Fans shouldn’t rule out a future collaboration between Tim Burton and Johnny Depp.
Speaking with IndieWire at the Marrakech International Film Festival on Saturday, Nov. 30, the 66-year-old director revealed that he wouldn’t be opposed to reuniting on the big screen with Depp, who he previously teamed up with on multiple films, including Edward Scissorhands, Alice in Wonderland and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
“Well, I’m sure there will be,” Burton told the outlet when asked about a future team-up with Depp, 61.
“I never feel like, ‘Oh, I’m going to use this and that actor.’ It usually has to be based on the project I’m working on. That’s what film is all about. It’s collaboration and bouncing ideas off the people around you,” he added.
Depp and Burton’s creative partnership dates back to 1990 with Edward Scissorhands. They’ve since worked together on 1994’s Ed Wood, 1999’s Sleepy Hollow, 2005’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, 2005’s Corpse Bride, 2007’s Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, 2010’s Alice in Wonderland and 2012’s Dark Shadows.
While Burton said he’s hopeful for a future collaboration with Depp, he also revealed during a Q&A at the film festival that he doesn’t intend to work on an Edward Scissorhands sequel.
“There are certain films I don’t want to make a sequel to,” he said, per IndieWire. “I didn’t want to make a sequel to that because it felt like a one-off thing.”
“I didn’t want to have a sequel for The Nightmare Before Christmas because it also felt like a one-off thing,” he added. “Certain things are best left on their own, and that for me is one of them.”
Depp is just one of Burton’s many collaborators featured in Tara Wood’s still-untitled docuseries about the beloved filmmaker.
In the project, Depp reveals that the titular role in Edward Scissorhands nearly went to a few other famous faces.
During an interview for the series, Depp said that Tom Hanks and Michael Jacksoncontacted Burton about wanting to play the character, while Tom Cruise “was not far away from actually playing Edward Scissorhands — true story.”
“He’s never going to cast me when everyone in Hollywood is after the part,” Depp recalled thinking at the time. “Tim’s really juggling because he’s getting hit by his agent, the studio, everybody. So I called my agent after reading the script and said, ‘Please cancel the meeting, I’m not going.’ She said, ‘Are you f—— nuts?’”
Despite a moment of self-sabotage, the actor — who thought the script and main character were “beautiful” — “finally gave in” and agreed to meet with Burton, sparking a lengthy creative relationship.
The Untitled Tim Burton Documentary does not yet have a release date.
