Ed Wood [Blu-ray]

Director: Tim Burton Tim Burton

Overview

Ed Wood was a little known film-maker from the early 1950's who gained posthumous notoriety for his dreadful B-grade science fiction films in the mid-'80s. This film is producer/director Tim Burton's fictionalized portrait of Wood's strange, yet mediocre life and career. Burton filmed "Ed Wood" in black and white to recreate the atmosphere of Wood's films. The film primarily focuses on three aspects of Wood's life, his transvestism, his relationships with his oddball casts and crew as he tried to make his films on shoestring budgets, and his friendship with aging horror-movie great Bela Lugosi whom he tried to help.

Product Details

Release Date:	09/18/2012
UPC:	0786936826661
Original Release:	1994
Rating:	R
Source:	Touchstone / Disney
Region Code:	A
Presentation:	[B&W, Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Stereo, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround]
Language:	English
Time:	2:07:00
Sales rank:	2,935

Special Features

Deleted scenes; "Making Bela" makeup featurette; Production design feature - "Pie Plates Over Hollywood"; Behind the scenes: "Let's Shoot the F#*%@r!"; "The Theremin" documentary; Audio commentary with cast and filmmakers; Music video composed by Howard Shore

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Johnny Depp	Ed Wood
Martin Landau	Bela Lugosi,Loretta King
Sarah Jessica Parker	Dolores Fuller
Patricia Arquette	Kathy O'Hara
Jeffrey Jones	Criswell
G.D. Spradlin	Rev. Lemon
Vincent D'Onofrio	Orson Welles
Lisa Marie	Vampira
Bill Murray	Bunny Breckinridge
Mike Starr	George Weiss
Max Casella	Paul Marco
Brent Hinkley	Conrad Brooks
George "The Animal" Steele	Tor Johnson
Clive Rosengren	Ed Reynolds
Jim Myers	Actor
Norman Alden	Cameraman Bill
Victoria Thomas	Actor
Leonard Termo	Makeup Man Harry
Ned Bellamy	Dr. Tom Mason
Danny Dayton	Soundman
Ross Manarchy	Camera Assistant
Bill Cusack	Tony McCoy
Aaron Nelms	Teenage Kid
Biff Yeager	Rude Boss
Jonathan Ross	Camera Assistant
Louis Lombardi	Rental House Manager
Mickey Cottrell	Hammy Alien
Joseph R. Gannascoli	Security Guard
Carmen Filpi	Old Crusty Man
Melora Walters	2nd Secretary
Conrad Brooks	Bartender
Don Amendolia	Salesman
Tommy Bertelsen	Tough Boy
Reid Cruickshanks	Stage Guard
Stanley DeSantis	Mr. Feldman
Lionel Decker	1st Executive
Edmund L. Shaff	2nd Executive
Gene LeBell	Ring Announcer
Jesse Hernandez	Wrestling Opponent
Bobby Slayton	TV Show Host
Gretchen Becker	TV Host's Assistant
John Rice	Conservative Man
Catherine Butterfield	Conservative Wife
Mary Portser	Backer's Wife
King Cotton	Hick Backer
Vasek Simek	Professor Strowski,Professor Strowski
Don Hood	Southern Backer
Frank Echols	Doorman
Matthew Barry	Valet
Ralph Monaco	Waiter
Anthony Russell	Busboy
Tommy Bush	Stage Manager
Gregory Walcott	Potential Backer
Charles C. Stevenson Jr.	Another Backer
Rance Howard	Old Man McCoy
Maurice LaMarche	Orson Welles [uncredited]
Alan Martin	Vampira's Assistant
Salwa Ali	Vampira's Girlfriend
Rodney Kizziah	Vampira's Friend
Korla Pandit	Indian Musician
Hannah Eckstein	Greta Johnson
Luc DeSchepper	Karl Johnson
Vinny Argiro	TV Horror Show Director
Patti Tippo	Nurse
Ray Baker	Doctor
James Reid Boyce	Theatre Manager
Ben Ryan Ganger	Angry Kid
Ryan Holihan	Frantic Usher
Marc Revivo	High School Punk
Charlie Holliday	Tourist
Adam Drescher	1st Photographer
Ric Mancini	2nd Photographer
Daniel Riordan	Pilot/Strapping Young Man
Lisa Malkiewicz	Actor
Sarah Jessica	Actor

Technical Credits

Larry Karaszewski

Scott Alexander

Tim Burton	Director,Producer
Larry Karaszewski	Screenwriter
Paul Boyington	Special Effects
John Branagan	Stunts
Howard Jensen	Special Effects
Michael Lehmann	Executive Producer
Kevin J. Pike	Special Effects
Victoria Thomas	Casting
Scott Alexander	Screenwriter

Editorial Reviews

When Harry and Michael Medved proclaimed Edward D. Wood, Jr.'s Plan 9 from Outer Space to be the Worst Movie Ever Made in their 1980 book, The Golden Turkey Awards, the eccentric director attained instant icon status: the Grand Fromage of Cinematic Cheese. The stories behind his movies -- shoestring budgets, stolen props, cross-dressing -- were usually more interesting than the finished product, so it was no real surprise that someone would make a movie about him. Still, while one still wonders how director Tim Burton talked Walt Disney's Touchstone Pictures into producing this black-and-white, R-rated, impossible-to-categorize biographical film, we remain glad he did. Johnny Depp portrays Wood, a wannabe filmmaker whose lack of talent is nearly made up for by his boundless enthusiasm. He also has a penchant for cross-dressing and angora sweaters -- obsessions that will feature prominently in his movies. After spending the early '50s getting rejected by every producer in town, Wood happens on a bit of luck when he meets and befriends onetime horror icon Bela Lugosi (Martin Landau), now a drug addict living in a dingy prefab house on the outskirts of Los Angeles. With a known star onboard, he finally gets backing, and he and his entourage of transsexuals, mentalists, professional wrestlers, and other denizens of the Hollywood fringe go about making such classic schlock as Glen or Glenda, Bride of the Monster, and the aforementioned Plan 9. Depp jumps in with both feet, playing Wood as a wide-eyed, gee-whiz dreamer who sees every production setback as an opportunity. As Lugosi, Landau is both profanely funny and profoundly sad, and the performance earned him the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. The casting is pitch-perfect, down to the smallest parts: Bill Murray as the flamboyant Bunny Breckinridge; Jeffrey Jones as the psychic Criswell; and Vincent D'Onofrio as Orson Welles. Burton, meanwhile, obviously had a blast re-creating some of the most infamous moments in Wood's films; but it is the relationship between Depp and Landau that really make this film worth watching. Ed Wood may ultimately be a cult film about a cult director, but it is a near-perfect one that you don't have to be a Midnight Movie fan to love.