Ed Wood Analysis

Ed Wood (1994)

Directed and Produced by: Tim Burton
Starring: Johnny Depp, Martin Landau
Based on the cult filmmaker Edward D. Wood Jr.
Nominated for Palme d'Or.

It's a very fun film to watch if you know a bit about how the movies are made. The fights between studio executives and directors on creative control over the film. The producers wanting to make a "safe" bet and the filmmakers wanting to create "pure art". It's an endless debate. On one hand, we know of the studio executives who didn't want Al Pacino nor Marlon Brando in The Godfather, and Coppola had to even risk getting fired from the film for having them on board. On another hand, we know of the PIXAR films which are heavily scrutinized at a writer's room and they go through endless rewrites till everybody thinks the script works. This film doesn't take sides - it shows us the passion and grit of Ed Wood, but is also shows us his stupidity at times - where he would take anything he gets. So basically he isn't creating a film, he's just discovering his film on set - the exact same mistake which I too made while making most of my short films till now.

The film is very expressionist in the lighting, the music, the make up (the film got an Oscar for Best Make up for Landau), and the production design. It felt like a nice homage to films like Nosferatu, and such films of the German Expressionism. I think Ed Wood's story also captures how a lot of artists genuinely strive for excellence and the tragedy/reality of life is that everybody can't - no matter how badly they want it. It was so fun to see actor Patricia (who played the mother in Boyhood) in this movie when she was young - because we see her for 12 years in Boyhood and suddenly seeing her young made me feel so good.