What links Terence Stamp, Amy Adams and Tim Burton? If you answered Superman, you’d be right, but nerdy: Terence Stamp was General Zod in 1980’s “Superman II,” Amy Adams has just played Lois Lane in “Man of Steel,” and Tim Burton wasted several years in the late 90s trying and failing to get a Superman flick off the ground, after his success with Batman (read about that here). But that question now has a much simpler answer: “Big Eyes,” Burton’s next directorial outing. We already knew that Adams was to play the lead in the production, alongside Christoph Waltz, Danny Huston, Jason Schwartzman and Krysten Ritter. Now, The Hollywood Reporter informs us that Stamp has also been cast.
The project is an intriguing one, and comes at an intriguing time for Burton, as laid out last year on this very website. Telling the true story of kitsch painter Margaret Keane’s success, with her characteristic pictures of big-eyed kids, and the ensuing scandal when it emerged that her husband had taken credit for much of her career, it seems a good sign that Burton is working with some new actors and on more intimate material.
Stamp comes on board as John Canaday, the Anton Ego-esque New York Times art critic whose traditional tastes were appalled by the Keanes’ success. If you need reminding of the actor’s brilliance, here’s a nice little 1998 episode of Mark Cousins‘ “Scene By Scene” on Stamp‘s work, in which he goes back over some of his best scenes in fine detail, from his eloquent description of what it was like to be lit and shot by Robert Krasker, who lensed “The Third Man” and Stamp‘s breakout film “Billy Budd,” to his wonderful against-the-grain turn in “Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.” Plus, he spills some intriguing beans on the hot new “Star Wars” project, ‘The Phantom Menace.’ We can barely wait…
“Big Eyes” arrives sometime in 2014.
