Film Forum

U.S., 1994
Directed by Tim Burton
Starring Johnny Depp, Martin Landau, Sarah Jessica Parker
Screenplay by Larry Karaszewski and Scott Alexander
Approx 127 min. DCP.

Always upbeat, uncompromising 1950s auteur Edward D. Wood Jr. struggles against a misunderstanding world to realize his unique artistic vision—only trouble is, he’s Johnny Depp as Ed Wood (once described as “the worst director of all time,” but the verdict is still out), and his visions are the way-before-its-time cross-dressing drama GLEN OR GLENDA?, the no-budget BRIDE OF THE ATOM (later re-titled BRIDGE OF THE MONSTER) and immortal PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE. Academy Awards to Martin Landau’s both hilarious and heartrending portrayal of washed-up drug addicted screen icon Bela Lugosi and Rick Baker’s make-up for everyone from Lugosi to TV ghoul Vampira. Featuring Bill Murray, Sarah Jessica Parker, Rosanna Arquette, and Jeffrey Jones.

Reviews

“Tim Burton’s very good film about a very bad film maker, has a cheerful defiance that would surely have appealed to Orson Welles, who was Ed Wood’s hero. Late in the film, Welles appears (played deftly by Vincent d’Onofrio, who really looks like him) to advise Wood that independence is everything and that an artist’s visions are worth fighting for. Mr. Burton, currently Hollywood’s most irrepressible maverick, has taken that credo to heart.”
– Janet Maslin, The New York Times