Tim Burton to head Cannes jury
.Visionary film director Tim Burton says his selection to head the jury at this year’s Cannes film festival is “a dream come true”.
“After spending my early life watching triple features and 48-hour horror-movie marathons, I’m finally ready for this,” he said in a statement.
Burton, 51, has created some of the darkest and most evocative movies in cinematic history, including Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands and Planet of the Apes.
The other eight members of the jury, who decide on the winner of the Palme d’Or for best film, will be announced in April, as will the movies selected to contend for the coveted prize. .
“He’s a magician,” said festival president Gilles Jacob, hailing Burton’s talent for bringing to life hauntingly beautiful filmscapes and edgy characters.
Warner hired him for the first Batman in 1989, which enabled him to move on to more personal projects, including Edward Scissorhands the following year and Nightmare before Christmas, which he produced.
Born Timothy Walter Burton, the first of his 14 feature films was Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure in 1985, but it was Beetlejuice in 1988 that threw the doors of Hollywood wide open.
His next feature, a 3D adaptation of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, starring his emblematic actor Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter, will be released in theatres in March.
Burton is also an illustrator, painter and photographer, and New York’s Museum of Modern Art currently features an exhibition of his work.
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