Corpse Bride has risen
<img class=”alignleft” src=”http://johnaugust.com/Assets/corpsebride_small.jpg” alt=”Corpse Bride /> Corpse Bride is in theaters starting today — if you live in Los Angeles, New York or Toronto. For the rest of North America, and other parts of the world, you can begin seeing it next week, September 23rd.
Last night, I spoke at USC’s 466 class, which screens a different film each week. At the Q & A afterwards, host Leonard Maltin talks with someone involved with the picture, often an alumni. I used to be in the class, so it’s bewildering to realize this was my sixth 466 (after Go, Charlie’s Angels, Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle, Big Fish, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory).
In many ways, this was the easiest of all the classes I’ve spoken at, because with this film I don’t have as much of that please-please like it I beg you instinct. I feel much less ownership of Corpse Bride than the others. Don’t get me wrong — I’m proud of it — but working in animation is inherently much more collaborative in terms of story. For starters, I was the third writer to work on it, after Caroline Thompson and Pamela Pettler. Then there’s a whole department called “Story,” whose job it is to figure out how to convert the screenplay into storyboards, and along the way, a lot gets changed and rearranged. Altogether, it’s much less “my” movie than the others.
But it was a lot of work.
Often, I’d get storyboards from London for scenes that were about to shoot, and would have a day or less to tweak the dialogue before an actor would record the needed lines. Whenever I visited the stages outside London, most of my time was spent watching the scenes already shot, and discussing with the rest of the team how to handle this moment or that. At absolutely no point could I get precious about things needing to stick closer to how they were written. I was there to help, so I helped where I could. I felt like a craftsman rather than artist, and that’s fine.
Reviews so far have been really good, so here’s hoping it gets a good reception. A lot of people ask me, “Isn’t it too scary for kids?” Not really. If your kids like Halloween, they’ll be fine. It’s never gory, and the Land of the Dead stuff is pretty light and breezy.
Corpse Bride article in Script magazine
New, longer Corpse Bride trailer up
Articles
September 16th, 2005 at 11:55 am
I saw it at the Venice film festival, and it was sublime!!! It is just my opinion, but I believe you contributed in creating a timeless classic like The Nightmare Before Christmas. Keep up your excellent work John, I simply adored Charlie And The Chocolate Factory and I can’t help it but feel exactly the same towards The Corpse Bride!!!
A fan of yours, Giacomo
September 16th, 2005 at 4:04 pm
Hey John, I was in Maltin’s class last night. Just wanted to thank you for coming and say I thoroughly enjoyed the film. The artistry involved in creating it just floored me.
September 16th, 2005 at 4:31 pm
I’m looking forward to it. Actually, it’s one of the only films I’ve been looking forward to for months now.
sigh
September 17th, 2005 at 1:32 am
Hey John I’m very glad to meet and wish you the best sharing with the audience for this hard up worked script. Sincerely to your talent! I’m french and mine english is dubious. The “Corpse bride” is previous on december 19th in France. Bonne journée à vous, * Val *
September 17th, 2005 at 3:27 pm
I just moved to SoCal and I’m very psyched that I now live in one of the “select cities” that I’ve so long envied. I’m gonna check it out this weekend, looks great.
September 25th, 2005 at 5:28 pm
Hey John,
Just got back from seeing it last night – I most thoroughly enjoyed it! The animation… oh, the eye-dropping, stunningly beautiful, gorgeous animation. Wow. Danny Elfman’s music and songs (and your lyrics, too!) were without flaw, and the whole film was a trippy, fun romp through the living and dead.
I’d like to ask: which of you clever screenwriters or story artists wrote the tremendously wonderful “Lord of the Rings” joke for sir Christopher Lee? I’m not one to oogle over “Lord of the Rings” pop culture references in society, but I really must say, mate, that was one well-pulled-off gem of a joke there.
Thanks, John, for your great contribution to an excellent movie!
October 14th, 2005 at 3:58 am
There’s an article on the Guardian’s film website about Gothic films, specifically talking about The Brothers Grimm and Corpse Bride.
There is a brief mention of John in the article (as a collaborator with Caroline Thompson)