BurtonVerse: Revised: BTS and Stats & Trivia
BurtonVerse Theory: Revised
Timeline and Stats & Trivia
While I chose to post the entire revised BurtonVerse Theory last time, updates to behind the scenes, statistics and trivia will be in one go. The original Behind the Scenes post explains my approach if that is of any interest, and it did not change. From that post, I am simply going to share my revised timeline. I will also refer you to BurtonVerse: Stats & Trivia I: Actors and BurtonVerse Stats & Trivia II: Behind the Camera. I will only be providing updates here with some context, and this will be more a companion piece to those posts. One brief note regarding the original Stats & Trivia posts, since it had already released, I did include the first season of Wednesday in actor stats, which included a second credit for Christina Ricci, notable single credits for several actors, and a quick mention for Danny Elfman for score.
Timeline
Stats & Trivia: Actors
With newly released media from Tim Burton comes the possibility, nay likelihood, of actors he has worked with prior participating in some capacity. Granted, that is a given for Beetlejuice Beetlejuice since it is a sequel. Here are all the updates to repeat actors including the blurb that followed before, plus a few notable new ones from BB and the second season of Wednesday, two of which are now in the five-timers club, upgraded from honorable mention! (To note, Eva Green has been announced as Aunt Ophelia Frump for a third season of Wednesday, increasing her credits from three to four. Winona Ryder and Noah Taylor have also joined the third season cast, bringing the former to five and the latter to two after CATCF.)
Danny DeVito (5): Penguin (BR), Rude Gambler (MA!), Amos Callaway (BF), Max Medici (Dumbo), and Janitor (BB). He directed, produced, narrated and starred in 1996's Matilda, an adaptation of the Roald Dahl novel. Burton produced 1996's James and the Giant Peach, directed by Henry Selick (TNBC), and of course directed CATCF, also adaptations of Dahl novels.
Michael Keaton (5): Betelgeuse (Beetlejuice, BB), Batman / Bruce Wayne (Batman, BR), and
V. A. Vandevere (Dumbo). His five appearances are in three roles. He reprised the role of Batman in The Flash in 2023 and was set to do so in Batgirl before its release was canceled. He also portrayed Adrian Toomes / Vulture in Spider-Man: Homecoming and Morbius.
(Honorable Mention) Catherine O'Hara (4): Delia Deetz (Beetlejuice, BB), Sally [V], Shock [V] (TNBC), Mrs. Frankenstein [V], Weird Girl [V], Gym Teacher [V] (Fw12). Her four appearances are in six roles. She also stars in another Christmas classic, Home Alone, and its immediate sequel, as Kate McCallister, and cameo voiced Grandma Frump in 2019's The Addams Family. Sadly, O'Hara passed away earlier this year.
(Honorable Mention) Winona Ryder (4): Lydia Deetz (Beetlejuice, BB), Kim Boggs (ES), Elsa Van Helsing (Fw12). Her four appearances are in three roles. She also portrays both Elisabeta, Vlad Dracula's 15th century wife, and Mina Murray in 1992's Bram Stoker's Dracula. The surname of Elsa is of course a nod to the character Professor Abraham Van Helsing from the novel Dracula and its adaptations.
The following actors also increased their number of repeat appearances, from three to four: Philip Philmar (CATCF, ST, MP, BB) and from one to two: Steve Buscemi (BF, Wednesday), Anthony Michael Hall (ES, Wednesday), Joanna Lumley (CB, Wednesday), Jenna Ortega (Wednesday, BB), and Casper Van Dien (SH, Wednesday).
With thirteen, Batman Returns yet has the largest number of actors who appeared in at least one other film directed by Tim Burton. Mars Attacks! has eleven. Edward Scissorhands now has ten, along with Ed Wood and Alice in Wonderland. Still the one film with only one, Big Eyes has the fewest repeat actors. It was zero until Terrence Stamp was cast in Burton's next film, Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. There is an average of just over 6½ repeat actors per Burton film, though the "just over" is a bit more now.
There are also some updates to "Singled Out", those that have appeared in one and only one of Burton's releases and notable. Backing up to the first season of Wednesday, here is a selection of hand-picked actors with a title & role or two, with others in paragraph form to close out this section of the article. (In both segments, those in BB separate those introduced or solely in the first season of Wednesday from those introduced and potentially solely in the second season.)
Willem Dafoe (BB, Jackson): Spider-Man trilogy, etc., Green Goblin / Norman Osborn; Finding Nemo and its spinoff, etc., Gill [V]
Others not in the list above include Fred Armisen, Luis Guzmán, Jamie McShane (all Wednesday), Burn Gorman (BB), Lady Gaga, Thandiwe Newton, Haley Joel Osment, and Joonas Suotamo (all Wednesday).
Stats & Trivia: Behind the Camera
The Writers' Room: Alfred Gough and Miles Millar are the series creators for Wednesday and are credited as writers, though not always just the two of them, on seven of sixteen episodes. They also contributed to the story and wrote the screenplay for Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. Often working together, they had previously developed and contributed writing to another teen drama based on an established intellectual property, Smallville (2001-2011). This series began with Clark Kent's high school years, and its in-universe ten years took place prior to his becoming Superman.
Score!: Danny Elfman continues to be Tim Burton's composer of choice, including for the main theme and music to Wednesday and Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. Chris Bacon composed seven episodes of Wednesday with Elfman. Bacon has also worked with Elfman on other projects, including contributing additional music to the Burton-produced Alice Through the Looking Glass, and to Dumbo. He also is credited with additional music arrangements for BB.
Studio Involvement: Netflix distributed both seasons of Wednesday with production involvement from MGM Television, while Warner Bros. Pictures distributed Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. "Messing with the logo" continues as well, though Netflix commonly alters their logo for popular programming. With the second season of Wednesday came a proper variant. Thing skitters through a graveyard before forced perspective forms an "N" from three tombstones. Thing snaps twice in true The Addams Family fashion and a purple "N" traces the tombstones, and the screen quickly dissolves into the black background and red Netflix "N" as the "tudum" plays. The lines are purple for the finishing zoom. For Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, the current Warner Bros. Pictures logo sequence is black & white. A portion of Donna Summers' version of "MacArthur Park" plays over it as well as over the Geffen Company logo that follows.
Tim Burton and...Adam Sandler?: Yes, even this oddity has an addition. I will first name a skipped one from last time and then the new one. Luis Guzmán (Wednesday, Gomez Addams) was in the Sandler vehicle Anger Management as Lou. Haley Joel Osment (Wednesday, Kansas City Scalper) was in last year's Happy Gilmore 2. It is worth noting that Adam Sandler and Fred Armisen (Wednesday, Uncle Fester) were both cast members of Saturday Night Live but not simultaneously, separated by some seven years.
Next up...Retro Review: Superman!
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