Film Review #3. Ed Wood (1994)

The mostly true story of the legendary director of awful movies and his strange group of friends and actors.

Ed Wood is a 1994 American comedy-drama biopic directed and produced by Tim Burton, and starring Johnny Depp as cult filmmaker Ed Wood. The film concerns the period in Wood's life when he made his best-known films as well as his relationship with actor Bela Lugosi, played by Martin Landau. Sarah Jessica Parker, Patricia Arquette, Jeffrey Jones, Lisa Marie, and Bill Murray are among the supporting cast.

Director: Tim Burton
Writers: Rudolph Grey (book), Scott Alexander, 1 more credit »
Stars: Johnny Depp, Martin Landau, Sarah Jessica Parker

Plot

In 1952, Ed Wood (Johnny Depp) is struggling to join the film industry. Upon hearing of an announcement in Variety magazine that producer George Weiss (Mike Starr) is trying to purchase Christine Jorgensen's life story, Ed is inspired to meet Weiss in person. Weiss explains that Variety's announcement was a news leak, and it is impossible to purchase Jorgensen's rights. The producer decides to 'fictionalize' the film titled I Changed My Sex!, and "do it without the shemale". One day, Ed meets his longtime idol Béla Lugosi (Martin Landau), after spotting him trying out a casket. Ed drives Béla home and the two become friends. Later, Ed decides to star Béla in the film and convinces Weiss that he is perfect to direct I Changed My Sex! because he is a transvestite.
Ed and Weiss argue over the film's title: Weiss has already had the poster printed, which Ed changes to Glen or Glenda. After filming, the movie is released to critical and commercial failure. Because of this, Ed is unsuccessful in getting a job at Warner Bros., but Ed's girlfriend, Dolores Fuller (Sarah Jessica Parker), tells him that he should try financing his next film independently. Ed is unsuccessful in finding money for Bride of the Atom, but is introduced to the psychic The Amazing Criswell (Jeffery Jones).
At a bar, Ed meets Loretta King (Juliet Landau), who he thinks has enough money to fund Bride of the Atom and ends up casting her as the lead instead of Dolores as originally planned. Filming begins, but is halted. Ed convinces meat packing industry tycoon Don McCoy (Rance Howard) to take over funding the film, who agrees as long as the film stars his son Tony as the leading man and the film ends with an explosion. The filming of Bride of the Atom finishes, with the title being changed to Bride of the Monster, but Dolores breaks up with Ed after the wrap party, because of his circle of friends and transvestism. Also, Béla, who is revealed to be highly depressed and a morphine addict, attempts to conduct a double suicide with Ed, but is talked out of it. Béla checks himself into rehab, and Ed meets Kathy O'Hara (Patricia Arquette), who is visiting her father at the same hospital. Ed takes her on a date and reveals to her his transvestism, which she accepts.
Ed begins to shoot a film with Béla outside his home. When Ed and company attend the premiere for Bride of the Monster, an angry mob chases them out of the theater. Sometime later, Béla passes away, leaving Ed without a star. Ed convinces a church leader named Reynolds that funding Ed's script for Grave Robbers from Outer Space would result in a box office success, and generate enough money for Reynolds' dream project (the Twelve Apostles films). Dr. Tom Mason (Ned Bellamy), Kathy's chiropractor, is chosen to be Béla's stand-in for resembling Lugosi (with half his face covered). However, Ed and the Baptists begin having conflicts over the title and content of the script which they want to have changed to Plan 9 from Outer Space along with Ed's B movie directing style, his casting decisions and his transvestism. This causes a distressed Ed to leave the set and immediately take a taxi to the nearest bar, where he encounters his idol Orson Welles (Vincent D'Onofrio). Welles tells Ed that "visions are worth fighting for", and filming for Plan 9 finishes with Ed taking action against his producers. The film ends with the premiere of Plan 9, and Ed and Kathy taking off to Las Vegas, Nevada to get married.

Awards

Ed Wood was nominated for three Golden Globes: Best Musical or Comedy, Johnny Depp for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy and Martin Landau for Best Supporting Actor. Landau won in his category. Landau and Rick Baker won Academy Awards for their work on the film. Landau also won Best Supporting Actor at the first Screen Actors Guild Awards. Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski were nominated for Best Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen by the Writers Guild of America, which was a surprise as few predicted that it would be considered.The film was also nominated for the prestigious Grand Prix of the Belgian Syndicate of Cinema Critics.