In Tim Burton’s Ed Wood, Johnny Depp portrays filmmaker Edward D. Wood Jr., commonly known as Ed Wood.
The black-and-white biographical film follows Wood’s attempts to make movies despite limited resources, professional setbacks, and widespread critical dismissal. It focuses especially on the production of Glen or Glenda, Bride of the Monster, and Plan 9 from Outer Space, the last of which later became associated with Wood’s reputation as one of cinema’s least successful directors.
Martin Landau plays the aging actor Bela Lugosi, whose friendship with Wood forms the emotional center of the film. Sarah Jessica Parker plays Wood’s girlfriend Dolores Fuller, while Patricia Arquette plays Kathy O’Hara.
Burton’s film is not a straightforward claim that Wood lacked imagination. Instead, it presents his persistence and enthusiasm sympathetically, contrasting the harsh judgment of film history with the pleasure he found in making movies. The film won two Academy Awards.