Tim Burton Reveals His ‘Miss Peregrine’s’ Cameo Wasn’t Due To Vanity — ‘We Had No Money’
It isn’t rare for directors and filmmakers to make cameos in their films. However, fans of Tim Burton’s creations never really had glimpses of the storyteller in his movies. This is why eagle-eyed fans were surprised when Burton made a quick appearance in Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children.
He told Cinemablend that he never planned the cameo. He needed to do it because they lacked a lot of things that day. Burton told the site that he appeared on the final part of the movie because they were already short on budget and they lacked crew members. They needed to be quick and sneaky as well because they weren’t able to secure permission to film in the location.
“This one was out of necessity, because what happened was… this happened at the end. We had no money; we had no crew; we had no permits, so just a few of us snuck on to a couple of rides. [We] got kicked off the pier a few times. So it wasn’t out of vanity, it was more out of necessity.”
When further asked why he never really fancied appearing in his film despite the abundance of chances, he simply responded that he doesn’t like looking at himself.
Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children follows 16-year-old Jacob Portman who embarks on an adventure because of his grandfather’s tales about odd children. He then sees the children with uncanny characteristics. Miss Peregrine, played by Eva Green, is the head of the orphanage Jacob visited.
While 20th Century is positive that its earnings will soar higher, Burton’s latest work was also criticized by some who noted its lack of diversity. Just like Burton’s previous works, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children mostly had “white” cast members with the exception of Samuel L. Jackson who plays the role of an antagonist. Burton already addressed the backlash. He claimed that films do not always need to show diversity in them.
Speaking to Huffington Post, the filmmaker also shared his opinion about the studios’ current dependence on reboots, sequels, and adaptations of books. He said that “it feels entering a new era” because it’s now common for films to get a reboot every year. He revealed his dislike for the term “franchise.”
“Well, I do feel lucky to be part of something that felt new at the time. That was the days when the project felt like a new way of doing a superhero film, but also you’d never heard the term ‘franchise’ before. Ah, it was so pleasant not to hear that word. Is it a movie? Is it a fast-food chain? What are we talking about? What does ‘franchise’ mean?”
Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children is based on Ransom Riggs’ novel which made it to the New York Times‘ bestselling list following its release in 2011. The succeeding books in the series are titled Hollow City and Library of Souls.
Riggs told Moviefone that it felt like winning the lottery when he found out that Burton would direct the adaptation. He said it was surreal to see Burton turn the scenes from his novel into reality. The author said that he didn’t have any dealbreakers even if he was heavily involved in the development of the script. The only thing he wanted was to maintain the book’s spirit, something which the Alice in Wonderland director managed to do.
“Tim’s a visionary, and someone I have a huge amount of respect for, and I just trusted him implicitly. What was most important to me was that the heart and spirit of the book be preserved, and I’m convinced that he did that better than anyone else could have.”
It remains unknown if the producers will bring the remaining books in the series to cinemas.
[Featured Image by Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images]
