Cry-Baby · Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare · What's Eating Gilbert Grape · Benny & Joon · Arizona Dream · Ed Wood · Nick of Time · Dead Man · Don Juan DeMarco · Donnie Brasco · The Brave · Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas · Sleepy Hollow · The Astronaut's Wife · The Ninth Gate
2000s	Chocolat · Before Night Falls · From Hell  · The Man Who Cried · Blow · Lost in La Mancha · Once Upon a Time in Mexico · Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl · Happily Ever After · Finding Neverland · Secret Window · The Libertine · Charlie and the Chocolate Factory · Corpse Bride · Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest · Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End · Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street · Shantaram · The Rum Diary

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