The long con at the center of Big Eyes is so unbelievable that it almost makes sense that people believed it for so long: Those kitschy paintings of children with enormous peepers that became so popular at the end of the 1950s were not actually made by the outrageous showman Walter Keane (Christoph Waltz) but by his suffering-in-secret wife Margaret (Amy Adams), who allowed Walter to take full credit even as her own artistic awakening (and attendant misgivings about the charade) began to come to the fore. In this exclusive clip from the Tim Burton–directed film (out December 25), you can take a look at the contentious Keane marriage in a nutshell: As Margaret timidly offers some resistance to her husband’s credit-hogging, Walter browbeats her back into submission with a potent combo of flattery and condescension. “You’re Keane, I’m Keane,†he says … and soon, the entire country would be Keane-crazy, too.
