Directed by: Tim Burton
Starring: Johnny Depp, Martin Landau, Sarah Jessica Parker, Jeffrey Jones, Lisa Marie, George "The Animal" Steele, Bill Murray, Patricia Arquette
Edward Wood, Jr. (1924-1978) is famous, or infamous, for writing and directing some of the worst films ever made. His most famous example of such filmmaking was Plan 9 from Outer Space (1956), which I first saw in the early 1980's along with my dad and uncle, who cracked up at nearly every scene's ineptitude, lack of cohesive narrative, and laughable dialogue. I joined them in their laughter. Yes, the movie was awful, but at least I could have some fun watching how awful it was. Then, you have a movie like Caligula (1980), released two years after Wood's death (and not made by Wood), which was awful, but also vile and creepy. It was no fun to watch. I watched the film in appalled silence until I finally couldn't stomach anymore and shut it off. There are Ed Wood's bad movies and then there is Caligula bad. I would take Wood's any day of the week.
Ed Wood, directed by Tim Burton, clearly loves its subject and loves the art of moviemaking, no matter how terrible the finished products may be. Burton admires Wood's never-say-die spirit in making and promoting films he believed were masterpieces just waiting to be discovered. The studios watch a movie like Glen or Glenda (in which Wood starred as a transvestite) and think someone is playing a prank on them. Wood, insistent on the film's greatness, manages to somehow secure distribution for the stinker and much to the chagrin of the distributor, who specialized in films that aspire to be B-movies someday.
No matter. Wood's next project is one that he believes will transcend the science fiction genre and make him immortal. That project was Plan 9 and it surely did make him immortal. To Wood, any immortality was good, because he wasn't in on the joke everyone else seemed to laugh at when it came to his films. Wood (Depp) soon encounters his idol Bela Lugosi (Landau), whose best days in Hollywood are clearly behind him and spends his days in his bungalow addicted to morphine. He and Wood strike up a friendship and Wood is able to coax him out of retirement for another film. Lugosi seemed infected with Wood's enthusiasm and even enters a rehab to clean up.
Oh, and did I mention Wood himself was a real-life transvestite, which caused plenty of tension between he and his leading lady/girlfriend Delores Fuller (Parker)? Delores longs to be taken seriously as an actress but is stuck doing Wood's films. And here she thought he was just trying on her angora sweaters for research. Delores knows the films are really, really bad, but she is trying to be supportive. Soon, the whole life of being Ed Wood's gal is too much for her, and she splits the scene.
In scrounging up financing for Plan 9, Wood makes deals with local Christian groups who have no clue Plan 9 is a film about dead people being resurrected as zombies by aliens who wish to take over the world. They hear resurrection and think of Jesus. Wood casts the most bizarre, eclectic group of "actors" you would ever see. These include wrestler Tor Johnson (Steele), an uncoordinated oaf who lumbers through his scenes and bumps into walls; Bunny Breckinridge (Murray), a gay man who laughingly plays the villain; Vampira (Lisa Marie) a late-night TV horror film host, and of course Lugosi himself, whose scenes are inexplicable. In real life, Lugosi died shortly after filming began and Wood replaced him with his chiropractor, who was significantly taller than Lugosi and younger. No matter. Wood asked the guy to hold his cape over his face during all of his scenes.
Johnny Depp is the perfect choice for Burton's vision of Wood: forever optimistic, rarely demoralized, and a repository of self-confidence and belief in his own genius. Wood didn't need rose-colored glasses because for him the world itself was already rose-colored. The movie wouldn't work if Burton and Depp somehow mocked Wood. No, they clearly love him and all of his delusions. Maybe that is the only way Wood didn't crawl up into a ball and cry his day away. Hollywood has done that to people with far, far more talent than Wood.
Martin Landau won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his performance. He, like Wood, is a true believer in his own acting genius. ("Boris Karloff couldn't smell my shit.") Maybe that is how he and Wood got along so well, long after the rest of Hollywood wrote Lugosi off as an old, broken-down junkie. The movie is a loving tribute not just to Wood, but a Hollywood gone by in which such B-movies could be made, distributed, and even turned into minor hits. In 1980, the book The Golden Turkey Awards named Plan 9 from Outer Space as the worst film ever made. Yes, the movie is incompetent and poorly made. Yes, it has laughably bad production values, including slipshod editing and scenes in which Wood seemingly only shot one take. But to me, really bad films are absolutely, unendurably painful to watch. I'd be lying if I said Plan 9 was such a movie. In fact, I think I'd like to see it again.
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