Before Edward Scissorhands, we pretty much just knew Johnny Depp as the 21 Jump Street bad boy, right? Well, Tim Burton honed Depp’s performance as Edward so much that we’ve got this cult classic film (and multiple other Burton/Depp collaborations) now. Hungry for some trivia, Scissorhead Stans? I got you!
1. Every time you see a dog get a crazy haircut? Well, that was real. You couldn’t really fake pet fur back in the 90’s while still keeping it looking authentic. Those poor pooches just had to grow their cursed cuts out.
2. While the scenery would give you the idea it’s suburban California in the movie, it’s actually filmed in Tampa. Yeah. Florida. Imagine Depp in that costume around all that humidity and hair? Now I get his sad faces! He was going method!
3. Speaking of that suit, it wasn’t just patent leather and latex in that suit, even though costumes often rely just on that. There is black electrical tape (gaffer tape) and even swatches of Tim Burton’s leather couch cushions. If you were feeling bad for the heat stroke before? This may just REALLY make you pity him.
(20th Century Fox)
4. The windows in the housing facades were purposely made smaller in order to give the neighborhood a more ‘paranoid’ and anxious look. Squinty windows are terrifying!
5. Those topiaries that Edward would craft were not living bush art but steel, metal mesh and wire with artificial green bushes rooted through them. They were touched up with single branches and leaves being poked into spots before being trimmed down.
6. In Tim Burton’s notes, the colors of the neighborhood and costuming are meant to be creamy pastels like a dreamy abandoned carnival with faded paint. It provides a good contrast for Edward both visually and in iconography.
(20th Century Fox)
7. In “How Would THAT Work!?” news: Both Michael Jackson and Jim Carrey were considered for the role of Edward. Burton had zero interest in working with either individual at the time, stating there was too much attention to Jackson’s star power and that Carrey was too physical comedy for such a stoic role.
8. Burton got special effects master Stan Winston (of Aliens and The Terminator fame) to work on the film after being shot down by Rick Baker who was working on Gremlins 2: The New Batch at the time. I know, personally, I can’t even imagine how Baker would’ve done the effects better than Winston.
9. The castle, gorgeously dark and looming? It was a tiny model that was mounted in shots to be seen in the car’s rear view mirror.
(20th Century Fox)
10. The suit Johnny Depp wore was so stifling and overheated, and since he refused the cooling units they made for the suit, he would end up throwing up after certain takes from overheating. One such scene: The bit where Edward is being chased down a street by a car and he got sick so frequently during that scene being shot that assistants would run out from behind the scenery with trashcans and water to help him recover after each take. Talk about commitment!
