Tim Burton has revealed that he considered retiring before Netflix‘s Wednesday reignited his career.
Speaking to Variety, the director said that after the release of Dumbo in 2019, he was unsure if he’d continue making films: “I really didn’t know. I thought that could have been it, really. I could have retired, or become… well, I wouldn’t have become an animator again, that’s over.”
The Corpse’s Bride director said it was Wednesday that “reconnected me to making things.”
The Netflix series, which is a spin-off of the Addams Family starring Jenna Ortega, was created by screenwriters Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, with Burton joining as a director and executive producer.
“We went off to Romania and it felt like it was a creative health camp,” Burton recalled. “It went so well.”
Wednesday went on to become a huge success for Netflix, being streamed for a total of 341.2 million hours and beating the record previously held by Stranger Things. A second season of the series is expected to arrive on the streaming platform next year.
Elsewhere in the interview, the filmmaker revealed that he has no interest in directing another superhero movie, having previously helmed Batman (1989) and Batman Returns (1992) at the beginning of his career.
“I come at things from different points of view, so I would never say never to anything. But, at the moment, it’s not something I’d be interested in,” he said.
“I was lucky because at that time, the word ‘franchise’ didn’t exist. Batman felt slightly experimental at the time… It deviated from what the perception [of a superhero movie] might be.”
Up next, Burton is set to release the long-awaited Beetlejuice Beetlejuice starring Michael Keaton and Jenna Ortega on September 6. The sequel also sees Winona Ryder and Catherine O’Hara return to their roles from the 1998 original.
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