Ed Wood
Composite Score: 83.33
Starring: Johnny Depp, Martin Landau, Sarah Jessica Parker, Patricia Arquette, Jeffrey Jones, Lisa Marie, Juliet Landau, George “The Animal” Steele, and Bill Murray
Director: Tim Burton
Writers: Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski
Genres: Biography, Comedy, Drama
MPAA Rating: R for some language
Box Office: $5.89 million worldwide
Why should you Watch This Film?
Ed Wood is Tim Burton’s biopic of the “worst director of all time,” Ed Wood, based on his biography, Nightmare of Ecstasy by Rudolph Grey. The film stars Johnny Depp as the titular director and features supporting performances by Sarah Jessica Parker, Patricia Arquette, Bill Murray, and an Oscar winning performance by Martin Landau as the aging actor Bela Lugosi who worked on multiple films with the director before his death. Burton’s stylizing of the film to match the styles of Wood’s b-movie tendencies, Landau’s performance, and the film’s generally positive treatment of such a generally derided character as Wood has made it an all-time classic and one of Burton’s best films.
Why shouldn’t you Watch This Film?
If you want the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, free of camp, comedy, and embellishment, you’re probably looking into the wrong director for starters, but be that as it may, Ed Wood is not pure history/biography. It takes liberties with the facts, as all biopics do, to create its drama and excite its audience even more. Again, I’m not trying to knock the film here; I just want to make sure you know what you’re getting into. This is not a documentary, it is a historical fiction in line with The Disaster Artist, thoroughly entertaining and well-acted, just not 100% accurate.
So wait, why should you Watch This Film?
Martin Landau carries this film with his performance as Bela Lugosi. The Oscar-winning performance captures the tragedy and joy of the character actor’s final years as he rediscovered his love for cinema with the help of Ed Wood. It is a stunningly characterized piece of acting as Landau completely disappears into the character of Lugosi, becoming the iconic portrayer of Dracula entirely and ceasing to appear as anyone else for the entirety of the film. The realism combined with the emotionality of the role no doubt helped him win the Oscar, but I can’t help but agree with the choice, as he is easily the best part of this film.
Fans of Tim Burton’s style will no doubt also find plenty to love about Ed Wood. Johnny Depp’s performance is one of his more unique, taking on a fairly straightforward role as the eccentric director whose only major quirk was his love of dressing in drag – one of the tamer characters Depp has portrayed for the director. The film’s black and white palate and plentiful sound stage props, though in homage to the film’s inspiration, also act as familiar reminders of Burton’s involvement with the filmmaking. In this case, Burton’s iconic production design serves to endear viewers to the subject of the film, as the love for Burton’s style gets extended by proxy to Wood.
Excellent production design, a solid performance from Depp as the leading man, and a scene-stealing Bela Lugosi from Martin Landau are the hallmarks that have made Ed Wood a standby in great biopics and one of the Greatest Films of All Time. Despite taking some liberties with the facts, the film remains a quality biopic, full of comedy, drama, and interesting tidbits sure to please most audiences. This film is currently available to rent on most streaming services if you’re looking for a place to watch it.
