Life in Pictures: Tim Burton, on the Set of Big Eyes
They were called the “big eyes” paintings, were signed simply KEANE, and “had a big impact around the time I was growing up,” Burton says. The images of exaggeratedly sad-eyed waifs were, in fact, a pop phenomenon, and the painter Walter Keane became a celebrity, appearing on the Tonight show and seeing his work enter the United Nations’ collection. Eventually, the strange story turned even stranger: Keane’s wife, Margaret, revealed that she’d done all his painting for him. What Burton calls their “complicated, weird relationship” is the subject of his new film; Margaret, now 87, is played by Amy Adams — who, Burton says, learned how to produce a knockoff Keane painting herself.
*This article appears in the December 1, 2014 issue of New York Magazine.
July 9, 2013. With Christoph Waltz and Danny Huston. One of our first days of shooting, with Vancouver playing the part of San Francisco. We didn’t ha...
July 9, 2013. With Christoph Waltz and Danny Huston. One of our first days of shooting, with Vancouver playing the part of San Francisco. We didn’t have money or time, so we were moving a couple of times a day, really hectic.
Photo: Leah Gallo/Courtesy of the Weinstein Company
July 10. Pretty good, huh? I did that in about a half an hour … no. I’ll take credit for it, but I’m not painting here — just looking at the signature...
July 10. Pretty good, huh? I did that in about a half an hour … no. I’ll take credit for it, but I’m not painting here — just looking at the signature. We had a couple of artists who did the Keane stuff, and Amy actually picked up quite a bit herself.
Photo: Leah Gallo/Courtesy of the Weinstein Company![July 10. This is the secondary porno film that we shot, which will be on the DVD … [Laughs] No, this represents for me why I wanted to do the movie: working with real people. Small crew, small group.](https://pyxis.nymag.com/v1/imgs/48a/bb1/8f8e0de615ea06650416a0a4f326807405-4----.2x.rdeep-vertical.w300.jpg)
![July 10. This is the secondary porno film that we shot, which will be on the DVD … [Laughs] No, this represents for me why I wanted to do the movie: working with real people. Small crew, small group.](https://pyxis.nymag.com/v1/imgs/48a/bb1/8f8e0de615ea06650416a0a4f326807405-4----.2x.rhorizontal.w807.jpg)
July 10. This is the secondary porno film that we shot, which will be on the DVD … [Laughs] No, this represents for me why I wanted to do the movie: w...
July 10. This is the secondary porno film that we shot, which will be on the DVD … [Laughs] No, this represents for me why I wanted to do the movie: working with real people. Small crew, small group.
Photo: Leah Gallo/Courtesy of the Weinstein Company
July 11. I grew up with prints of this artwork. Dentist’s offices, my grandmother’s house. And I always found it interesting and disturbing. Like Ed W...
July 11. I grew up with prints of this artwork. Dentist’s offices, my grandmother’s house. And I always found it interesting and disturbing. Like Ed Wood: People either liked it or had a violently negative reaction.
Photo: Leah Gallo/Courtesy of the Weinstein Company
July 17. Amy doesn’t have to say anything. She can be shy, and conflicted, and she can do all that without actually doing anything. To play something ...
July 17. Amy doesn’t have to say anything. She can be shy, and conflicted, and she can do all that without actually doing anything. To play something that’s so internal — to me, that’s the hardest thing.
Photo: Leah Gallo/Courtesy of the Weinstein Company
July 24. This is supposed to be a New York mansion. It’s different from a lot of the other scenes we had, which often involve two people. And I got to...
July 24. This is supposed to be a New York mansion. It’s different from a lot of the other scenes we had, which often involve two people. And I got to work with Terence Stamp — he talked about working with Fellini, and I was mesmerized.
Photo: Leah Gallo/Courtesy of the Weinstein Company
July 25. This huge painting that Margaret Keane did for UNICEF — such a strange one. Imagine standing in front of this thing for an hour. There’s a my...
July 25. This huge painting that Margaret Keane did for UNICEF — such a strange one. Imagine standing in front of this thing for an hour. There’s a mystery, too: I don’t think anyone knows where the real version is.
Photo: Leah Gallo/Courtesy of the Weinstein Company
July 26. We took over a supermarket and had to fill it with period things — we did a lot of switching from one aisle to the next. This was one of my f...
July 26. We took over a supermarket and had to fill it with period things — we did a lot of switching from one aisle to the next. This was one of my favorite scenes to shoot; maybe it was the weird supermarket lighting.
Photo: Leah Gallo/Courtesy of the Weinstein Company![August 6. There’s something about that time and era that reminded me of Hitchcock, and Mario Bava. There’s no direct reference to them, but I talked a bit with Bruno [Delbonnel, the DP] about those films.](https://pyxis.nymag.com/v1/imgs/90b/c80/e0d83d845bf8b5973355165d82c50f4627-10---.2x.rdeep-vertical.w300.jpg)
![August 6. There’s something about that time and era that reminded me of Hitchcock, and Mario Bava. There’s no direct reference to them, but I talked a bit with Bruno [Delbonnel, the DP] about those films.](https://pyxis.nymag.com/v1/imgs/90b/c80/e0d83d845bf8b5973355165d82c50f4627-10---.2x.rhorizontal.w807.jpg)
August 6. There’s something about that time and era that reminded me of Hitchcock, and Mario Bava. There’s no direct reference to them, but I talked a...
August 6. There’s something about that time and era that reminded me of Hitchcock, and Mario Bava. There’s no direct reference to them, but I talked a bit with Bruno [Delbonnel, the DP] about those films.
Photo: Leah Gallo/Courtesy of the Weinstein Company
August 7. It was really hard to find a house with that kind of California style in Vancouver. But I loved it — it had that suburban style, open but al...
August 7. It was really hard to find a house with that kind of California style in Vancouver. But I loved it — it had that suburban style, open but also like a prison. I actually brought a few props from my own house to help decorate.
Photo: Leah Gallo/Courtesy of the Weinstein Company
August 28. That’s the real Margaret Keane behind Amy. This is in San Francisco — we also shot in Hawaii for a couple of days, where I got to meet Dog ...
August 28. That’s the real Margaret Keane behind Amy. This is in San Francisco — we also shot in Hawaii for a couple of days, where I got to meet Dog the Bounty Hunter, which sort of made the whole experience worth it for me.
Photo: Leah Gallo/Courtesy of the Weinstein Company
August 28. Margaret is one of the most private people I’ve really met. When you’re around her, you don’t really feel like prying. She’s shy, but she h...
August 28. Margaret is one of the most private people I’ve really met. When you’re around her, you don’t really feel like prying. She’s shy, but she has a great sense of humor.
Photo: Leah Gallo/Courtesy of the Weinstein Company
October 28, 2014. Margaret did that drawing of my eye. She also did my kids. Whatever you think of the “big eyes” pictures, what’s quite amazing about...
October 28, 2014. Margaret did that drawing of my eye. She also did my kids. Whatever you think of the “big eyes” pictures, what’s quite amazing about her is that she really got it. Just think — she’s painting one single eye, and not in a style that you can call realistic. But she really captured the difference between my eye and my daughter’s and my son’s. She’s got quite a power to her.
Photo: Leah Gallo/Courtesy of the Weinstein Company