EVENTS: Tim Burton's Opening Night Benefit

By Karen Jones, Special to Metromix

The stars descended on MoMA with ghoulish delight to honor one of Hollywood’s most distinctive directors and celebrate “Tim Burton” a new exhibit opening Sunday, November 22. A fan of early monster movies and film icons such as Vincent Price, Tim Burton expertly melds his special brew of gothic fantasy with German Expressionism, with a repertoire that includes “Edward Scissorhands (Vincent Price starred with Johnny Depp), “Batman”, “Batman Returns”, “Planet of the Apes” (2001 remake) “The Nightmare Before Christmas”, “Mars Attacks!”, “Sleepy Hollow”, “Sweeney Todd” and more. “Alice in Wonderland” is due in theaters 2010.

Though Burton admits he has had “a lot of great things happen to him” this exhibit “tops it all. It’s amazing and surreal.” Sponsored by the rebranded Syfy, “Tim Burton” covers decades of the dark auteur’s notebooks, paintings, doodles, story notes, puppets, animations, student films, movie props, costumes and more—many never seen before.

The good news is fans will not be disappointed. Like his movies the exhibit pieces are delightfully bizarre. So much so that Glenn Lowry, director of MoMA, jokes “The Museum may never be the same again.” MoMA is also screening all of Burton’s films, plus some of the movies that influenced him including the original “Frankenstein”, “The Omega Man”, and “The Brain That Wouldn’t Die.” A companion hardcover book, “The Art of Tim Burton” is also available. For information call 212-708-9400 or visit www.moma.org.