Tim Burton’s affinity for dogs has long been reflected in the many canine characters in his movies, and a new documentary about the his life touches on his fondness for pets.
In filmmaker Tara Wood’s four-part untitled documentary series about Beetlejuice director Burton, 66, his frequent collaborators talk about a photography series Burton created with his late Chihuahua Poppy, whom he shared with his ex-partner Lisa Marie — and how dogs pop up in “all of his creative projects.”
“Poppy, he and Lisa Marie picked up on a street in Tokyo,” film editor Chris Lebenzon, whose work with Burton dates back to 1992’s Batman Returns, says in the documentary’s second episode. “How do you get a dog back from Tokyo? Maybe somebody’s purse — I’m not sure. And [Poppy] was always with him.”
Burton was in a relationship with Marie from 1991 to 2001, when they abruptly split. Soon after, he began dating Helena Bonham Carter. Marie appeared in five of Burton’s movies while they were together, including Ed Wood, Mars Attacks!, Sleepy Hollow and Planet of the Apes, and Poppy made multiple onscreen appearances with Sarah Jessica Parker’s character in Mars Attacks!.
“He loves dogs. Pepper was his childhood dog,” Bonham Carter, whom Burton was in a relationship with between 2001 and 2014, says in the documentary. The pair share two children, including son Billy, 21, and daughter Nell, 17. “He’s always felt at ease with dogs. He said very early on in our relationship that he was a dog, so maybe that’s where he came from — dog land.”
Elsewhere in the documentary, Bonham Carter likens Burton to a dog while discussing his visual communication style. “[He is] entirely visual,” she says. “He doesn’t need words — that’s why he relates to a dog.”
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Burton’s 2012 movie Frankenweenie — an adaptation of his 1984 short film of the same title — was inspired by his relationship with dogs, as he told U.K. Screen in 2012.
“The film is based on a memory that I had when I was growing up and with my relationship with a dog that I had,” he told that outlet. “The great thing about expanding Frankenweenie is that thinking about other things that were personal, like the other kids that I remember and the teachers and the kind of place, so I put a lot of memories of things into the whole.”
Wood is still seeking distribution for the documentary, which premiered at the 2024 Tribeca Festival; the series also features interviews with Winona Ryder, Michael Keaton, Danny Elfman and more.
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