Director Tim Burton’s long-developing biopic Big Eyes is finally moving forward.  The filmmaker first became attached to the pic back in 2010, when he sparked to a script by Ed Wood scribes Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski that he intended to produce.  The film’s story focuses on the artistic coupling of Margaret and Walter Keane.  Walter became famous in the 1950s and 60s for paintings featuring saucer-eyed kids, though it was the shy Margaret who really did the work.  Margaret eventually tired of the misplaced credit, which led to a divorce and a heated court battle to prove authorship of the paintings.

Ryan Reynolds and Reese Witherspoon became attached to play the couple early last year, but now a different promising duo of actors will be bringing The Keanes to life on the big screen with Burton in the director’s chair, as Christoph Waltz and Amy Adams have signed on to topline the pic.  Hit the jump for more.

The black and white, stop-motion animated 3D film Frankenweenie, from director Tim Burton and based on the ideas in his 1984 live-action short, is a heart-warming tale about a boy and his beloved dog.  After unexpectedly losing Sparky, young Victor (voiced by Charlie Tahan) sews him back together and harnesses the power of science to bring his best friend back to life, but quickly faces unintended and sometimes monstrous consequences for his actions.  The voice cast also includes Catherine O’Hara, Martin Short, Martin Landau, Atticus Shaffer and Winona Ryder.

During an early press day for the film, in which we got the chance to preview nearly 30 minutes of the film, director/producer Tim Burton talked about expanding the original story from his short, where the idea originally came from, casting actors that he hadn’t worked with in a while to voice some of the characters, how the stop-motion medium has changed over the years, his hope that younger audiences will want to explore the monsters that he’s paying tribute to in the film, and post-converting to 3D.  He also talked about the fact that Seth Grahame-Smith is working on writing Beetlejuice 2 and that he might be interested in getting involved depending on what he thinks of the script, the rumor about him doing a Pinocchio movie with Robert Downey Jr., and that Big Eyes is in the works, but that you never know what will be ready to go next.  Check out what he had to say after the jump.

Doing early press for the black and white, stop-motion animated 3D film Frankenweenie, due out on October 5^th, questions for director Tim Burton naturally turned to what he might decide to focus on next.  While we will post that portion of the interview on May 9^th, I can say that the nearly 30 minutes of footage that we saw was as adorable, twisted and witty as you would expect, and I can’t wait to see the full-length feature.

When asked about whether or not he’s started to think about what his next film will be, Burton said that he’s going to take a break because he thinks it’s embarrassing that he has three movies coming out this year.  He also talked about the fact that Seth Grahame-Smith is working on writing Beetlejuice 2, and that he might be interested in getting involved depending on what he thinks of the script, and that Big Eyes is in the works, but that you never know what will be ready to go next.  Check out what he had to say after the jump.

Screenwriters Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski first pitched the biopic Big Eyes to their Ed Wood director Tim Burton in August 2010.  We haven’t heard much about the project since then, but there was a big development today.  Reese Witherspoon and Ryan Reynolds are now attached to play Margaret and Walter Keane in the indie drama.  Walter became famous for paintings featuring saucer-eyed kids, though it was the shy Margaret who really did the work.  Margaret eventually tired of the misplaced credit, which led to a divorce and a heated court battle to prove authorship of the paintings.

Alexander and Karaszewski will direct Big Eyes, their fourth biopic script following Ed Wood, The People vs. Larry Flint, and Man on the Moon.  Burton is producing.  The trio is also working on a new version of The Addams Family.  Filming is scheduled for this spring.  Hit the jump for more on the story of the Keanes.

Tim Burton’s tendency to work with the same collaborators has long been acknowledged (and viciously lampooned), though this is one relationship that the director hasn’t tapped in a while.  The screenwriting team of Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski penned 1994s Ed Wood, which many (er, this writer) would argue serves as Burton’s directorial peak.  It appears that Burton is keen to get the band back together, for a pair of projects.

The first is a 3D stop-motion adaptation of The Addams Family.  Burton has been attached to direct for months now: Alexander and Karaszewski have now signed on as the primary scribes.  Karaszewski promises, “We’ve come up with an approach that nobody has ever done before… We want the tone to be as darkly funny and subversive as the Addams drawings.”  Hit the jump for details on the second project, Big Eyes, based on the artistic struggles of Margaret Keane.