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It Still Bugs Me. I Had No Clue Back Then
Michael Keaton recently shared with The New York Times some regret about his performance in Tim Burton’s 2019 live-action “Dumbo” film. The Oscar nominee played a greedy amusement park owner in the movie, starring alongside Colin Farrell, Eva Green, and Danny DeVito. Despite its star-studded cast, “Dumbo” received mixed reviews from critics and was considered a financial letdown for Disney, grossing just over $350 million at the global box office.
“I love working with Tim so much, but I don’t think we ever really analyzed why we work pretty well together; we just do,” Keaton told The Times. “I think I let him down on one movie, but that’s just me, and it bugs me to this day. I was clueless on ‘Dumbo.’ I sucked in ‘Dumbo.’”
Burton, who joined Keaton in the interview, interjected, saying, “I don’t even know what you’re talking about, but whatever.”
Critics had mixed reactions to Keaton’s portrayal of the villainous Vandevere. Variety’s Owen Gleiberman commented in his review that “Keaton’s performance as the dastardly Vandevere is disappointingly thin; he’s a bad guy with a sandpaper voice but no layers.”
Keaton’s disappointment in “Dumbo” appears to reflect Burton’s sentiment. Since the film’s 2019 release, Burton has been candid about his challenging experience making a Disney tentpole of that magnitude. In a recent interview with Variety, Burton admitted he even considered ending his directing career following “Dumbo.”
“Honestly, after ‘Dumbo,’ I really didn’t know,” Burton said. “I thought that could have been it, really. I could have retired or become… well, I wouldn’t have become an animator again; that’s over.”
The upcoming “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” seems to have reignited Burton’s passion for filmmaking. “Oftentimes, when you get into Hollywood, you try to be responsible to what you’re doing with the budget and everything else but sometimes you might lose yourself a little bit. This reinforced the feeling for me that it’s important that I do what I want to do, because then everybody will benefit.”
Speaking at the 2019 Lumière Festival, Burton noted, “The thing about ‘Dumbo’ is that’s why I think my days with Disney are done. I realized that I was Dumbo, that I was working in this horrible big circus and I needed to escape. That movie is quite autobiographical at a certain level.”
Keaton and Burton have shared a longstanding professional relationship, having collaborated on several notable films, including “Beetlejuice,” “Batman,” “Batman Forever,” “Dumbo,” and the upcoming “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” set to hit theaters on September 6, courtesy of Warner Bros.
Source: The New York Times, Variety
