Trailer
Plot summary
Ed Wood wants to direct movies, but the industry will not give him a chance. Producer George Weiss is trying to buy the life story of Christine Jorgensen, and Ed asks to direct that picture; Weiss turns him down. Ed then meets Bela Lugosi, the horror star he has admired for years, and the two become friends. Ed persuades Weiss that a famous name will sell tickets and can be hired cheaply, and Weiss agrees. When Ed shows the finished script to his girlfriend, Dolores Fuller, he tells her a secret he has kept since childhood: he wears women's clothing for comfort. Dolores has trouble accepting it.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Ed Wood (1994)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Ed Wood was in development at Columbia Pictures until studio head Mark Canton put it into turnaround in April 1993, a month before the original start date, after director Tim Burton insisted on shooting the film in black-and-white.
- Tim Burton refused a salary for directing Ed Wood and was never paid for his work on it, while Disney granted him total creative autonomy and did not think the film was much of a risk.
- For Martin Landau's Bela Lugosi, makeup artist Rick Baker avoided heavy appliances and used only a set of ears, a nose, a chin and an upper-lip piece, so Landau could act and show emotion with his own face.
- Johnny Depp built his Ed Wood performance by studying Jack Haley's Tin Man in The Wizard of Oz and the acting of Mickey Rooney, Ronald Reagan and Casey Kasem, watching Reagan speeches because he felt Reagan had a blind optimism perfect for the role.
- Michael Lehmann was chosen to direct Ed Wood but had to give up the job because of scheduling conflicts with his film Airheads, and Tim Burton took over as director.
- Although Tim Burton had made six films with composer Danny Elfman, he hired Howard Shore to score Ed Wood after their relationship became strained while Burton finished the score for Batman Returns.
- Martin Landau won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for Ed Wood and also won Best Supporting Actor at the first Screen Actors Guild Awards, while Rick Baker won an Oscar for the film as well.
