The two had both met as students in CalArt’s animation program.
Years later, Burton thought of his old friend when it came time to directThe Nightmare Before Christmas.
I always thought his story was perfect, and he designed the main characters.
But it was really me and my team of people who brought that to life.
Creatively, it is entirely his.
Selick has given Burton plenty of credit for his creative genius.
As he said last year,
“It’s not really a problem.
So yeah, it bothered me more years ago.
It doesn’t bother me at all now.”
Henry Selick directs The Nightmare Before Christmas, a stop-motion fairytale from the mind of Tim Burton. Jack Skellington is the king of Halloween and one of Halloweentown’s most beloved citizens, but he longs for something more. When he stumbles across a magical door that leads him to discover Christmas, he makes it his mission to replace Santa Claus and bring festive cheer to his perpetually spooky hamlet.
He said, The biggest successes are films that look normal, with a normal story.
But whos interested in doing that?
Certainly not him or myself.
That hasn’t stopped Disney from incorporating the characters in other ways and in other mediums.
The franchise has continued in books, comic books, video games, merchandise, toys, and more.
Still, even they didn’t know what a beloved classic their movie would become.
“Its cultural legacy, I couldn’t have predicted it,” Selick said.
“It struck the right balance of being very original and being done in stop motion.
And I think a film done well in stop-motion animation leaves its mark.
The Nightmare Before Christmas is available to stream on Disney+.
