Burton’s Gothic childhood

Tim Burton has always been an outsider, said Anthony Breznican in Entertainment Weekly. As a painfully shy kid growing up in sunny Burbank, Calif., in the 1960s, the Edward Scissorhands director felt out of step with the town’s smiling, happy residents. He spent much of his free time in the sprawling graveyard at the end of his road. “It didn’t feel morbid, although people probably think it is,” says Burton, 54. “It felt more exciting and lonely and special and emotional.” More importantly, he explains, nobody bothers you when you’re sitting alone in a cemetery. “I guess it was a good place to think.” Burton struggled to connect with his parents, who had their own share of problems. His father, Bill, was a former pro-baseball player who worked for the city’s parks. “He got injured [playing], which was quite traumatic for him.” His mother, meanwhile, was “a frustrated suburban artist, making owls and Santa Clauses out of pine cones and foil.” So would Burton change anything about his childhood? “No,” he answers immediately. “I felt quite miserable and depressed. But I wouldn’t [change that] because it makes you who you are. I don’t think I would change anything, really, even though if you asked me back then I would have changed every single thing.”

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