Ed Wood movie storyline. Because of his eccentric habits and bafflingly strange films, director Edward D. Wood Jr. is a Hollywood outcast. Nevertheless, with the help of the formerly famous Bela Lugosi and a devoted cast and crew of show-business misfits who believe in Ed’s off-kilter vision, the filmmaker is able to bring his oversize dreams to cinematic life. Despite a lack of critical or commercial success, Ed and his friends manage to create an oddly endearing series of extremely low-budget films.
Ed Wood is a 1994 American biographical period comedy-drama film directed and produced by Tim Burton, and starring Johnny Depp as cult filmmaker Ed Wood. The film concerns the period in Wood’s life when he made his best-known films as well as his relationship with actor Bela Lugosi, played by Martin Landau. Sarah Jessica Parker, Patricia Arquette, Jeffrey Jones, Lisa Marie, and Bill Murray are among the supporting cast.
The film was conceived by writers Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski when they were students at the USC School of Cinematic Arts. Irritated at being thought of solely as writers for family films with their work on Problem Child and its sequel, Alexander and Karaszewski struck a deal with Burton and Denise Di Novi to produce the Ed Wood biopic, and Michael Lehmann as director. Due to scheduling conflicts with Airheads, Lehmann had to vacate the director’s position, which was taken over by Burton.
Ed Wood was originally in development at Columbia Pictures, but the studio put the film in “turnaround” over Burton’s decision to shoot in black-and-white. Ed Wood was taken to the Walt Disney Studios, which produced the film through the studio’s Touchstone Pictures division. The film was released to critical acclaim, but was a box office bomb, making only $5.9 million against an $18 million budget. It won two Academy Awards: Best Supporting Actor for Landau and Best Makeup for Rick Baker (who designed Landau’s prosthetic makeup), Ve Neill and Yolanda Toussieng.
Cast and Characters
Johnny Depp as Ed Wood: Burton approached Depp and “within 10 minutes of hearing about the project, I was committed,” the actor remembers. At the time, Depp was depressed about films and filmmaking. By accepting this part, it gave him a “chance to stretch out and have some fun”, and working with Martin Landau, “rejuvenated my love for acting”.
Depp was already familiar with some of Wood’s films through John Waters, who had shown him Plan 9 from Outer Space and Glen or Glenda. To get a handle on how to portray Wood, Depp studied the performance of Jack Haley as the Tin Man in The Wizard of Oz, and the acting of Mickey Rooney, Ronald Reagan and Casey Kasem.[3][4] He watched several Reagan speeches because the actor felt that “he had a kind of blind optimism that was perfect for Ed Wood.” Depp also borrowed some of Kasem’s cadence and “that utterly confident, breezy salesman quality in his voice”.
Martin Landau as Bela Lugosi: An old A-list horror film actor whom Ed brings back into the spotlight. Rick Baker created the prosthetic makeup designs. Baker did not use extensive make-up applications, only enough to resemble Lugosi and allow Landau to use his face to act and express emotion. For research, Landau watched 25 of Lugosi’s films and seven interviews between the years of 1931 and 1956. Landau did not want to deliver an over-the-top performance. “Lugosi was theatrical, but I never wanted the audience to feel I was an actor chewing the scenery… I felt it had to be Lugosi’s theatricality, not mine.”
Sarah Jessica Parker as Dolores Fuller: Ed’s girlfriend before his relationship with Kathy. Dolores is embarrassed by Ed’s transvestism, which leads to their breakup. Dolores later becomes a successful songwriter for Elvis Presley.
Patricia Arquette as Kathy O’Hara: Ed’s girlfriend after his relationship with Dolores. Kathy does not have a problem with Ed’s transvestism, and is eventually married to Ed. Their marriage lasts until Ed’s death in 1978. She never remarried. Arquette met her real-life counterpart during filming. The actress found her to be “very graceful and very nice”.
Lisa Marie as Vampira: Hostess of the local Vampira Show. She is dismissive of Ed at first, but decides to join the cast of Plan 9 from Outer Space, on the condition that she has no lines.
Jeffrey Jones as The Amazing Criswell: A local psychic TV entertainer. Criswell helps Ed with usual production duties, finding investors and acting in Ed’s films.
Max Casella and Brent Hinkley portray Paul Marco and Conrad Brooks: Two of Ed’s all-around production assistants and frequent actors. Paul is hired to find the Lugosi stand-in for Plan 9 from Outer Space, while Conrad accidentally has a brief dispute with Lugosi during Glen or Glenda.
Bill Murray as Bunny Breckinridge: Ed’s openly-gay friend. Bunny is assigned to find transvestites to appear in Glen or Glenda, as well as portraying “The Ruler” in Plan 9 from Outer Space. Bunny also has an unsuccessful sex reassignment therapy attempt.
George “The Animal” Steele as Tor Johnson: A Swedish professional wrestler hired by Wood to be in two of his films, Bride of the Monster and Plan 9.
Juliet Landau as Loretta King: King replaces Dolores in Bride of the Monster after Wood mistakes her for an heiress able to front the money for the production costs.
Ned Bellamy as Tom Mason: Kathy’s chiropractor who is chosen to be Lugosi’s stand-in for Plan 9.
Mike Starr as George Weiss: Foul-mouthed Z movie producer known for his work on exploitation films. Weiss hires Ed to direct Glen or Glenda.
Vincent D’Onofrio as Orson Welles: Appears in a cameo late in the film. Maurice LaMarche did Welles’ uncredited voice.
Korla Pandit, credited as “Indian Musician”, essentially appears as himself; like he originally did on his 1950s TV program, Pandit plays organ and does not speak in this cameo.
The film also includes cameos from actors who worked with Wood on Plan 9 from Outer Space, Gregory Walcott and Conrad Brooks.
Ed Wood (1994)
Directed by: Tim Burton
Starring: Johnny Depp, Martin Landau, Sarah Jessica Parker, Patricia Arquette, Jeffrey Jones, Bill Murray, Mike Starr, Max Casella, Juliet Landau, Lisa Marie
Screenplay by: Scott Alexander, Larry Karaszewski
Production Design by: Tom Duffield
Cinematography by: Stefan Czapsky
Film Editing by: Chris Lebenzon
Costume Design by: Colleen Atwood
Set Decoration by: Cricket Rowland
Art Direction by: Okowita
Music by: Howard Shore
MPAA Rating: R for some strong language.
Distributed by: Buena Vista Pictures
Release Date: September 30, 1994
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