To all the film buffs out there, here’s some news that will really make your day. Tim Burton treated lucky fans at a film festival Q&A yesterday to a bit of behind-the-scenes trivia when he revealed that he got the idea for his 1990 film, Edward Scissorhands, from scissors.
“You might be interested to know that the movie Edward Scissorhands owes a large creative debt to scissors,” Burton told the audience of festivalgoers. “The movie is largely based on the idea of scissors and having scissors for hands, and the concept of having scissors for hands came from scissors and me thinking about scissors.”
The legendary director was even generous enough to talk through the evolution of the movie idea that would eventually become the Edward Scissorhands we know and love.
“I was sitting in my office looking at a pair of scissors, and I eventually realized that I could write a movie about a man who was looking at a pair of scissors,” Burton said. “Then I realized that I might not even need the scissors. Why not get rid of the scissors entirely and just make a movie about a man? I decided to cut the scissors out of the film. But the concept of ‘cutting’ reminded me of something else that cuts: scissors. This gave me an idea: What if the man in my movie had scissors attached to his wrists instead of hands? The rest is history.”
Burton went on to explain that the role that scissors play in Edward Scissorhands cannot be overstated.
“Scissors are incredibly important to the whole film,” the director said. “I reference scissors in nearly every scene of Edward Scissorshands, and scissors play a central role in several crucial plot points of the movie, such as the scene where Vincent Price’s character gets stabbed with scissors and the scene where Johnny Depp’s character has scissors for hands. It’s also worth noting that the main character of the film is actually named Edward Scissorhands, which is a name that is partly based on scissors.”
“Basically, without scissors, the movie Edward Scissorhands as we know it today would not exist,” Burton added. “It would be a very different movie.”
Incredible! It’s amazing to see the creative process of a master director at work. Here’s hoping we get another fascinating glimpse into Tim Burton’s twisted mind sometime soon!
