Note: This interview was originally published in September at the release of 9, an animated film produced by Tim Burton. The first half of this interview is dedicated to that film, but the second half includes Mr. Burton’s thoughts on his adaptation of Alice in Wonderland

“You see a lot of personal films, but then you rarely see more personalized animated films.” This is what attracted acclaimed director and writer Tim Burton (Big Fish, Sweeney Todd) to help produce the film 9, an animated film set after in a post-apocalyptic world that opens today. Mr. Burton, who spoke about producing the project this summer, helped bring new filmmaker Shane Acker the needed material to turn his short film into a full-length feature.        

Mr. Burton was intrigued after watching the short film and found it a curious mix of a story that felt familiar with a new type of storytelling. “We’ve all seen post-apocalyptic imagery a million times. But again I was surprised at the poetry to this, and the quietness and the things between the lines.” So Mr. Burton, along with Wanted director Timur Bekmanbetov, helped pull strings and tools together to get Mr. Acker a budget and collaborators to put the film together, as well as offer advice. “When you are working on an animated [film] you get very tunnel visioned. Shane has had this in his mind for so long that its sometimes good to have people who can step back and look at the big picture.”

    Although Mr. Burton has been around for almost two decades as a filmmaker, he found the work as a producer of new talent to be a thrill, watching Mr. Acker evolve. “It doesn’t matter if the movie is a success or not a success; it’s still a wonderful moment that will never be the same for you. I know I’m enjoying seeing that happen where nobody really knew about it, and it gets finished quietly on its own, focusing on the movie.”

    Mr. Burton is also currently on work on Alice in Wonderland, his classic take on the childhood story. Burton claimed his inspiration to do so was his desire to make a true adaptation. “I didn’t know the book so much as I knew the imagery from music and other forms of pop culture that use Alice references…over the years I saw versions, and I never really saw a version I liked. The problem with the books is its such episodic and random events, that the movies have kind of suffered from a passive little girl going that’s weird.”
    One of the major changes though is turning Alice from a young girl to a 19-year-old, played by Mia Wasikowska, who some may recognize from the HBO series In Treatment. “All these stories, whether its Alice or Wizard of Oz—all these classics—they are always exploring the person’s inner psyche,” Mr. Burton explained, which is why Ms. Wasikowska was hired for her “internal life” as he put it.

    Over the years, Mr. Burton has developed a number of relationships with certain creative minds, but none so public as his seven collaborations with Johnny Depp. Mr. Burton explained that their work truly depends if the material feels correct, and does not simply cast him from the beginning. “Its like a relationship: you want to keep it alive, and going, and interesting, and trying new things.” He also cited similar relationships with composer Danny Elfman and costume designer Colleen Atwood.
    Mr. Burton is a very personable man and keeps his mind flowing. He presented a doodle pad that he uses to create characters, which may have been the inspiration for many of his films’ iconic imagery. He tends to stick away from others’ books and movies while working on his own material, and despite making the 1989 adapatation of Batman, has not had a chance to see the wildly popular film The Dark Knight. He has expressed desires also to do a very low-budget adaptation of his original first short, Frankenweinie.

    But most of all, Mr. Burton is an artist of the visual grotesque and beautiful, which is why projects like 9, Alice in Wonderland, and Batman fit his universe. Mr. Burton’s original works and drawings will be presented at a six month retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art starting in November, which is a testament to the way he has influenced the mediums he has worked in for his brief 20-year career.

    And even if his films are of the fantastic and extraordinary, Mr. Burton defends their relevance: “Good fantasy speaks to reality, it speaks to something real in somebody’s life. That’s why those old stories have been told around campfire…There’s a reason they keep being told because they have resonance about a human condition or emotion.”