The enduring legacy of campy cult favorite “Ed Wood” is still celebrated 30 years later.
The beloved 1994 film was directed by Tim Burton and starred Johnny Depp as the filmmaker known for helming B-movie greats, most infamously 1959’s “Plan 9 from Outer Space.” Wood’s other features include “Orgy of the Dead,” “Glen or Glenda,” and “Bride of the Monster.” He was awarded the Golden Turkey title of Worst Director in 1975.
Burton’s 1994 biopic “Ed Wood” was written by Larry Karaszewski and Scott Alexander, and co-starred Bill Murray, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Martin Landau, who won an Oscar for portraying Bela Lugosi.
“Ed Wood” producer Denise Di Novi detailed her own love of the film three decades later, explaining why “Ed Wood” is one of the most personal projects for both her and longtime collaborator Burton to date. After working as the creative consultant on David Cronenberg’s iconic “Videodrome,” Di Novi made her producer debut with iconic indie “Heathers” (she served as an associate producer on two earlier features). Di Novi then went on to head up Tim Burton Productions from 1989 to 1996 before founding her own production company, Di Novi Pictures, at Columbia Pictures. She later had a production deal with Warner Bros., where she made her own feature directorial debut in 2017 with “Unforgettable.” The multi-hyphenate talent also helmed episodes of “Bones,” “Outlander,” and “Ray Donovan.”
Di Novi worked with Burton on six films between 1990 and 1996: “Edward Scissorhands,” “Batman Returns,” “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” “Cabin Boy,” “Ed Wood,” and “James and the Giant Peach.” Yet out of all of those features, “Ed Wood” remains her most personal.
“It’s my favorite of Tim’s movies,” Di Novi told IndieWire. “I think Ed Wood helped explain myself to me in the way I think with all of us, that have this kind of commitment, or you could even call it more of an obsession, in terms of making movies. You have to have a level of love and passion for it because it is challenging. [Filmmaking] can often be discouraging. It’s very hard to get movies made, and then it’s even harder to make them.”
And Di Novi would know: The Hollywood staple has produced more than 40 films, directed one feature, has acted in a slew of projects, and most recently served as the executive producer on “The Veil” series that began from her own original idea. Di Novi was even infamously requested by Charlize Theron to be a female presence on the “Fury Road” set, and is a Hollywood legend. Her filmography ranges from both “Little Women” adaptations to Nicholas Sparks’ “Nights in Rodanthe.” She later went on to produce beloved rom-com “Crazy, Stupid, Love,” which famously starred Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone, Julianne Moore, and Steve Carell.
“It is very unique in its difficulties and it’s a very emotional thing to make movies. It’s all very emotionally challenging,” storied producer Di Novi continued. “[Director] Ed Wood really showed that no matter what the movie is, no matter whether it’s good or bad, no matter if it’s a shoestring budget, there is still a beauty in that commitment. I think that’s why I think Tim Burton loves Ed Wood. [He] explained his own commitment to creativity in and of itself, just for the process of creativity.”
“Edward Scissorhands” producer Di Novi recalled how “every film becomes a family,” especially when working with frequent collaborators like Burton, Depp, and more stars. Di Novi produced “Batman Returns” and remembers when the planned spinoff film centered on Michelle Pfeiffer’s Catwoman was scrapped. Di Novi went on to produce the standalone film “Catwoman” starring Halle Berry, and later focused on more “female-driven films” after founding her own eponymous production company.
“It was a personal commitment to myself to try to make female-driven films and films for younger females because I just didn’t think there were enough,” Di Novi said.
Ten years after “Ed Wood,” Di Novi produced “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants,” “What a Girl Wants,” “A Walk to Remember,” “New York Minute,” and “Monte Carlo.”
“It was a conscious decision for me,” Di Novi said of moving into the more teen-centric space. “I like to make movies that I connect with myself, emotionally and thematically.”
Di Novi is also returning to one of her fan-favorite films with the recently announced “Practical Magic 2.” The sequel was announced in June 2024 with original stars Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman reprising their respective roles. The actresses are also both producing the follow-up to the 1998 classic film, which will be written by returning scribe Akiva Goldsman and based on Alice Hoffman’s novel.
“Practical Magic” emphasized the alchemy of two witchy sisters, played by Bullock and Kidman, who band together with their aunts (Dianne Wiest and Stockard Channing) to ward off a family curse that forbids either of them from maintaining true love. Add in an abusive boyfriend and a séance, and “Practical Magic” mastered the potion of perfect ’90s feminism and fashion. Despite the film only grossing $68.3 million worldwide against a $75 million budget, it has amassed a cult following in the decades since.
Almost 25 years later, and Di Novi revealed that the sequel was greenlit because of the social-media-spiked fandom around the original. So yes, we have TikTok to thank for this reunion.
“It’s funny how these things happen, and it is kind of magical in a way, like it just seemed to make sense all of a sudden,” Di Novi said. “Fans had been asking for a sequel since right after the first movie came out, but it’s grown thanks to TikTok and social media. They’ve been very vocal for years about wanting a sequel. I think when [the film] turned 25 or whatever, 26, Warner Brothers saw how enduring this movie is and how incredibly popular it is. Every year [the fandom] grows.”
Di Novi added, “In our conversations about it with Sandra and Nicole, we just felt like the world right now just needs this movie, and it feels right.”
Bullock and Kidman, who both have Oscars, have been revisiting their respective past filmographies amid the surge of reboots ranging from “Sex and the City” to “The Devil Wears Prada.” Kidman has confirmed that “Big Little Lies” Season 3 is finally in the works; she will be starring in and producing the series.
Kidman’s production company Blossom Films is best known for greenlighting novel adaptations like “The Undoing” and “The Perfect Nanny,” but Blossom Films also collaborated with Di Novi for 2011 feature “Monte Carlo,” starring Selena Gomez.
The 15th anniversary of Bullock’s 2008 rom-com “The Proposal” has also spurred social media-fueled sequel rumors. As for returning to past roles, Bullock has said she has a no-sequels policy since box office flop “Speed 2,” but of course, she’s making an exception with “Practical Magic 2.”
Like Bullock, would Di Novi now be open to revisiting other iconic past films of hers as a producer? “Crazy, Stupid, Love” also has a viral online fanbase, as IndieWire pointed out.
“I mean, I don’t want to jinx it by saying like, ‘Oh, this movie should have a sequel,’ but I kind of feel like the people have spoken,” Di Novi said, while admitting she would be open to returning to that film. “The good thing about social media is that we do pay attention to the fans a lot more than we were able to in the past.”
In the meantime, Di Novi is focused on her other career as an acclaimed painter. The producer is launching an exhibition entitled PORTAL at the Honarkar Foundation Gallery in Laguna Beach, California. The exhibition runs through September 14 and begins with an opening Artists Reception on Saturday, August 10.
Did collaborating with auteurs like Burton, especially features with such a tableau-like emphasis on the artistic process like “Ed Wood,” impact her own artistic journey as a painter?
“I actually have never thought of [connecting my painting career to my film history], and I just want to give you props for looking at it that way visually,” Di Novi said. “Working on films in terms of the shots and the editing and everything and being so intimately involved with that [as a producer] is one of the reasons I think I started painting. I started directing. Film is obviously a visual medium, and it’s a medium where even without words, it can have power and an incredible emotional language. I think all the years that I’ve spent in the visual medium of film, definitely informs why I started painting.”
Di Novi pointed to “Ed Wood” for spreading the idea that “everybody is creative.”
“Every little kid thinks they’re creative,” Di Novi said, “and we kind of beat it out of people. But everyone is creative and that spark of creativity, whether it’s gardening or sewing or cooking, is healing. Overlapping with the Ed Wood character is knowing that being creative is a reward in itself.”
