Burton on Blackpool: How a Hollywood megastar became Blackpool’s biggest fan

Burton on Blackpool

By Simon Bland

From Bob Dylan and The Beatles to The White Stripes and Arcade Fire – Blackpool certainly has no shortage of big-name musicians who have taken a shine to our fine seaside town. 
However when it comes to cinema, there’s one huge Hollywood name that has not only professed his love of the Lancashire coast multiple times – but even gone so far as to feature it in a number of the creative projects that make up his storied career so far.

A former Disney animator with a penchant for the macabre, director Tim Burton first made himself known to audiences in 1986 with Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure, his delightfully twisted debut based on actor Paul Reubens’ eponymous big-kid made famous on 80s TV. From there, the Los Angeles native went on to helm a run of feature films so strong and visually arresting, they quickly came to shape pop-culture throughout the late 80s, early 90s and beyond. 

There was the Michael Keaton-fronted double-punch of Beetlejuice in 1988 and Batman in 1989. A year later, Burton introduced us to a sleek newcomer named Johnny Depp in Edward Scissorhands, before 1994’s bio-drama Ed Wood proved the budding star was more than just a pretty face. In between, the quickly-rising Burton produced director Henry Selick’s stop-motion epic The Nightmare Before Christmas, imbuing his signature monochrome style with a hit of candy cane colour, all wrapped up in a sinister animated world that mixed frights, humour and heart to create something that sat comfortably somewhere between childhood and maturity. 

Tim Burton visits Blackpool, Courtesy of Blackpool Gazette

In fact, it was these signature traits that would quickly become Burton’s calling card features; evidencing his status as an auteur director with a distinct style in both aesthetics and storytelling. With bursts of garish colour set against strung-out landscapes simultaneously familiar yet alien, audiences immediately knew when Burton was behind a picture. This imagery would continue in future projects like 2003’s Big Fish and 2005’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – until his fondness for the offbeat led him all the way to the North West.

Now, that’s not to say our region is in any way offbeat. However, as someone born in Blackpool Vic who spent much of his childhood visiting places like Coral Island and the pier, you can certainly see why this town and its quaint, out-of-time vibe had the potential to pique Burton’s creative and personal interests. With its abundance of charming seaside shops, sand-flecked bandstands, sugary rock and otherworldly fairground feel, it was surely only a matter of time before Burton made his way to sunny Blackpool – and made his way, he did. 

Burton’s first trip to town was back in 2006 when he secretly attended a one-off show by indie-pop band The Killers at the iconic Empress Ballroom. After directing the music video for the band’s single “Bones”, Burton re-teamed with the Las Vegas quartet in 2012, this time choosing Blackpool as its backdrop and even recruiting his Edward Scissorhands collaborator Winona Ryder as his creative muse.


According to Rolling Stone, the concept for the video was partly inspired by a leisurely day trip Burton took to Blackpool’s own Madame Tussauds where he spotted a wax figure of Ryder – however it’s hard not to see the popcorn-scented backdrop of the Pleasure Beach’s swirling coasters and the ornate glamour of the Tower Ballroom perfectly aligning with his tastes. 

The filmmaker’s fascination with our town didn’t stop there. In 2015, he was back up North to film scenes for young adult fantasy Miss Peregrine’s School For Peculiar Children on the seafront, this time bringing Pulp Fiction megastar Samuel L. Jackson along for the ride. He even made time for a return visit in September 2015 to switch on the illuminations before his Blackpool-set blockbuster reached cinemas in 2016. By all accounts, it was hard to keep him away – perhaps, in part, because Blackpool spoke to something deep inside him. 

 

“I’ve been here for many years,” Burton told Granada Reports shortly before he flipped the illumination switch. “I just love the whole vibe. It surprised me because I don’t really know why. Sometimes things are an emotional response. I don’t know if it’s because I grew up in California and used to wander alone on these amusement piers,” he pondered, linking Blackpool back to his own childhood memories of growing up in Burbank. “It just had a gravity to me; the old and new, the texture of the older buildings. The whole environment was something that really spoke to me.” 

At the time or writing, Burton’s yet to revisit Blackpool, hop on the Big One or grab some fish and chips and a can of Irn Bru on the Prom. However with such a profound connection to our seafront home, it’s not unreasonable to think that this isn’t the last time we see him haunting our Northern shores. “I may live here someday,” he chuckled, concluding his chat with Granada Reports. “Who knows. These old hotels that look abandoned… they look pretty good to me!”

Simon Bland is a freelance entertainment journalist from Blackpool. He writes for a variety of print and online publications including The Guardian, The Independent, Total Film, Yahoo Movies and Little White Lies, primarily on the topics of film, music and pop-culture. 

You can follow him on Twitter at Twitter.com/SiTweetsToo and at @Smn_BND on Instagram. 

By Simon Bland

From Bob Dylan and The Beatles to The White Stripes and Arcade Fire – Blackpool certainly has no shortage of big-name musicians who have taken a shine to our fine seaside town. 
However when it comes to cinema, there’s one huge Hollywood name that has not only professed his love of the Lancashire coast multiple times – but even gone so far as to feature it in a number of the creative projects that make up his storied career so far.

A former Disney animator with a penchant for the macabre, director Tim Burton first made himself known to audiences in 1986 with Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure, his delightfully twisted debut based on actor Paul Reubens’ eponymous big-kid made famous on 80s TV. From there, the Los Angeles native went on to helm a run of feature films so strong and visually arresting, they quickly came to shape pop-culture throughout the late 80s, early 90s and beyond. 

There was the Michael Keaton-fronted double-punch of Beetlejuice in 1988 and Batman in 1989. A year later, Burton introduced us to a sleek newcomer named Johnny Depp in Edward Scissorhands, before 1994’s bio-drama Ed Wood proved the budding star was more than just a pretty face. In between, the quickly-rising Burton produced director Henry Selick’s stop-motion epic The Nightmare Before Christmas, imbuing his signature monochrome style with a hit of candy cane colour, all wrapped up in a sinister animated world that mixed frights, humour and heart to create something that sat comfortably somewhere between childhood and maturity. 

Tim Burton visits Blackpool, Courtesy of Blackpool Gazette
In fact, it was these signature traits that would quickly become Burton’s calling card features; evidencing his status as an auteur director with a distinct style in both aesthetics and storytelling. With bursts of garish colour set against strung-out landscapes simultaneously familiar yet alien, audiences immediately knew when Burton was behind a picture. This imagery would continue in future projects like 2003’s Big Fish and 2005’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – until his fondness for the offbeat led him all the way to the North West.

Now, that’s not to say our region is in any way offbeat. However, as someone born in Blackpool Vic who spent much of his childhood visiting places like Coral Island and the pier, you can certainly see why this town and its quaint, out-of-time vibe had the potential to pique Burton’s creative and personal interests. With its abundance of charming seaside shops, sand-flecked bandstands, sugary rock and otherworldly fairground feel, it was surely only a matter of time before Burton made his way to sunny Blackpool – and made his way, he did. 

Burton’s first trip to town was back in 2006 when he secretly attended a one-off show by indie-pop band The Killers at the iconic Empress Ballroom. After directing the music video for the band’s single “Bones”, Burton re-teamed with the Las Vegas quartet in 2012, this time choosing Blackpool as its backdrop and even recruiting his Edward Scissorhands collaborator Winona Ryder as his creative muse.

According to Rolling Stone, the concept for the video was partly inspired by a leisurely day trip Burton took to Blackpool’s own Madame Tussauds where he spotted a wax figure of Ryder – however it’s hard not to see the popcorn-scented backdrop of the Pleasure Beach’s swirling coasters and the ornate glamour of the Tower Ballroom perfectly aligning with his tastes. 

The filmmaker’s fascination with our town didn’t stop there. In 2015, he was back up North to film scenes for young adult fantasy Miss Peregrine’s School For Peculiar Children on the seafront, this time bringing Pulp Fiction megastar Samuel L. Jackson along for the ride. He even made time for a return visit in September 2015 to switch on the illuminations before his Blackpool-set blockbuster reached cinemas in 2016. By all accounts, it was hard to keep him away – perhaps, in part, because Blackpool spoke to something deep inside him. 

“I’ve been here for many years,” Burton told Granada Reports shortly before he flipped the illumination switch. “I just love the whole vibe. It surprised me because I don’t really know why. Sometimes things are an emotional response. I don’t know if it’s because I grew up in California and used to wander alone on these amusement piers,” he pondered, linking Blackpool back to his own childhood memories of growing up in Burbank. “It just had a gravity to me; the old and new, the texture of the older buildings. The whole environment was something that really spoke to me.” 

At the time or writing, Burton’s yet to revisit Blackpool, hop on the Big One or grab some fish and chips and a can of Irn Bru on the Prom. However with such a profound connection to our seafront home, it’s not unreasonable to think that this isn’t the last time we see him haunting our Northern shores. “I may live here someday,” he chuckled, concluding his chat with Granada Reports. “Who knows. These old hotels that look abandoned… they look pretty good to me!”

Simon Bland is a freelance entertainment journalist from Blackpool. He writes for a variety of print and online publications including The Guardian, The Independent, Total Film, Yahoo Movies and Little White Lies, primarily on the topics of film, music and pop-culture. 

You can follow him on Twitter at Twitter.com/SiTweetsToo and at @Smn_BND on Instagram. 

You May Also Like

29/11/24: Training workshop: All about Audiences

Showing films to audiences is a real thrill, especially when you do it with a full house, creating really special memories in your community. But how can you reach people when you don’t have an existing connection, or they’re not traditionally engaged in the arts?

Read More »