Tim Burton receives Walk of Fame star, honored by Winona Ryder and Michael Keaton
Legendary filmmaker Tim Burton received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Tuesday.
Burton, who is known for iconic films including "Edward Scissorhands," "The Nightmare Before Christmas," "Beetlejuice" and the 2022 television series, "Wednesday," called the recognition an "honor" and shared how the location of his star, which is located in front of an iconic Hollywood shop, is meaningful for him.
"As a child, I used to come down here from Burbank on the bus, no adults. In fact, I was young enough to think these things were actually gravestones when I first came here," he began. "I realized John Wayne wasn't buried under that or other people."
"But I used to come down here and visit the Larry Edmunds bookshop and come here and when I found out it was here, I almost started crying because I've been coming here ever since I was a little child and the store hasn't changed at all," he continued. "So for me, it's such an honor to have a star but also to have it right here in front of this incredible shop, museum, toy shop, everything."
"I used to spend my life here," Burton added. "Thank you so much."
Some of Burton's friends and colleagues who attended were actors Danny DeVito and Deep Roy, actress Monica Bellucci, and costume designer Colleen Atwood.
Winona Ryder and Michael Keaton, who starred in Burton's 1988 "Beetlejuice" film and the upcoming sequel, "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice," honored him.
"Giving him this star is sort of like pinning a medal on Mount Everest for being the tallest mountain," said Ryder, who also starred in Burton's 1990 film, "Edward Scissorhands" and the 2012 animated film "Frankenweenie." "Tim has such a beautiful and unique understanding of the human heart. He knows the heartache of the misunderstood, the strange and unusual."
"He doesn't just understand them, he celebrates them," the "Edward Scissorhands" actress continued. "Whether outcasts, oddballs, terrifying or hilarious, he gives them depth, humor and always a certain gallantry and he gives them their dignity. His heroes are the very outcasts that he loves."
"To work with Tim is like being invited to wander through his heart and imagination," she added. "It's the ultimate cathedral and one of my most cherished and sacred places to be and I am eternally grateful for the time that I spent there."
Ryder went on to tell Burton that his friendship is an "enormous gift" and recalled the first time she met him, saying when she was a "weird kid." "You affirmed my voice, you reinforced my confidence to be myself, to go against the tides of conformity," she said. "Your creative inclusiveness showed me what true artistic collaboration looked like. In other words, you make being a weird girl not just OK but something to celebrate and even kind of cool."
When it was Keaton's turn, the actor, who also starred in Burton's "Dumbo," "Batman" and "Batman Returns," recalled some of his first meetings with Burton, who had shown Keaton sketches about Beetlejuice.
"It's just a joy," Keaton said about working with Burton before sharing a memory about working on "Beetlejuice." "I vividly remember the first day walking onto set of 'Beetlejuice,' and I had some ideas I thought might work. I was in the wardrobe and everything and Tim and I hadn't even rehearsed anything."
"I remember it so clearly and walking on thinking, 'I hope this works,' and then Tim giving me kind of a brief tour of the sets," he continued. "First of all, you walk in and you go, 'shrunken heads, OK.' And then you see these remarkable, beautiful sets and it didn't take me very long just to feel really really comfortable. And it's been like that ever since."
"It just feels good to be around art," Keaton added. "And to be a part of it is rare and it's an experience I get to have everytime I'm on a set with Tim."
