Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride is a stunning stop motion animation film. The movie is filled with interesting characters, and a heart-wrenching tale of lost love. Corpse Bride is unique, and it found inspiration in many places.
Tim Burton had just finished production on The Nightmare Before Christmas, and it was time to move onto a new project. Burton was approached by Joe Ranft. Ranft presented Burton with an old Jewish folktale called “The Finger”. The folktale goes that a groom-to-be accidentally slipped his wedding ring onto a corpse’s finger while reciting his vows. The corpse jumps up and exclaims, “My husband!” The man takes the corpse to the rabbi who nullifies the marriage. The corps then collapses into a pile of bones. This folktale is what inspired the story of Corpse Bride.
The characters in Corpse Bride were designed by Carlos Grangel. However, his inspiration came from Tim Burton’s original sketches. Burton gave Grangel a copy of the script and his sketches. From there Grangel designed the characters, but their final design didn’t differ too much from Burton’s sketches. Additionally, many people believe that Victor Van Dort was modeled after Johnny Depp (who plays Van Dort). However, Tim Burton swears that their resemblance is just a coincidence.
Tim Burton himself found inspiration in Ray Harryhausen. Harryhausen is considered a patron saint of stop motion animation. He inspired many filmmakers, including Tim Burton. Harryhausen visited the set of Corpse Bride, and production basically stopped. All the people working on the film were inspired by Harryhausen. There’s even a nod to him in the film. His name can be seen on the piano that Victor Van Dort plays before he meets his wife-to-be.
Corpse Bride found inspiration in everything from people to old folktales. These different elements are what make the movie so good. Have you ever seen Corpse Bride? If you have, did you know that it was based off of an old folktale? If you’d like to read more about cartoons, cosplay, media, and more please subscribe to Media Mania.