Film, TV and Animation

Peter Saunders

Dead Puppets’ Society

Thankfully, it was third time lucky and the first steps towards the new Johnny Depp/Helena Bonham-Carter voiced spectacular, Corpse Bride, were made. Mike Sadler went to meet Manchester’s premier puppeteers.

What is Tim Burton like to work with?

Peter Saunders: "We feel very privileged that a Hollywood director wants to work with us, a small Manchester-based company. When you get the likes of Tim wanting you in his operation, it’s fantastic. We still have to pinch ourselves to believe it, to be honest. It’s the second time we’ve worked with him so it’s not as big a surprise as the first, back in 1994, when we worked on Mars Attack.

Corpse Bride: from drawing to model

"I answered the phone but it took two or three calls for me to believe it wasn’t a wind-up. ‘Would you like to work on a Tim Burton film?’ came the voice at the other end. Would you have believed it wasn’t one of your mates winding you up?"

Ian Mackinnon: "When we first met, Tim mentioned Corpse Bride as a possibility but, as time passed, we thought it had gone away. So we were so pleased when Tim’s sheer enthusiasm for it brought it through. He has a genuine love for the craftmanship involved in stop-motion animation. We’ve thoroughly enjoyed the making of the film - it’s been hard work but excellent. It’s taken three or four long years to get the film released but we think it’s been worth it."

PS: "Tim would come up on the train on his own just like an ordinary bloke. He shows very few signs of a ‘luvvy’ temperament - but he can be just like a big kid and he is very funny, getting us laughing. He really is a good guy. He’s been to our workshop on several occasions and there’s no edge to him at all. Not like others in his job. I remember a project a few years back when I met Steven Spielberg - he had at least ten minders! Not Tim Burton."

Would it be fair to call it painstaking work?

PS: "Yes! The whole project’s been a marathon. If you think our target, our ‘output aim’ if you like, is two seconds of the film per day - say ten seconds per week - you could say ‘painstaking’, yes! The bi-product of that is that it makes life very difficult when you go and see the film, when it’s eventually finished, to be objective. I think it’ll take some time before we can go and watch it and enjoy it without it bringing back all the angst and ‘hard work’ memories."

Feat of clay: making Corpse Bride

IM: "Even just making the puppets took about a year and a half so it’s been a big project for a small firm like ours."

As your work is so all-consuming, would you call it a vocation more than a job?

PS: "It is a vocation really and quite rare these days, what with the advent of computer graphics. So to have such a great advocate of model animation as Tim come to work with us has been absolutely wonderful. Tim has a great respect for people who work with their hands to create things - be they drawing artists, painters, sculptors or puppet makers. He has enormous respect. He trained as an artist and I think he has an affinity with people who are similarly skilled."

With box office success for ‘The Curse of the Were-Rabbit’ and other animation sensations, is this current popularity boom more than just a fad?

IM: "I hope so! It’s a shame The Corpse Bride and The Curse of the Were-Rabbit came out together but I hope it doesn’t stop people from going to see both. Things go round and we always wonder how long we’ll be able to carry on playing with plasticine making puppets. It just seems the right time."

Corpse Bride: a still from the film

PS: "I’m not sure you’d call it a renaissance but maybe you could call it a resurgence. Quite how long-lived it’ll be, who knows, but it does seem you need visionaries like Tim and ‘Wallace and Gromit’ maker Nick Park to keep interest going."

How much has The Nightmare before Christmas influenced The Corpse Bride?

PS: "It’s fair to say there are echoes though it’s definitely not The Nightmare before Christmas 2! Hopefully it’ll be judged on its own merits not in comparison with other work."

IM: "‘Nightmare’, written as it was by Tim, has got a cult following so we thought we can’t just copy the style. Happily, Tim and others also wanted to push things in a slightly different direction. Okay, there are echoes but I think that’s because Tim’s got such a strong visual style. I think Corpse Bride is more led by the story. Hopefully the ‘Nightmare’ audience won’t be disappointed."