Tim Burton knows what it’s like to be a boy with a dead dog.
The filmmaker came to the Comic-Con fan convention Thursday to show footage of “Frankenweenie,” his expanded take on Burton’s 1984 short film of the same name.
The film tells the story of a boy who brings his beloved dog back to life after the pet dies in an accident, using a kid’s variation of Dr. Frankenstein’s laboratory.
“It stemmed from having a dead dog when I was a child and that sort of special first relationship you have with a pet,” said Burton, who later mixed in his love of monster movies such as “Dracula” and “Frankenstein.” ”I just wanted to mix all of those elements, the horror, the humor, the heart of the story.”
Unlike the live-action original, the feature-length version is done in black and white through stop-motion animation using puppets meticulously shot one frame at a time.
Burton, who began as an animator, says it was a new experience back then to work with live actors but that the stop-motion version is the more pure take on his story.
“It’s nice to be able to shoot it this way,” Burton said. “It’s like little sets, and you shoot it like a live-action film. The puppets are so tactile. They’re amazing to feel and to touch.”
“Frankenweenie” hits theaters Oct. 5.
The voice cast includes Winona Ryder, Martin Short, Catherine O’Hara and Martin Landau.
The footage Burton showed off featured the filmmaker’s take on classic horror movie images and lines, including a dog with “Bride of Frankenstein” hair and one of the boy’s school chums uttering the mad scientist line “It’s alive.”
Burton answered questions from fans during his preview panel, among them queries from a group dressed as characters from his films, such as “Alice in Wonderland,” ”Beetlejuice” and this summer’s “Dark Shadows.”
“It’s great,” Burton said. “It feels like my family has come to see me.”
Snubs and Surprises In The Golden Globe Nominations
The Golden Globes nominated more than 40 individual films Monday — and yet still managed to overlook quite a bit. That may just be the brutal truth of awards season: The field narrows and suddenly great performances and wonderful films are simply left in the dust.
The Globes have always had quirks, like A-lister tunnel vision, and while there might not be anything quite as glaring as the infamous year of "The Tourist," this batch is not without its oddities: Some good, some bad, some simply perplexing.
Here are some of the biggest snubs and surprises from the nominations.
Snub: Danielle Deadwyler
Danielle Deadwyler just can't catch an awards season break. After being overlooked for "Till" by both the Globes and the Oscars, it seemed likely she'd be recognized for her turn in Malcolm Washington's adaptation of August Wilson's "The Piano Lesson" (which somehow got no nominations at all). Oscar nominations are still over a month away, however, so perhaps this is the spark needed to remind voters.
Surprise: "All We Imagine as Light"
It may be fun to needle the Golden Globes, but every once in a while they get something very, very right — and this year, the proof is in the nominations for "All We Imagine as Light." The Indian film from a small distributor is one of those gems that, more often than not, is mainly celebrated by critics groups. And yet here it was nominated not only alongside a truly great batch of films in the international category — which it won't be at the Oscars because India controversially selected another film to represent the country — but also in directing, for Payal Kapadia.
Snub: Saoirse Ronan
For an actor who has received four Golden Globe nominations in her lifetime and one win... Read More