Tim Burton and Johnny Depp were previously a long-standing duo known for the many films they collaborated on together over the years like Edward Scissorhands, Corpse Bride, Sweeney Todd, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and Alice in Wonderland, just to name a few. It’s been over a decade since their last movie, 2012’s Dark Shadows, but Tim Burton was recently asked if he’d team up with Johnny Depp again. The good news for fans of the iconic duo is that the answer is apparently yes. While there’s no confirmation about the type of project, the filmmaker made it pretty clear that it’s very likely to happen.
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Director-actor partnerships aren’t uncommon, but Burton and Depp were practically pioneers in this sense. They started working together in the 1990s and won fans worldwide with the great results they’ve delivered as a team. “Well, I’m sure there will be,” Burton told IndieWire when asked about the opportunity of working with Depp again. It’s worth noting this isn’t the first time he’s addressed the subject, as he was previously asked about it back in 2022 when Depp was in a legal battle with his ex-wife, Amber Heard.
However, during the interview at the Marrakech International Film Festival, Burton also made it clear that his process doesn’t really involve pre-selecting actors before starting a movie. For him, it’s all about finding the right fit for the project.
“I never feel like, ‘Oh, I’m going to use this and that actor,’” he explained. “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.”
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Tim Burton also took the chance to clarify what fans might expect from this news. A new collaboration with Depp could very well suggest a possible sequel – like Edward Scissorhands, one of Burton’s most beloved films, which many fans hope could get a follow-up. However, Burton shut down that idea.
“There are certain films I don’t want to make a sequel to,” he said. “I didn’t want to make a sequel to that because it felt like a one-off thing. I didn’t want to have a sequel for The Nightmare Before Christmas because it also felt like a one-off thing. Certain things are best left on their own and that for me is one of them.”
Recently Depp has faced major career challenges following his lengthy legal battle with Heard. Though he’s starred in projects like Minamata and Jeanne du Barry, the results haven’t been all that positive, and he’s yet to regain his former status in the industry. A new project with Burton could be just what he needs to turn things around. Most of their collaborations have been hits with audiences. Maybe this is the perfect time for it, especially in the shadow of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice as the sequel has become Burton’s biggest box office hit in a decade and one of 2024’s major commercial successes.
For now, Burton is gearing up to direct a remake of Attack of the 50 Foot Woman from a script by Gillian Flynn. But do his upcoming plans already include Depp? We’ll have to wait and see.