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Tim Burton gives update on Johnny Depp reunion

The pair have collaborated eight times throughout their careers 

Lydia Spencer-Elliott
Monday 02 December 2024 04:18 EST
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Johnny Depp on Tim Burton

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Tim Burton has given fans an update on his next project with Johnny Depp.

The Beetlejuice Beetlejuice director, 66, and Pirates of the Caribbean star, 61, have collaborated eight times in 22 years on projects including Edward Scissorhands (1990) and Sleepy Hollow (1999).

Burton last worked with Depp 12 years ago on his adaptation of the gothic soap opera Dark Shadows but hinted that, despite their hiatus, their professional partnership is far from over.

When asked by IndieWire at the Marrakech Film Festival whether there’ll be a forthcoming project that will see him work with Depp again, Burton replied: “Well, I’m sure there will be.

“I never feel like, ‘Oh, I’m going to use this and that actor,’” the director explained. “It usually has to be based on the project I’m working on.”

“That’s what film is all about,” Burton added of his casting process. “It’s collaboration and bouncing ideas off the people around you.”

Most recently, Burton released a sequel to his 1988 comedy horror Beetlejuice, starring Jenna Ortega, Winona Ryder and Michael Keaton titled Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.

Tim Burton and Johnny Depp behind the scenes of ‘Sleepy Hollow’
Tim Burton and Johnny Depp behind the scenes of ‘Sleepy Hollow’ (Paramount)

The film marked the second time Burton had directed a sequel to one of his films, following the second Batman instalment Batman Returns in 1992, also starring Keaton.

However, in a Q&A at the film festival in Marrakech, Burton made clear he would never make a sequel to his first film with Depp, Edward Scissorhands, per IndieWire.

He also revealed he would never make a sequel to his 1993 stop-motion film The Nightmare Before Christmas, which also stars Depp as Jack Skellington – the Pumpkin King of Halloween Town.

“There are certain films I don’t want to make a sequel to. I didn’t want to make a sequel to that because it felt like a one-off thing,” he explained.

“I didn’t want to have a sequel for ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas because it also felt like a one-off thing. Certain things are best left on their own and that for me is one of them.”

Depp in Edward Scissorhands
Depp in Edward Scissorhands (Rex Features)

It comes shortly after Burton said he also had no creative interest in directing another superhero film, despite the success of both of his Batman movies.

Both Batman and its sequel Batman Returns were huge box office hits, earning more than $600m (£462m) combined at the worldwide box office upon release in 1989 and 1992 respectively.

“It felt new at the time,” he told the BBC last month of the genre.

“There was pressure because it was a big movie and it was a different interpretation of comic books. So that was a pressure, but it wasn’t the pressure that you would experience now.”

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