Ed Wood by Tim Burton

Filmscreen Ed Wood
Originally uploaded by F. Sigorski - Part Two

Ed Wood was originally the brainchild of screenwriters Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski who planned to make it with college classmate Michael Lehmann. 1994 Tim Burton finally directed this American comedic film starring Johnny Depp as the cross-dressing cult movie maker Edward D. Wood, Jr. The film, shot in black and white, was based in large part on Rudolph Grey's quasi-biography Nightmare of Ecstasy. The film concerns the period in Wood's life when he made his best-known films and also his relationship with actor Béla Lugosi, played by Martin Landau. Edward Davis Wood, Jr. (October 10, 1924 – December 10, 1978) was an American motion picture screenwriter, director, producer, actor, author and editor (often performing many of these functions simultaneously). In the 1950s, Wood made a run of independently produced, extremely low-budget horror, science fiction and cowboy films, now celebrated for their technical errors, unsophisticated special effects, idiosyncratic dialogue, eccentric casts, and outlandish plot elements. In fact, his films are all so laughably amateurish that Wood finally achieved a sort of posthumous fame for the cheesy awfulness of his work. Ed Wood is an affectionate portrait of maniacal postwar American optimism. A film that celebrates Wood and the zany spirit of 1950s exploitation films - in which a great title, a has-been star and a lurid ad campaign were enough to get bookings for some of the oddest films ever made.

Ed Wood, directed by Tim Burton, written by Rudolph Grey, Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski, USA, 127 min, b&w, Touchstone Pictures, 1994

Nightmare of Ecstasy: The Life and Art of Edward D. Wood, Jr.
by Rudolph Grey. Published by Feral House, 1994. ISBN-10: 0922915245, ISBN-13: 978-0922915248

The Ed Wood Box (Glen or Glenda, Jail Bait, Bride of the Monster, Plan 9 from Outer Space, Night of the Ghouls, The Haunted World of Ed Wood, 1956) Starring: Edward J. Wood. Format: Box set, Black & White. Studio: Image Entertainment. DVD Release Date: October 12, 2004. Run Time: 467 minutes
ASIN: B0002W4TNA

The Ed Wood Collection - A Salute to Incompetence (1959) Starring: Bela Lugosi, Tor Johnson Directed by: Ed Wood. Format: Color, DVD-Video. DVD Release Date: March 20, 2007. Run Time: 450 minutes. ASIN: B000LSBXIY

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