Tim Burton needed to direct a musical remake of Home of Wax starring Michael Jackson

Tim Burton has a popularity for being a slightly eccentric particular person, so even he’ll admit that it’s a “unusual phenomenon” that he has had a lot success working inside the Hollywood studio system. However whereas he has had some nice successes, he has additionally had – like every filmmaker – tasks that he simply couldn’t get into manufacturing. One of the well-known of these misplaced tasks is Superman Lives, which is roofed within the video embedded above. A film Burton was going to direct with Nicolas Cage as Superman. Talking in a masterclass on the Lumière Competition, Burton revealed (as reported by Deadline) there’s one other entry on his record of misplaced tasks that sounds fairly attention-grabbing: a musical remake of Home of Wax that might have starred Michael Jackson!

Right here’s the passage that discusses the misplaced Home of Wax remake:

“I’ve labored for a number of months on issues that bought rejected,” he added. One challenge that go away he revealed was a musical model of the slasher film Home Of Wax with Michael Jackson. “They mentioned ‘no’. Are you able to consider that?” he mentioned with amusing, including that Jackson had been the one one really on board.

This really isn’t the primary time Burton has talked about his failed try and make Home of Wax with Michael Jackson, as he named it as his favourite misplaced challenge in an interview whereas doing press for his 2012 movie Frankenweenie. However it’s fascinating to listen to about nonetheless.

Burton was in all probability making an attempt to get his Home of Wax made someday earlier than the discharge of the 2005 slasher movie with that title. This may have been a remake of the 1953 basic starring Vincent Value, which was itself a remake of a 1933 basic known as Thriller of the Wax Museum, starring Lionel Atwill and Fay Wray. The 1953 movie has the next synopsis:

Wax sculptor Henry (Vincent Value) is horrified to study that his enterprise companion, Matthew (Roy Roberts), plans on torching their wax museum to gather on the insurance coverage coverage. Henry miraculously survives a fiery confrontation with Matthew and re-emerges some years therefore with a museum of his personal. However when the looks of Henry’s new wax sculptures happens on the similar time that quite a lot of corpses vanish from the town morgue, artwork pupil Sue Allen (Phyllis Kirk) begins suspecting wrongdoing.

In the course of the masterclass, Burton additionally mourned the lack of the “impartial spirit” that Hollywood had within the ’60s and ’70s, talked about his fondness for Johnny Depp (“He was a bit just like me, form of suburban, white trash, no matter – we related on some form of stage.”), and what it was wish to make Batman and Batman Returns.

It did really feel very thrilling to be at first of all of it. It’s wonderful how a lot it hasn’t actually modified in a way – the tortured superhero, bizarre costumes – however for me, on the time it was very thrilling. It felt new. The factor that’s humorous about it now could be, folks go ‘What do you consider the brand new Batman?’ and I begin laughing and crying as a result of I am going again to a time capsule, the place just about every single day the studios had been saying, ‘It’s too darkish, it’s too darkish’. Now it appears like a lighthearted romp.”

Burton says it has “gotten lots tougher” to get films made within the studio system, however he has seen some promising indicators for the long run. To learn extra of what he needed to say, click on over to Deadline.

Are you a fan of Tim Burton’s work, and do you would like he had been capable of make a Home of Wax musical with Michael Jackson? Share your ideas on this by leaving a remark under.