The Real Reason Tim Burton Agreed to Direct Netflix's Wednesday
Burton says he would date Wednesday in high school.
Thanks to its unique gothic atmosphere, dark humor, and great acting from Jenna Ortega, Wednesday has become a Netflix phenomenon and is now one of the most-watched series on the streaming service. Undoubtedly, one of the key reasons for the show's success was that Tim Burton, the king of gothic cinema himself, took part in the production.
But how did the creators of Wednesday manage to convince Burton to join the project, even though he was never willing to do TV series?
Speaking to Michael Rosenbaum on his podcast Inside Of You, Wednesday's creators Alfred Gough and Miles Millar shared that they really wanted to emphasize the visual component of their new show. Tim Burton has always been known as a great auteur and master of fantasy horror, so his candidature seemed to be the best fit.
'We needed a big director element and Tim was always at the top of our list,' Alfred Gough said.
Remarkably, other production team members dissuaded Gough and Millar from inviting Tim Burton, fearing that the director lacked experience with TV series (which is indeed so). But everyone has to start somewhere, the creative duo argued, and Wednesday proved to be the most appropriate project for the legendary director to tackle the small screen.
Gough and Millar first approached Burton's agent, not expecting a response, as is customary in the industry.
'And then four days later we heard back,' Gough continued. The agent gave them Burton's number and offered to call him personally via FaceTime the next day. As it turned out, the director read the script and was very enthusiastic about joining the project.
'He's like, "I love this script, I felt like you were in my head. I would have dated Wednesday Addams in high school." And we were like, "Oh my god." It was amazing,' the creators said.
In fact, Burton liked the script so much that he was willing to direct every episode of the show, but as we know, he ended up filming only four of the eight episodes. Nevertheless, each of them was excellent, both in terms of writing and directing.
Following the highly successful first season, Wednesday was renewed for a second season in January 2023, so we can expect it to be released on Netflix next year. Fans are keeping their fingers crossed, hoping that Tim Burton will be a part of Season 2 as well!
Source: Inside Of You podcast.