New Tim Burton Trailer: Stunning and Creepy, of Course

Whether you like his movies, adore his movies, or couldn’t give a hoot, one thing’s for certain, Tim Burton’s always going to shock you. Whether making Catherine O’Hara sing a reggae song, or having Helena Bonham-Carter bake questionable pies, Burton’s always got a twisted twist somewhere. His latest movie doesn’t seem to have that same sense of the overt peculiar, but his subject matter will certainly give him plenty of opportunity for some emotional peculiarity.

Big Eyes is a biopic of Margaret Keane, whose paintings of over sized doe-eyed children are certainly in keeping with Burton’s aesthetic. It is her life, success, and divorce, however, that are the subject of this movie. I look forward to seeing Burton explore artistic property, and the rights of a woman in 1960s divorce court. Her divorce proceedings made it all the way to federal court, where finally, Margaret challenged her husband (who had been claiming authorship of her works) to a “paint-off.” She notoriously created a painting in front of the judge to prove that she was the artist. Of course, it wouldn’t be a Burton movie without those remarkable eyes making their way into a few mirrors and real faces along the way. Burton seems to have long been taken with Keane’s work and in fact, in 1998 Keane painted a portrait of Burton’s wife, Helena Bonham Carter, stating “She looks like my paintings—she has big eyes.” (LATimes)

For me, anything starring Amy Adams and Kristen Ritter is a must see movie event.

The trailer for Big Eyes was just released this week and the movie opens on Christmas Day.