Meeting Your Hero: Tim Burton & Vincent Price On The Set Of EDWARD SCISSORHANDS

Tim Burton‘s Edward Scissorhands is probably the most Tim Burton-y movie that the director has ever made. Danny Elfman score – check. Johnny Depp – check. German Expressionism visuals – check. Plot about a misunderstood outsider – check?

The 1990 fantasy film stars Johnny Depp as Edward, an unfinished creation left with scissors for hands when his Inventor (Vincent Price) dies.

Burton wrote the story with Caroline Thompson (who penned the screenplay) and he has always said that it was a biographical piece, about growing up in California and feeling like an outsider. Burton found solace in old horror movies in his youth and one of his heroes was the great Vincent Price, who was cast as The Inventor in Edward Scissorhands. The film would be Price’s final screen role (he passed away in 1993), but it’s a fitting send-off for the horror icon. 

The above image shows Burton and Price working together on the film’s set. Burton’s 1994 film, Ed Wood was another autobiographical piece about infamous B-movie director Edward D. Wood Jr. (Johnny Depp) befriending horror star Bela Lugosi (Martin Landau). It’s not difficult to imagine what attracted him to making that film.