Even if Christmas is over, it’s always a good time to see ‘Gremlins’. The fantastic film directed by Joe Dante is the perfect mix between black comedy, fantasy and horror. But… What would it have been like if Steven Spielberg had chosen Tim Burton to direct it?
Tim Burton’s Gremlins
The 1984 classic starring Zach Galligan and little Gizmo featured Joe Dante (‘The miraculous chip’) in the direction, Chris Columbus (‘Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone’) in the script and Steven Spielberg (‘Jaws’) in production.
When reading the script, Spielberg came to mind a possible director who suited him with that macabre and at the same time funny story: Tim Burton. By then, the filmmaker was starting in the world Hand in hand with Disney, participating in the sketches for ‘Tod & Toby’ and in the conceptual art for ‘Taron and the Magic Cauldron’.
As a director, Burton only had several shorts to his credit, such as ‘Vincent’with the voice of Vincent Price, in addition to the tv movies ‘Hansel and Gretel’. In both projects, the filmmaker already showed signs of that dark style that would later become his hallmark.
But it was the live action short film ‘Frankenweenie’ (made long in 2012) which really caught Spielberg’s attention, with that story about a boy who revives his dog and unleashes chaos in his neighborhood.
However, the fact that Burton would not have directed any feature film for the cinema It ended up weighing more and Spielberg finally opted for Dante, whose filmography to date has included box office hits such as ‘Piranha’ or ‘Howls’.
A year later, Burton would make the definitive leap to the cinema with ‘Pee Wee’s Great Adventure’ and it would not take much longer for him to stand out with titles such as ‘Bitelchús’, ‘Batman’ or ‘Edward Scissorhands’. We will never know how ‘Gremlins’ would have been in his hands, although, of course, they would not be out of place in his gallery of monsters as terrifying as they are adorable.