Talk:Ed Wood (film)
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[edit] Importance
Won two oscars, regarded as burtons best work, on imdb top 250 Andman8 23:17, 16 July 2006 (UTC)
There is no direct link to "Plane 9" article? Is there any reason for this? --achab 13:30, 4 September 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Quotes
Perhaps a quote section should be added, having seen the movie quite a few times there a lot of memorable and funny quotes throughout the movie that I would be more than happy to add to.
[edit] Factual Inaccuracies
Shouldn't we move it down a bit perhaps? 83.67.217.254 19:18, 24 March 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Berle or Skelton?
The incident mentioned in the Bela Lugosi Factual Inaccuracies section is stated to have occurred on the Milton Berle Show, but the Bela Lugosi WP article says that it occurred on the Red Skelton Show. Here is the exact quote from the Bela Lugosi article: Late in Lugosi's life, comedian Red Skelton invited Lugosi to appear on a live CBS telecast. As was depicted in the Tim Burton film Ed Wood, Lugosi (portrayed by Martin Landau in an Oscar-winning role) had learned the script for a skit and was confused when Skelton began to ad lib. However, Burton, did not actually identify the comedian in the biopic, although the events depicted were correct. Hi There 12:31, 2 April 2007 (UTC)
[edit] At Worst or At Best?
The Bela Lugosi Factual Errors section contains the following statement: Lugosi never expressed his opinion of Boris Karloff. At best, they could be called professional rivals, but certainly not enemies. This is simply incorrect usage; I have changed "at best" to "at worst". Hi There 12:38, 2 April 2007 (UTC)
Changing "at worst" to "at most" is also incorrect English usage. So I have changed it back to "at worst".Hi There 21:25, 22 April 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Libel-esque Material
I know you can't, legally speaking, libel dead people but some of the claims made in the "fictions" section are downright disgusting. Considering how there's not even a hint of a source for this stuff, I am going to remove a few of the more outrageous claims. Do not replace unless you have some evidence to back these smears up. --Do Not Talk About Feitclub (contributions) 09:48, 12 January 2008 (UTC)
[edit] Fictions
Since this is largely unreferenced, I'm moving this section here until it can be properly cited and sourced. --J.D. (talk) 20:48, 29 January 2008 (UTC)
Although the film is avowedly stylized and heightened for comic effect, most of the major events it depicts are substantial departures from truth:
In Burton's film, Dolores Fuller learns of Wood's transvestitism after reading the screenplay for Glen or Glenda. In reality, she remained unaware until the film was finished.
Wood did not meet Bela Lugosi coming out of a funeral parlor wearing his Dracula cape: they met when Wood looked him up in the phone book, called Lugosi and was invited over for a visit, and met him in slacks and an open collar shirt in Lugosi's small home. In general, Lugosi did not go about Los Angeles in his cape, nor did he visit funeral parlors or sleep in coffins.
We see Wood (Johnny Depp) dressed as a woman doing an Arabian-type dance at the wrap party for Bride of the Monster, and later directing Plan 9 dressed in drag. These events did not happen, but Wood did double for leading lady Mona McKinnon in one brief exterior shot.
The film implies that Glen or Glenda was the first film ever written or directed by Wood. In reality, Wood wrote and directed Streets of Laredo in 1948; wrote, produced and directed The Sun Was Setting in 1951 and wrote Lawless Rider in 1952.
Burton depicts Tor Johnson as a newcomer to the movies whom Wood "discovers" around the time of the production of Bride of the Monster in 1955. In fact, Johnson had acted in films since at least 1934, appearing in a number of films in uncredited roles.
Johnson is also seen at the premiere of Plan 9 from Outer Space with two plump young children (this was a sight gag) when, in reality, his children were adults by that time. In fact his son secured the use of the police car for the film.
Loretta King is shown getting the lead role in Bride of the Monster, over Dolores Fuller, but due to a story of her financing the film.
Wood was a roommate of b-film importer and producer Alex Gordon at the time "Bride of the Monster" was conceived and produced and, in fact, it was Gordon, not Wood, who wrote the story and screenplay. Yet Gordon is not even mentioned by Burton, much less included as a significant character in Wood's life at the time.
No one stole the rubber octopus, or anything else, from Republic Pictures. It was rented, along with the three cars which appear prominently in "Bride of the Monster", and other props and costumes.
The Baptist ministers who sponsored Plan 9 were not opposed to the title Graverobbers From Outer Space. The exact circumstances are unknown, but the film, which took three years to release, was distributed as Plan 9 From Outer Space without any involvement of the congregation. It is possible that Wood, or his distributor, were trying to avoid paying royalties. [1]
In addition, although Wood and the principal cast really was baptized, only Tor Johnson's baptismal took place in a pool due to his size.
Bunny Breckinridge is depicted as an old friend of Ed Wood's, but in fact they did not meet until the filming of Plan 9, after being introduced through mutual friend Paul Marco. Similarly, Marco was in fact introduced to Wood by Criswell.
The homosexuality of several Wood "regulars" was entirely omitted in the film.
In order to give the film a somewhat uplifting ending, the script takes its most serious licenses at the end. Wood never met Orson Welles at the Musso & Frank Grill,[2] though this scene was most likely done to suggest common troubles between the two directors, despite their widely differing status in the film world. However, Welles is shown griping about the casting of Touch of Evil (1958) which was not in production in 1956.
Plan 9 also did not have the glamorous premiere depicted. In fact it was not released at all until three years after its completion.
[edit] Bela Lugosi Fictions
Most points of contention, if any, with the film's liberties have had to do with the depiction of Bela Lugosi. Lugosi's son, Bela Lugosi Jr. initially disapproved of his father's portrayal in the film, despite not having seen it. After a long correspondence with Martin Landau, Lugosi, Jr. was persuaded to view the film in Landau's company, after which he declared that Landau had "honored" his father with his portrayal, and the actor and the late star's son became friends as a result. Among the inaccuracies:
Being an old fashioned European, Lugosi was not prone to fits of swearing, particularly in front of women. When Tim Burton realized how funny it sounded hearing Lugosi shout curse words, he decided to clean up the language of the other characters to spotlight the joke.[verification needed]
Lugosi was well known for his courtly manners and professional behavior on the set. The expletive-filled tirade over Boris Karloff as depicted during the filming of Glen or Glenda is fictitious. Lugosi, in fact, was never known to swear.
Also in the Glen or Glenda segment, a makeup artist notices a row of needle marks on Lugosi's forearm. He was a morphine addict but did not inject into his arms. Instead, he injected the drug into his lower leg and covered the needle marks with band-aids. While getting his makeup applied he was actually afraid someone would notice the band-aids. (Source: Lugosi: The Man Behind the Cape, by Robert Cremer, Henry Regnery Co. 1976.)
Lugosi is depicted as living in the Baldwin Hills neighborhood in southwestern Los Angeles. In reality, Lugosi lived in Los Feliz, a Los Angeles neighborhood near Hollywood, at the time, and never lived in Baldwin Hills. This inaccuracy in the film may have been a deliberate choice on Burton's part, because of Burton's love of 1950s suburban architecture, quite common in Baldwin Hills, most of which was developed after World War II, but rare in Los Feliz, which was developed in the 1910s and 1920s.
The scene of Lugosi freezing up on television is loosely based on a 1954 incident on Milton Berle's show. Berle began ad-libbing and Lugosi, being almost deaf at this point and a stickler to scripts, simply continued his dialogue while attempting to ignore Berle. Though a very awkward moment, the sketch did not grind to a halt as shown in the film.[verification needed]
The attempted suicide by Lugosi depicted in the film is based on an account given by Ed Wood, but his is the only testimony of this incident. Most of Lugosi's friends and family have stated that he was deeply afraid of death and suicide would be completely against his nature.
Wood had no direct connection with Lugosi entering a rehabilitation center, though he did visit him often.
The account of Lugosi having to leave the hospital prematurely is only partially accurate. Lugosi was asked to leave the Motion Picture Country Home Hospital due to ineligibility after three weeks, so he quickly checked into Los Angeles General Hospital. There, he made a full recovery and newsreel footage exists of him leaving under his own power. In the interview, an ebullient Lugosi expresses his eagerness to start work on Wood's The Ghoul Goes West. (Source: This and other interviews were released as The Lugosi Files by Sinister Cinema.)
In the film, the famous footage of Lugosi picking a flower takes place outside Lugosi's house. In reality, the house belonged to Tor Johnson.
The Burton film depicts Lugosi as dying alone and miserable. Lugosi's wife of 20 years, Lillian, did leave him in 1953, but he remarried in 1955 to Hope Lininger. They were together until his death a year later, albeit the marriage was largely unsuccessful. This fact, plus any reference to Lugosi's teenage son, Bela Jr., are omitted.
In the bio-pic, Lugosi's funeral is attended only by Ed Wood and his acolytes. In reality, Lugosi's funeral was well-attended by his family and numerous friends, though the ceremony was comparatively low-key to most Hollywood funerals.
