With just one movie, Tim Burton and Johnny Depp felt destined to work together, bringing a unique presence of gothic oddity to the screen. But it obviously wouldn’t just be Edward Scissorhands that they collaborated on. No, they would have a total of eight big screen pairings. But the most recent was 2012’s Dark Shadows, with Burton having done five movies without Depp since. So what gives? Will we ever see another Tim Burton / Johnny Depp movie?
Tim Burton is confident that there will be a place for Johnny Depp in a future film of his, telling IndieWire, “Well, I’m sure there will be [another collaboration].” But Burton was careful to note that his reason for not working with an actor is never personal. “I never feel like, oh, I’m going to use this and that actor. It usually has to be based on the project I’m working on. That’s what film is all about. It’s collaboration and bouncing ideas off the people around you.”
Even with Johnny Depp and Tim Burton taking a dozen-year break from one another, Depp is still ahead of anyone else in the collaboration department (ex-wife Helena Bonham Carter trails by one but we’d have to imagine their collabs are over). That Burton remains optimistic about at least one more film does give us plenty of hope for a ninth. But we also can’t be too sour that there has been such a long gap. Really, where would he have fit in in Big Eyes or Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children or Dumbo? And we know that Beetlejuice Beetlejuice would have been as unnatural as any.
Johnny Depp has been on a bit of a hiatus with Hollywood and has shown a lot of disdain for the studio system, so that alone makes us wonder if he’ll ever return to Tinseltown. But maybe if the tinsel is hung by his good pal he’d be willing to give it another go?
Do you want to see Tim Burton and Johnny Depp work together again? What sort of project would be a fitting reunion? Give us your thoughts – along with your favorite Burton / Depp movie – below.