Artificial Intelligence is disturbing and scary, but there is little one can do about it, said Tim Burton. He would know: The award-winning illustrator and director is known for his own slightly disturbing animated and live-action films such as Nightmare Before Christmas, Edward Scissorhands, and Beetlejuice.
“It reminded me of other cultures where they did not like their picture taken because they thought they were taking your soul from it. And this, to me, was a more weird and extreme version of that,” said the director, referring to images created using A.I. to draw Disney characters in his style. Burton was speaking at a roundtable with Tim Marlow, director and CEO of London’s Design Museum ahead of the opening of “The World of Tim Burton,” a sprawling exhibition that chronicles the famed director’s 50-year creative journey.
“[A.I.] gives me a weird sort of scary feeling inside. And what do you do? I don’t know,” he added. “No matter what they try to do to stop it, once you can do it, people can do it. I don’t know what you can do about it.”
Tim Burton and Design Museum exhibition curator Maria McLintock visit ‘The World of Tim Burton’, a new exhibition at the Design Museum in London. Picture date: Wednesday October 23, 2024. Photo credit: Matt Crossick/PA Media Assignments.
His concerns about A.I. echo that of other artists and creatives. This week, more than 15,000 creative industry professionals—including musician Thom Yorke, actors Julianne Moore and Kevin Bacon, and artists Joel Shapiro and Amoako Boafo—signed a statement calling for the halt of the “unlicensed use of creative works for training generative A.I.,” which they said is “a major, unjust threat” to the artists who make a living out of these works.
Burton’s exhibition at the Design Museum is a powerful demonstration of human creativity. Featuring some 600 items, few of them are digital. Some came from Burton’s personal archive and collections, others on loan from film studio archives and private collections from his collaborators.
Exhibition goers admired Tim Burton’s art at “The World of Tim Burton” at the Design Museum, London, October 2024. Courtesy of the Design Museum.
Taking the center stage are his drawings on paper, napkins, and canvas, and various other media. These date back to his teenage years, when he won a trash can design competition, through to his early adult life that laid the blueprint for his future career in filmmaking and unique aesthetics. His meticulous, eerie, and sometimes adorable depictions of otherworldly creatures underscore Burton’s prowess as an artist as well as a director. There are also drawings from his unrealized projects over the years as well as from his latest project, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024), a sequel to his acclaimed 1988 feature featuring Winona Rider and Michael Keaton.
Also on view are models that were used in his iconic stop-motion features, such as Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) and Corpse Bride (2005). There is also an array of hand drawn storyboards and costumes from his films, such as the iconic Catwoman suit from Batman (1989) and the pair of scissor hands from Edward Scissorhands (1990). Costumes from his recent works such as Alice in Wonderland (2010) and Netflix series Wednesday (he is working on a second season) are also on show. Posters of Japanese Kaiju (monsters) films, books of Edgar Allan Poe and tales of monsters from the director’s collection reflect his cultural influences.
Tim Burton, Surrounded (1996). Courtesy the artist and the Design Museum, London.
“For me it’s about the process of things,” the 66-year-old said. “Drawing is very emotional and personal. It’s a therapeutic process. I see things in picture form, which is an emotional core to start with. The drawings can be turned into animation or live action films, or nothing.”
It’s not like Burton is completely anti-technology. “I’ve worked with CGI [computer-generated imagery],” he emphasized, likely referring to his films such as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005) and Alice in Wonderland (2010). “I have nothing against it. Beautiful things can be found in any medium.”
He added that he feels “like stop-motion is the most artistic” and the most fun. “When you walk on the set and you see the miniature set, you see people moving these objects frame by frame. It’s an exciting, long process.”
An exhibition-goer examining the Catwoman suit from Batman (1989), on view at “The World of Tim Burton” at the Design Museum, London, opening to public on Friday, October 25, 2024. Courtesy of the Design Museum.
The exhibition already sold 32,000 tickets in advance, the biggest advance ticket sales in the museum’s 35 years of history. To accommodate the excessive demand, the museum will open late on Fridays and Saturdays throughout the rest of 2024.
But the director resisted staging an exhibition in London initially, despite living in the U.K. capital for a quarter of a century. When asked if London was a creative place for him, Burton responded with a long silence.
“Maybe I have thinner skin that I just didn’t really like going through the feelings,” he said, without explaining what those feelings were. He then continued saying that the show traveled to many different places over the years—14 cities and 11 countries since 2014, and a show in London simply “never really came into reality.” But the enthusiasm from the crew of the Design Museum successfully convinced him to stage the touring exhibition’s grand finale in London. He was impressed by the results.
Tim Burton visits ‘The World of Tim Burton’, a new exhibition at the Design Museum in London featuring over 600 items relating to the filmmaker’s career, ahead of it opening to the public on Friday. Photo credit: Matt Crossick/PA Media Assignments.
“The feng shui [of the show] is beautiful. It makes me more calm looking at it. Beautiful job,” Burton said to Marlow and exhibition curator Maria McLintock.
Asked if he would put his talent into designing objects for people, Burton hinted that he has a few tricks up his sleeves. “I got a whole range of joke shop items that I would love to introduce to everybody. I’ve got big plans,” the director said.
“The World of Tim Burton” is on view at the Design Museum, 224–238 Kensington High St, London, through April 21, 2025.
