BIG FISH

'''Big Fish''' is a 2003 fantasy drama film, directed by Tim Burton and written by John August. It is loosely based on the novel '' by Daniel Wallace, and starred Ewan McGregor, Albert Finney, Billy Crudup, Jessica Lange, Alison Lohman, Steve Buscemi, Helena Bonham Carter and Danny DeVito, amongst others.
Will Bloom (Crudup) returns to his family home in Alabama, having spent the past three years not talking to his father Edward (Finney). Dying, Edward recounts his life story in his own unique, exaggerated way, full of fantastic events (portrayed in these flashbacks by McGregor). Will tries to get to know his father and find the truth, discovering that his father did lead an extraordinary life and that storytelling is who he is.
The film was initially planned to be directed by Steven Spielberg before Burton took on the project, following the death of his own father. The film was mostly shot in Alabama, and had a much less gothic tone than Burton's other films such as ''Edward Scissorhands'' and ''Sleepy Hollow''. Critics hailed the film as Burton's masterpiece, and it received four Golden Globe nominations and one Oscar nomination for Danny Elfman's original score.

Contents

Plot

Cast

Production

Response

DVD release

References

External links

Plot

Edward Bloom tells his son Will the same tale over the years: on the day Will was born, he was out catching an enormous uncatchable fish with his wedding ring. By the time he tells this at Will's wedding reception, their relationship has become strained, and they do not talk to each other for three years. Will becomes a journalist in Paris. When his father's health starts to fail, Will and his wife Josephine return to Alabama. On the plane, Will recalls his father's tale of how he braved a swamp as a child, and met a witch who showed him his death in her glass eye. With this knowledge, Edward knows there are no odds he cannot face.
Edward still has a knack for tall tales. As he tells it, he spent three years confined to a bed as a child, with his body growing incredibly fast. He became a successful sports player but found the town of Ashton too small for his ambition. Finding a kindred spirit in the misunderstood giant Karl, they set off. Edward takes an abandoned path down a supposedly haunted forest, as he never wishes to return to Ashton anyway. He discovers the tiny town of Spectre, where the missing poet Norther Winslow has settled with people so friendly they do not wear shoes. Edward still feels he does not want to settle anywhere yet and leaves, but promises to the young girl Jenny that he will return. At the circus Karl signs up with Amos Calloway, and time stops as Edward sees the love of his life. As time speeds up again and he loses her, he promises to work for Amos day and night without pay to learn who she is. Every month for three years he learns something new about her, but never her name or address. Edward discovers Amos is a werewolf but plays fetch after preventing him from being killed. For his kindness, Amos tells him her name is Sandra Templeton and she is at Auburn University.

Edward learns from Sandra that she is engaged to Don Price, also from Ashton. He makes many attempts to show his love for her, getting five companies to plant a field of daffodils, her favourite flowers, to make her fall for him. Don appears and beats up Edward, forcing Sandra to give up her engagement ring. During his recovery in hospital, Edward is conscripted by the army, and goes to Korea. Instead of taking his assigned mission, he instead parachutes into a theater entertaining troops, and convinces conjoined dancers Ping and Jing to help him get back to America, where he will make them stars. Believing him to be dead, the army tells Sandra that Edward is dead, leaving her in grief, but Edward returns. Being legally dead means that his work choices are limited, and he becomes a travelling salesman. Meeting Winslow again, he is forced to help him rob a savings & loan, which is bankrupt. Edward suggests Winslow work at Wall Street, and Winslow later sends $10,000 to his "career adviser" to buy a house.
Still unimpressed by his father's stories, Will demands to know the truth. Edward tries to explain that is who he is: he tells stories. Will, feeling that his father had another family during his travels, looks through Edward's old office, and finds letters of when he supposedly died, and a letter of interest to Spectre. Going there, Will meets an older Jenny, now a widowed piano teacher. She explains that like many towns Spectre went bankrupt, and Edward bought it at an auction after being delayed by a flood. He then helped the town repair itself with money from his previous acquaintances. She also explains that she tried to cheat with Edward, but Sandra was the only woman for him.

Coming home, Will discovers his father has had a stroke and is at the hospital. There, Will tells Edward a story of his own: escaping from the hospital, they go to the river where everybody in Edward's life shows up, some unaged, to greet him on his last journey. Carrying his weightless father, Will puts him into the river where he becomes a big fish. Edward then peacefully remarks "The story of my life" before dying. At his funeral, Will sees many of his father's friends, and realises that there was some grain of truth in his tales. He sees Amos, Karl, Ping and Jing and Norther Winslow amongst others, although Karl, while very tall, is not a giant and Ping and Jing are not conjoined. When he has his own son, Will passes on his father's stories, remarking that his father became his stories after telling them for so long.

Cast

★ 'Albert Finney' as the older 'Edward Bloom': An ex-salesman who loves to tell tall tales. 'Ewan McGregor' portrays him as a younger man in fantastical flashbacks, whilst 'Perry Waltson' plays Edward as a child.

★ 'Billy Crudup' as 'Will Bloom': Edward's son, who is frustrated in that whilst he enjoyed his father's stories, he felt like he never truly got to know him.

★ 'Jessica Lange' as 'Sandra Bloom': Edward's wife. 'Alison Lohman' portrayed the younger Sandra, née Templeton, whom Edward fell in love with immediately.

★ 'Marion Cotillard' as 'Joséphine': Will's French wife, several months pregnant with their first child.

★ 'Helena Bonham Carter' as 'Jenny': A divorced piano teacher who lives in Spectre. 'Hailey Anne Nelson' plays Jenny as an eight year old when Edward first meets her.

★ Carter also played an elderly 'Witch' who gives Bloom a vision of his death as a child.

★ 'Robert Guillaume' as 'Dr. Bennett': The family doctor. He delivered Will and tells him that he would choose the more "interesting" account of the day he was born as Edward lies in hospital.

★ 'Matthew McGrory' as 'Karl the Giant': A giant who got into trouble in Ashton for eating various livestock. Edward befriends and always reassures him that he isn't trying to get him to leave.

★ 'Danny DeVito' as 'Amos Calloway': A circus ringmaster. He gives Karl and Edward jobs, telling the latter something about Sandra every month without pay. He is also a werewolf.

★ 'Steve Buscemi' as 'Norther Winslow': A poet from Ashton who went missing, having never left Spectre. After Bloom leaves, he travels the world and becomes a bank robber, before becoming a Wall Street stockbroker.

★ 'Ada Tai' and 'Arlene Tai' as 'Ping' and 'Jing': Siamese twins from China, who perform as singers for soldiers in Korea.

★ 'David Denman' as 'Don Price': A loser from Ashton, who was overshadowed by Edward's achievements. He becomes engaged to Sandra, but his brutality towards Edward means the bridegroom is changed to Edward. He later dies on the toilet, having known this after looking into the witch's eye.

★ 'Loudon Wainwright III' as 'Beamen': The mayor of Spectre, and Jenny's father.

★ 'Missi Pyle' as 'Mildred': Beamen's wife.

Production

Following the death of his father, screenwriter John August read a manuscript of the novel ''Big Fish'' in 1999, and had Columbia Pictures option the book on his behalf.^[1] Steven Spielberg signed on to direct in August 2000,^[2] and he had August write two drafts, with Jack Nicholson in mind to play the older Edward Bloom. August worked hard to make the episodic book into a cohesive story, deciding to have several narrators, and then wrote a third draft after Spielberg was becoming distracted with other projects. Producers Dan Jinks and Bruce Cohen first discussed the project with Stephen Daldry,^[3] before they sent the third draft to Tim Burton, who signed on in April 2002 to direct.^[4]
Burton had never been particularly close to his parents, but his father's death in October 2000 and his mother's in March 2002 affected him deeply. Following ''Planet of the Apes' production, he wanted to get back to making a smaller film. Burton enjoyed the script, feeling that it was the first unique story he was offered since ''Beetlejuice''. Burton also found appeal in the story's combination of an emotional drama with exaggerated tall tales, which allowed him to tell various stories of different genres. Burton met up with Jack Nicholson, and briefly discussed using computers to allow him to play a younger version of himself. After that, Burton began the difficult process of casting two actors as the same character, which meant filming was pushed from October 2002 to January 2003.^[5]
Ewan McGregor and Albert Finney were cast first as the younger and older Edward Bloom respectively on August 1 2002.^[6] The combination was suggested by producers Jinks and Cohen who were working with McGregor on ''Down with Love'', and Burton got on with him, finding him quite similar to regular colleague Johnny Depp. Viewing Finney's performance in ''Tom Jones'', Burton found him similar to McGregor, and coincidentally he found a ''People'' article comparing the two.^[7] Most of the cast were assembled by November.^[8] As with Sandra's introduction, Alison Lohman had to stand still for two minutes during her audition.
Filming on ''Big Fish'' began on January 13 2003 and ended in early May. Production was based in Wetumpka, Alabama. All of Albert Finney's scenes as the elder Edward Bloom were shot first due to the emotional difficulty of his scenes. McGregor was on set from the beginning and observed Finney. Afterward, shooting took on a livelier, more enjoyable state as Burton and McGregor shot scenes of varying genre. Much of the film was improvised, most notably Edward's slippery birth scene and the humorous scene in Korea where he turns off the light as he beats up two men. During filming of the circus scenes, strong winds hit and flooded much of the sets, but filming stayed on schedule. Shooting in Alabama finished in April, and moved to Paris for a single week before wrapping. Burton preferred to use practical special effects alongside computer animation. Forced perspective was employed for scenes with Karl the Giant, when he realigns Jenny's home and lifts up a car for Will and Edward to make their way through traffic. Burton also used color grading for the first time, which lended an extra mood to the fantasy scenes.^[9]
The ''Big Fish'' soundtrack was composed by regular Burton collaborator Danny Elfman. Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam also contributed a song entitled "Man of the Hour" after watching the film.

Response

''Big Fish'' received some high praise by many reviewers, with some calling it Tim Burton's best film, including Jeff Vice.^[10] Jeffrey Westhoff felt that the film gave Burton a "much-needed boost of maturity", feeling the film was his best since ''Ed Wood''.^[11] Peter Travers gave it 4/4 as, "a script that challenges and deepens [Burton's] talent", and he also praised Ewan McGregor's performance.^[12] Adrian Hennigan of the BBC praised both Burton and screenwriter John August following their disparaged work on ''Planet of the Apes'' and '' respectively, feeling it was a celebration of the art of storytelling and a touching father-son drama, and "feelgood without being overly sentimental; romantic without being cloying; moving without being mawkish."^[13] Betty Jo Tucker said it was one of her favourite films of the year, saying "''Big Fish'' not only charmed me completely with its humanity and humor - it surprised me with its wisdom."^[14]
More negative reviews came from mainstream reviewers. Unmoved, Roger Ebert felt, "There is no denying that Will has a point: The old man is a blowhard. There is a point at which his stories stop working as entertainment and segue into sadism."^[15] Kirk Honeycutt found it "a belabored oddity that is one long-winded tall tale illustrated with hammy, artificial sets and gee-whiz acting... These stories never get beyond their surreal imagery."^[16] ''Big Fish'' holds a 77% "Fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with 154 reviews out of 159 positive. The more mixed reception of 50% from the mainstream press is held among its "Cream of the Crop" critics.^[17]
''Big Fish'' had a limited release on December 10 2003, before it was released nationwide on January 9 2004.^[18] Although initially believed to have opened in wide release at the top spot with $14.5 million,^[19] ''Big Fish'' only grossed $13 million, still leaving '' at number one.^[20] It eventually grossed $66 million in the United States and $56 million in the rest of the world, amounting to a $122 million gross. The film received nominations at the 2004 Golden Globes for Best Picture in the Comedy or Musical genre, as well as nominations for Albert Finney, Danny Elfman and Eddie Vedder. At the Academy Awards, Elfman received a nomination for his score.^[21]

DVD release

The Region 1 DVD release of ''Big Fish'' took place on April 27 2004,^[22] whilst the Region 2 release took place on June 7.^[23] The release featured a Burton commentary track and a special quiz on him, in addition to various featurettes.
''Big Fish'' was re-released on November 1 2005, with a 24 page hardback book entitled ''Fairy Tale for a Grown Up''.^[24] The film was released on Blu-ray on April 9 2007.^[25]

References

1. Burton on Burton, Mark Salisbury, , , Faber and Faber, , ISBN 0-571-22926-3
2. Spielberg Reels in Big Fish
3. Big Fish in His Own Pond
4. ‘Big Fish’ dead on the hook for Spielberg
5. Big Fish - Greg's Preview Greg Dean Schmitz
6. Two Big Fish Caught
7. Tim Burton Reels in Big Fish
8. More Big Fish
9. Burton Applies Light CG Touch to Big Fish
10. Big Fish
11. Big Fish (2003)
12. Big Fish
13. Big Fish
14. Myth Magic
15. Big Fish
16. Big Fish
17. Big Fish
18. Big Fish (2003)
19. Is Sony Telling a 'Big Fish' story?
20. Sony's Box Office Estimate: Another 'Fish' Story
21. Big Fish - Awards and Nominations
22. Big Fish US - DVD R1
23. Big Fish: Date Change
24. Big Fish UK - BD
25. Big Fish US - DVD R1

External links

★ Official homepage at Sony Pictures

★

★ ''Big Fish'' at Rotten Tomatoes

★ ''Big Fish'' at Box Office Mojo

★ ''Big Fish'' at Metacritic