Brooke Bunny
Tim Burton will direct Christoph Waltz and Amy Adams in the long-gestating “Big Eyes”, Deadline reported this morning.
Based on an acclaimed script by Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewsk, the film – which the Weinstein Company are in talks to distribute – will see Waltz and Adams play Margaret and Walter Keane, the artists behind those mass-marketed paintings of wide-eyed children of the ’50s and ’60s. These paintings were staples of the American “Gas” station.
“While Walter was the marketing genius, he also took the bows for doing the brush work”, says Deadline, “He was a full fledged celebrity, a regular on the TV talk show circuit. His shy wife was the actual artist in the family. When they split and she tried to get her due, he painted her as being eccentric, and they ended up in court. There, a judge finally provided them with two easels and ordered them to prove it. Walter’s art reputation went down on the canvas when he begged off because of what he said was pain in his arm. She whipped up one of her trademark big-eyed works.”
Alexander and Karaszewski, who worked with Burton on “Ed Wood”, had originally intended to direct the movie themselves (and had Ryan Reynolds and Reese Witherspoon in mind to play the leads); Burton, originally a producer, has stepped up to direct – and with him, brings some bigger names to play the lead characters.
This will be Burton’s next project, which means either we’ll be waiting quite a bit longer for the “Beetlejuice” sequel – that he’s involved in – or, and is more likely the case, he’ll simply produce that one.
