Mars Attacks!

Mars Attacks!

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Tim Burton
Produced by Tim Burton
Larry J. Franco
Written by Jonathan Gems
Uncredited:
Scott Alexander
Larry Karaszewski
Tim Burton
Starring Jack Nicholson
Glenn Close
Annette Bening
Pierce Brosnan
Danny DeVito
Martin Short
Sarah Jessica Parker
Rod Steiger
Tom Jones
Lukas Haas
Natalie Portman
Jim Brown
Lisa Marie
Sylvia Sidney
Pam Grier
Music by Danny Elfman
Cinematography Peter Suschitzky
Editing by Chris Lebenzon
Studio Tim Burton Productions
Distributed by Warner Bros.
Release date(s) United States/Canada:
December 13, 1996
Australia:
February 20, 1997
New Zealand:
February 27, 1997
United Kingdom:
February 28, 1997
Running time 106 min.
Country United States
Language English
Budget $100 million
Gross revenue $101.37 million

Mars Attacks! is a 1996 comedy science fiction film directed by Tim Burton and based on the cult trading card series of the same name. The film uses elements of black comedy, romantic comedy, surreal humor and political satire, and is also a parody of multiple science fiction B movies. The film has an ensemble cast which includes Jack Nicholson, Lukas Haas, Annette Bening, Jim Brown, Pierce Brosnan, Sarah Jessica Parker, Glenn Close, Martin Short, Michael J. Fox, Jack Black, Natalie Portman, Rod Steiger, Tom Jones, Danny DeVito, and Christina Applegate.

Director Tim Burton and writer Jonathan Gems began development for Mars Attacks! in 1993, and Warner Bros. purchased the film rights to the trading card series on Burton's behalf. When Gems turned in his first draft in 1994, Warner Bros. commissioned rewrites from Gems, Burton, Martin Amis, Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski in an attempt to lower the budget to $60 million. The final production budget came to $80 million, while Warners spent another $20 million on the Mars Attacks! marketing campaign. Filming lasted from February to June 1996.

The filmmakers hired Industrial Light & Magic to create the Martians using computer animation after their previous plan to use stop motion, supervised by Barry Purves, fell through because of budget limitations. Mars Attacks! was released on December 13, 1996 to mixed reviews from critics. The film broke even worldwide and grossed approximately $101 million in box office totals, which was considered a disappointment. Mars Attacks! was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation and earned multiple nominations at the Saturn Awards.

Contents

Plot

The movie mainly chronicles the lives of people in three different cities in USA; Washington D.C., Kansas, and Las Vegas.

Washington D.C.

Martians begin to surround Earth with an array of flying saucers. James Dale, the President of the United States, addresses America about this new finding. The message attracts attention within the news media in New York City, employees and common goers at the Luxor Las Vegas hotel, a trailer trash family in Perkinsville, Kansas and many other areas. The Presidential scientific aides are able to set a meeting with the Martians in Pahrump, Nevada.

The Martians announce they have "come in peace" by way of a universal translator. But after a hippie releases a dove (as a symbol of peace) that is killed by their leader, the Martians begin to kill the humans that have gathered. Nearly everyone there is killed. Believing the meeting to be a "cultural misunderstanding", President Dale has Professor Donald Kessler resume negotiations with the Martians. The two species decide to have a Martian ambassador address the United States Congress. However, the event goes wrong once more, leading to the total incineration of Congress. Kessler attempts to persuade the Ambassador to stop, but is abducted.

General Decker tries to convince President Dale to take revenge by nuclear warfare, but Dale refuses. A Martian assassin disguised as a woman enters the White House and unsuccessfully attempts to kill the President. The invaders start their full-scale invasion of Earth. They descend upon the planet. When they invade the White House, Dale escapes, but his wife Marsha is killed and daughter Taffy goes missing. The Martians destroy many areas around the world, including Big Ben, the Eiffel Tower, the Easter Island heads, the Taj Mahal, and, in deleted scenes, Tokyo, a planetarium, a music venue, and one of the Great Pyramids.

The Martians go on a killing rampage throughout the world, accompanied by loudspeakers shouting "don't run... we are your friends..." while shooting in every direction. The Martians finally assassinate President Dale in his bunker, not before the French President calls him saying he has negotiated a settlement with the Martians and is murdered by them immediately thereafter.

Las Vegas

Famous real-life singer Tom Jones is performing while retired undisputed heavyweight champion boxer-turned-bouncer Byron Williams, recovering alcoholic Barbara Land, and Cindy are staying at a Las Vegas casino. When martians began attacking the casino, the four team up and plan to escape Las Vegas with a plane hidden in a small private airfield far away from the city as Tom can fly The group brainstorm on possible destinations and Barbara proposes to fly to an island where the martians will never find them but Byron wants to go fly to Washington DC to join his family (a flight that was cancelled when martians began invading).

Hence, the four desperately escape and despite several obstacles; they managed to reach the airfield. As nighttime arrives and finding a reliable plane in the airfield's only warehouse, they soon discover that a very large group of armed martians (including the Martian Ambassador itself) are occupying their only available runway. With no other options, Byron decides to sacrifices his life for the group by staying and distracting the martians while the others try to take off.

Byron's distraction would turn out to be challenging the martians to a modernized "bare-knuckle fistfight", owing to his professional history with the sport and not having any gloves. Byron quickly announces his challenge: "No weapons! No clown outfit! Just me, Byron Williams, heavyweight champion of the world! And I challenge you to a fistfight!". Though not understanding, the Ambassador blindly accepts his challenge and the two "face it off" while the rest of its comrades become spectators, allying with the Ambassador. As the heated bout escalates, Barbara, Tom, and Cindy start the engines and wait for Byron to shift the fight from the runway.

Meanwhile, the mano-a-mano fistfight –- Byron vs. Ambassador –- gets more interesting when Byron mortally wounds his opponent, not allowing it to even try to fight back by throwing more devastating punches. With the record of 10 professionally-produced punches over 30 seconds and being the only opponent to capable of punching, Byron kills the Ambassador but the side-effect of his victorious one-on-one bout is that the army has learned Byron's basic punching technique. With that, they violently attack him in revenge, not noticing the plane taking off. Left alone, Byron tries to finish them off but after receiving too much damage, Byron gets knocked out and as Barbara, Tom, and Cindy fly over the airfield to see him, they sadly see Byron's body lying at the side of the runway as the martians celebrate at their accomplishment while tending to the Ambassador's mutilated corpse.

After the martians are killed globally overnight, a wounded and bloodied Byron violently crushes a dead martian's brainhead, looking down at its corpse as he remembers his victorious bout with the Ambassador last night. Happy at the sight of his ex-wife and children, they reunite and embrace. Barbara, Tom and Cindy are later shown on an island, meaning that they survived and the animals start reconnecting with them after they also experienced the destruction brought by the martians.

Kansas

Richie Norris, a teenage boy from Kansas, is always ostracized by his family except for his loving grandmother. When Martians proceed to attack his grandmother's old folks' home, he inadvertently discovers the Martians' deadly weakness -— the noise of Slim Whitman's song, "Indian Love Call", which causes the Martians' brains to burst, after rescuing his grandma from a retirement home. Both Richie and his grandma broadcast the song via radio, defeating the Martians all over the world. They are awarded the Medal of Honor for their heroic efforts by Taffy Dale on the steps of destroyed Capitol building.

Humans begin cleaning up the Martians' destruction in an attempt to improve their lives.

Cast

Production

Development

Jonathan Gems, who had previously written multiple unproduced screenplays for director/producer Tim Burton, came up with the idea of doing a film adaptation of the Mars Attacks trading card series in 1993. The writer then pitched both the concepts of Mars Attacks and Dinosaurs Attack! to Burton,[1] and they decided that Dinosaurs Attack! would be too similar to Jurassic Park (1993); thus they went to work on Mars Attacks!.[2] Burton, who was busy preparing Ed Wood (1994), believed that Mars Attacks! would be a perfect opportunity to pay homage to the films of Edward D. Wood, Jr., especially Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959), and other 1950s science fiction B movies,[1] such as Invaders from Mars (1953),[3] It Came from Outer Space (1953),[2] The War of the Worlds (1953), Target Earth (1954), Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) and Earth vs. the Flying Saucers (1956).[1]

Burton set Mars Attacks! up with Warner Bros. and the studio purchased the film rights to the trading card series on his behalf.[4] The original theatrical release date was planned for the summer of 1996. Gems completed his original script in 1994, which was budgeted by Warner Bros. at $260 million. The studio wanted to make the film for no more than $60 million.[5] After turning in numerous drafts in an attempt to lower the budget, Gems was replaced by Ed Wood writers Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski.[1] Martin Amis also was hired for rewrite work, but he later explained that although he "rather liked [the film], it contained not a word I wrote".[6]

Gems eventually returned to the project, writing a total of 12 drafts of the script. Although he is credited with both the screen story and screenplay of Mars Attacks!, Gems dedicates his novelization of the movie to Burton, who "co-wrote the screenplay and didn't ask for a credit".[1] Warner Bros. was dubious of the Martian dialogue and wanted Burton to add closed captioning subtitles, but he resisted.[7] Working with Burton, Gems pared the film's 60 leading characters down to 23, and the worldwide destruction planned for the film was isolated to three major cities. Scenes featuring Martians attacking China, the Philippines, Japan, Europe, Africa, India and Russia were deleted from the screenplay. "Bear in mind this was way before Independence Day (1996) was written," Gems commented. "We had things like Manhattan being destroyed building by building, the White House went and so did the Empire State Building. Warner Bros. figured all this would be too expensive, so we cut most of that out to reduce the cost."[5]

Casting

The decision to hire an A-list ensemble cast for Mars Attacks! parallels the strategy Irwin Allen used for his disaster films, notably The Poseidon Adventure (1972) and The Towering Inferno (1974).[1] Warren Beatty was the original choice for the role of President Dale, but dropped out. Paul Newman replaced him, but then considered playing another role. In the event, Newman left over concerns about the film's violence. Jack Nicholson was then approached, who jokingly remarked he wanted to play all the roles.[8] Burton agreed to cast Nicholson as both Art Land and President Dale, specifically remembering his positive working relationship with the actor on Batman (1989).[1]

Susan Sarandon was originally set to play Barbara Land[8] before Annette Bening was cast, who modeled the character after Ann-Margret's performance in Viva Las Vegas (1964).[2] Hugh Grant was the first choice for Professor Donald Kessler, which eventually went to Pierce Brosnan.[9] Meryl Streep, Diane Keaton and Stockard Channing were considered for First Lady Marsha Dale, but Glenn Close won the role.[8] In addition to Nicholson, other actors who reunited with Burton on Mars Attacks! include Sylvia Sidney from Beetlejuice (1988), Sarah Jessica Parker (who signed on before reading the script) from Ed Wood (1994) and Danny DeVito from Batman Returns (1992), continuing Burton's trend of recasting actors multiple times from his previous works.[10]

Filming

The original start date was mid-August 1995 but was delayed until February 26, 1996.[9] Director Tim Burton hired Peter Suschitzky as the cinematographer because he was a fan of his work in David Cronenberg's films. Production designer Thomas Wynn (A Beautiful Mind, Malcolm X) intended to have the war room pay tribute to Dr. Strangelove (1962).[11] During production, Burton insisted that the art direction, cinematography and costume design of Mars Attacks! incorporate the look of the 1960s trading cards.[3]

On designing the Martian (played by Burton's then girlfriend Lisa Marie) who seduces Jerry Ross (Martin Short), costume designer Colleen Atwood took combined inspiration from the playing cards, Marilyn Monroe, the work of Alberto Vargas and Jane Fonda in Barbarella (1968).[12] Filming for Mars Attacks! ended on June 1, 1996.[13] The film score was written/composed by Burton regular Danny Elfman, who experienced creative differences with the filmmaker during The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993). Because of this, they did not work together on Ed Wood (1994), but reconciled for Mars Attacks!. Elfman enlisted the help of Oingo Boingo lead guitarist Steve Bartek to help arrange the compositions for the orchestra.[1]

Visual effects

Tim Burton initially intended to use stop motion animation to feature the Martians,[2] viewing it as a homage to the work of Ray Harryhausen, primarily Jason and the Argonauts. Similar to his own Beetlejuice, Burton "wanted to make [the special effects] look cheap and purposely fake-looking as possible."[1] He first approached Henry Selick, director of The Nightmare Before Christmas, to supervise the stop motion work, but Selick was busy directing James and the Giant Peach, also produced by Burton. Despite the fact that Warner Bros. was skeptical of the escalating budget (Mars Attacks! also had yet to be greenlighted by the studio), Burton hired Barry Purves to shepherd the stop motion work. Purves created an international team of about 70 animators, who worked on Mars Attacks! for eight months[2] and began compiling test footage in Burbank, California.[1] The department workers studied Gloria Swanson's choreography and movement as Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard for inspiration on the Martians' movement.[2]

The Martians were created using computer-generated imagery from ILM.

When the budget was being projected at $100 million[13] (Warner Bros. wanted it for no more than $75 million),[1] producer Larry J. Franco commissioned a test reel from Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), the visual effects company he worked with on Jumanji. Burton was persuaded to change his mind to employ computer animation, which brought the final production budget to $80 million. Although Purves was uncredited for his work,[2] stop motion supervisors Ian Mackinnon and Peter Saunders, who would later collaborate with Burton on Corpse Bride, received character design credit.[1] Warner Digital Studios was responsible for the scenes of global destruction, airborne flying saucer sequences, the Martian landing in Nevada and the robot that chases Richie Norris in his pickup truck. Warner Digital also used practical effects, such as building scale models of Big Ben and other landmarks. The destruction of Art Land's hotel was footage of the real life night-time demolition of The Landmark Hotel and Casino, a building Burton was fond of and wanted to immortalise.[10]

Release

Warner Bros. spent $20 million on the movie's marketing campaign; together with $80 million spent during production the final combined budget came to $100 million.[14] A novelization, written by writer Jonathan Gems, was published by Puffin Books in January 1997.[15] The film was released in the United States on December 13, 1996, earning $9.38 million in its opening weekend. Mars Attacks! eventually made $37.77 million in US totals and $63.6 million elsewhere, coming to a worldwide total of $101.37 million.[16]

Reception

The film was considered a box office bomb in the US but generally achieved greater success both critically and commercially in Europe.[17] Many observers found similarities with Independence Day, which also came out in 1996. "It was just a coincidence. Nobody told me about it. I was surprised how close it was," director Tim Burton continued, "but then it's a pretty basic genre I guess. Independence Day was different in tone - it was different in everything. It almost seemed like we had done kind of a Mad magazine version of Independence Day."[1] During Mars Attacks!' theatrical run in January 1997, USA Network purchased the broadcasting rights of the film.[18]

Critical analysis

Mars Attacks! also drew mixed responses from critics. Based on 56 reviews collected by Rotten Tomatoes, 46% of the reviewers enjoyed the film, with an average score of 5.6/10.[19] Mars Attacks! was more balanced with the 15 critics in Rotten Tomatoes' "Top Critics" poll, receiving a 33% approval rating and a 5.2/10 score.[20] By comparison, Metacritic calculated an average score of 52/100 from 19 reviews.[21] Roger Ebert observed the homages to the 1950s science fiction B movies. "Ed Wood himself could have told us what's wrong with this movie: the makers felt superior to the material. To be funny, even schlock has to believe in itself. Look for Infra-Man (1975) or Invasion of the Bee Girls (1973) and you will find movies that lack stars and big budgets and fancy special effects but are funny and fun in a way that Burton's megaproduction never really understands."[22]

Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times wrote that "Mars Attacks! is all 1990s cynicism and disbelief, mocking the conventions that Independence Day takes seriously. This all sounds clever enough but in truth, Mars Attacks! is not as much fun as it should be. Few of its numerous actors make a lasting impression and Burton's heart and soul is not in the humor."[23] Desson Thomson from The Washington Post said "Mars Attacks! evokes plenty of sci-fi classics, from The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) to Dr. Strangelove (1962), but it doesn't do much beyond that superficial exercise. With the exception of Burton's jolting sight gags (I may never recover from the vision of Sarah Jessica Parker's head grafted on to the body of a chihuahua), the comedy is half-developed, pedestrian material. And the climactic battle between Earthlings and Martians is dull and overextended."[24]

Richard Schickel, writing in Time magazine, gave a positive review. "You have to admire everyone's chutzpah: the breadth of Burton's (and writer Jonathan Gems') movie references, which range from Kurosawa to Kubrick; and above all their refusal to offer us a single likable character. Perhaps they don't create quite enough deeply funny earthlings to go around, but a thoroughly mean-spirited big-budget movie is always a treasurable rarity."[25] Jonathan Rosenbaum from the Chicago Reader praised the surreal humour and black comedy, which he found to be in the vein of Dr. Strangelove and Gremlins (1984). He said it was far from clear whether the movie was a satire, although critics were describing it as one.[26] Todd McCarthy of Variety called Mars Attacks! "a cult sci-fi comedy miscast as an elaborate, all-star studio extravaganza."[27]

Awards

Mars Attacks! was almost nominated for an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects, but the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences chose Independence Day, Dragonheart and Twister instead.[28] The film was nominated for seven categories at the Saturn Awards. Danny Elfman won Best Music, while director Tim Burton, writer Jonathan Gems, actor Lukas Haas, costume designer Colleen Atwood and the visual effects department at Industrial Light & Magic received nominations. Mars Attacks! was nominated for both the Saturn Award for Best Science Fiction Film (which went to Independence Day)[29] and the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation.[30]

References

  1. ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 Mark Salisbury; Tim Burton (2006). "James and the Giant Peach, Mars Attacks!, Superman Lives and The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy". Burton on Burton. London: Faber and Faber. pp. 145–163. ISBN 0-57122-926-3. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 Christine Spines (January 1997). "Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus". Premiere. 
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Susan Stark (1996-12-07). "Director Tim Burton Rebels In His New Space Comedy". The Detroit News. 
  4. ↑ Cindy Pearlman (1996-12-08). "Today, Vegas: Tomorrow, The World! Mean Little Green Guys Attack Earth". Chicago Sun-Times. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Anthony C. Ferrante (March 1997). "Hidden Gems". Fangoria. 
  6. ↑ Gavin Keulks. "Filmography". Martin Amis Web. http://www.martinamisweb.com/filmography.shtml#screenwriter. Retrieved 2009-04-14. 
  7. ↑ Henry Sheehan (1996-12-27). "Yak-Yak Is Way Martians Communicate". The Orange County Register. 
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Jeff Gordinier (1996-02-23). "Jack's Back". Entertainment Weekly. http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,291486,00.html. Retrieved 2008-05-30. 
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Staff (1995-07-28). "Target Hollywood". Entertainment Weekly. http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,298129,00.html. Retrieved 2008-05-30. 
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 "About the Production . . .". Warner Bros. http://marsattacks.warnerbros.com/cmp/5-prodnotes2.html. Retrieved 2009-04-14. 
  11. ↑ Ken Hanke (1999). "A Plan 9 of His Own". Tim Burton: An Unauthorized Biography of the Filmmaker. Los Angeles: Renaissance Books. pp. 183–192. ISBN 1-58063-162-2. 
  12. ↑ Richard Natale (1997-11-21). "Art of fantasy". Variety. http://www.variety.com/article/VR1116675270. Retrieved 2009-04-13. 
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Staff (1996-08-23). "Fall Movie Preview: December". Entertainment Weekly. http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,293903,00.html. Retrieved 2008-05-30. 
  14. ↑ Bernard Weinraub (1997-01-02). "Season of Many Movies, but Not Many Hits". The New York Times. 
  15. ↑ "Mars Attacks! : A Novelization (Paperback)". Amazon.com. http://www.amazon.com/Mars-Attacks-Fontes-Justine-Jonathan/dp/B001KRSJBE. Retrieved 2009-04-14. 
  16. ↑ "Mars Attacks!". Box Office Mojo. http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=marsattacks.htm. Retrieved 2009-04-14. 
  17. ↑ Edwin Page (2007). "Mars Attacks!". Gothic Fantasy: The Films of Tim Burton. London: Marion Boyars Publishers. pp. 143–158. ISBN 0-7145-3132-4. 
  18. ↑ John Dempsey (1997-01-23). "USA Network trumps net window for six features". Variety. http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117433207. Retrieved 2009-04-13. 
  19. ↑ "Mars Attacks!". Rotten Tomatoes. http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/mars_attacks/. Retrieved 2009-04-14. 
  20. ↑ "Mars Attacks!: Top Critics". Rotten Tomatoes. http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/mars_attacks/?critic=creamcrop. Retrieved 2009-04-14. 
  21. ↑ "Mars Attacks! (1996): Reviews". Metacritic. http://www.metacritic.com/video/titles/marsattacks/. Retrieved 2009-04-14. 
  22. ↑ Roger Ebert (1996-12-13). "Mars Attacks!". Chicago Sun-Times. http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19961213/REVIEWS/612130302/1023. Retrieved 2009-04-15. 
  23. ↑ Kenneth Turan (1996-12-13). "Mars Attacks! Tim Burton's Plan 9". Los Angeles Times. http://www.calendarlive.com/movies/reviews/cl-movie961213-1,0,3908983.story. Retrieved 2009-04-15. 
  24. ↑ Desson Thomson (1996-12-13). "Mars Attacks! We Lose". The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longterm/review96/marsattackshowe.htm. Retrieved 2009-04-15. 
  25. ↑ Richard Schickel; Richard Corliss (1996-12-30). "A Rich Film Feast". Time. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,985779-1,00.html. Retrieved 2009-04-15. 
  26. ↑ Jonathan Rosenbaum. "Flirting With Disaster". Chicago Reader. http://www.chicagoreader.com/movies/archives/1296/12136.html. Retrieved 2009-04-15. 
  27. ↑ Todd McCarthy (1996-12-02). "Mars Attacks!". Variety. http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117436916.html?categoryid=31&cs=1. Retrieved 2009-04-16. 
  28. ↑ Andrew Hindes (1997-01-09). "7 pix set to vie for 3 Oscar f/x noms". Variety. http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117434268. Retrieved 2009-04-12. 
  29. ↑ "Past Saturn Awards". Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films. http://www.saturnawards.org/past.html#film. Retrieved 2007-04-14. 
  30. ↑ "1997 Hugo Awards". The Hugo Awards Organization. http://www.thehugoawards.org/?page_id=23. Retrieved 2009-04-13. 

Further reading

External links

Tim Burton
Director
Pee-wee's Big Adventure (1985) · Beetlejuice (1988) · Batman (1989) · Edward Scissorhands (1990) · Batman Returns (1992) · Ed Wood (1994) · Mars Attacks! (1996) · Sleepy Hollow (1999) · Planet of the Apes (2001) · Big Fish (2003) · Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005) · Corpse Bride (2005) · Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007) · Alice in Wonderland (2010) · Frankenweenie (2012)
Producer
Edward Scissorhands (1990) · Batman Returns (1992) · The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) · Cabin Boy (1994) · Ed Wood (1994) · Batman Forever (1995) · James and the Giant Peach (1996) · Mars Attacks! (1996) · The World of Stainboy (2000) · Corpse Bride (2005) · 9 (2009)
Short films
The Island of Doctor Agor (1971) · Stalk of the Celery Monster (1979) · Vincent (1982) · Frankenweenie (1984)
Literature
Burton on Burton, edited by Mark Salisbury (1995, revised editions 2000, 2006) · The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy & Other Stories (1997) · The Art of Tim Burton, written by Leah Gallo (2009)