Having a vision can be a wonderful thing. Many great contributions to society have come from people who were able to move heaven and earth with their efforts. But one thing that is a consistent factor when researching the long list of people, who have had something to contribute to the rest of the world, is the fact that all these people started off with a vision.
It is that vision which emboldens people to take action to make that idea materialise into a lived reality. It is also that vision that keeps a person’s hopes alive when they are not getting the results they desired from the efforts they have put forward to realise their goals.
The period in which a person sets out to achieve something with a vision in mind and then undergoes a period where they struggle to even get their foot in the door let alone bring their goals entirely to fruition is something that deters a lot of people from going after what they want in life.
But, what about that person who is so determined to bring his vision into reality, so unwavering in his belief in his own ideas, that he goes to lengths so bizarre, that his story, ironically, would make a very compelling film about how driven they were.
Well fortunately, such a film was made, and that film was called: ‘Ed Wood’.
Directed by Tim Burton in 1994 and starring Johnny Depp as the titular character, Ed Wood is a film based on the cult film maker who has since been immortalised as: ‘The Worst Filmmaker in the World’.
The film follows Wood during a five-year period in his career where some of his best-known films were under production, as well as following his relationship with horror movie icon Bela Lugosi (played by Martin Landau) who was in the twilight of his Hollywood career.
The film begins in 1952, following Ed Wood as he tries to make his way into the movie industry. He hears of a producer named George Weiss who wants to purchase the rights to a story about a man who undergoes a sex change.
Wood tries to convince Weiss to let him direct the film. When Weiss asks him why he should allow Wood to direct the film Wood confesses that he himself is a transvestite, and that his experience of living with a secret that no one would understand qualified him to direct a film about a sex change.
Weiss is hesitant to let Wood direct the film, but Wood manages to convince Weiss to let him direct the film because of a contact that Wood develops in the meantime.
Wood develops a connection with Hollywood royalty Bela Lugosi, who he meets in a shop that sells coffins of all places. Wood initially means to just take the opportunity to tell Lugosi how much of a fan of his work he was, but the two go back to Lugosi’s home and watch TV together. This creates a very unlikely bond between the horror film icon and the no-name film director.
Because of this friendship Wood is able to proposition George Weiss by telling him that having a legitimate star in the production about the man going through a sex change- appropriately named: ‘I Changed My Sex’- would be the driving factor in the films ability to sell tickets.
Wood convinces Lugosi to take a part in the film as a way of jumpstarting his comeback, which Lugosi agrees to. Weiss agrees to let Wood direct the film. Once Wood finishes the script, he shows it to his wife Dolores Fuller (Sarah Jessica Parker) who is left shaken by the revelation from her husband that he is a transvestite.
Weiss and Wood argue about the nature of the film, with Wood being allowed to shoot the film according to how he thinks it should be shot. Wood’s unusual approach of only shooting one take per scene, giving actors little direction, and using stock footage to fill in gaps in his film ultimately culminates in a film that results in critical and commercial failure.
This is just one of many stories that get told throughout this two-hour film that aim to cover a five-year period of Wood’s life. But, rather than focus on the different adventures that Wood gets wrapped up in, it probably would be best to focus on an aspect that gets transmitted so clearly to the viewer. And that is the absolute commitment of Wood to his vision.
There are some people who today- and back then even- would champion Wood’s right to dress in women’s clothing, and some who would want nothing to do with a man who spends his free time pacing back and forth in his apartment in lingerie. But, one thing that can be universally admired is his determination to make film’s according to his views on how they should be made.
Following the failure of the film: ‘I Changed My Sex’, which was then re-titled: ‘Glen or Glenda’, Wood isn’t so dismayed by this as one would think he ought to have been. Wood is then advised by his girlfriend to fund his next project independently. He sets out to fund his next film: ‘Bride of the Atom’, which doesn’t go too well, not until he meets Loretta King (Juliet Landau) who he mistakes for being a wealthy heiress.
Wood gives her a role he had initially written for his girlfriend- who becomes irate at being replaced- in order to get her to fund the film with the money he thinks she has.
Whilst ‘Bride of the Atom’ is under production it is revealed that King is actually poor, halting production and once again putting Wood in a position that sees his vision compromised.
Wood, not willing to go down without a fight, convinces a meat-packing tycoon to finance the film, but the tycoon only agrees to it son long as his son is cast as the lead, and the film ends with an explosion.
Despite this setback Wood is able to complete the film, with the title changed to: ‘Bride of the Monster’, but it costs him his relationship with Dolores who resents his cross-dressing, his misfit group of friends, and ultimately, his films which she brands as: “shit!”
Not only does he lose his girlfriend, but also he soon discovers that Bela Lugosi has developed an addiction to morphine, and later tries to kill himself because the government takes away his unemployment benefit. Wood, who then checks him into a rehab facility, talks Lugosi out of suicide. It is here he meets Kathy O’Hara, a young woman who is visiting her father.
The two strike a bond after they discover they share the same views on film and other various topics of interest. O’Hara embraces Wood’s cross-dressing once he discloses it to her, something that takes a large amount of effort on wood’s part.
Once Lugosi leaves rehab, Wood takes him to the premiere of ‘Bride of the Monster’, but to their surprise the film is received poorly, leading to Wood and his star being chased out of the theatre.
Soon after, Lugosi dies, leaving Wood without a star and a friend. One day, when Wood’s landlord comes to collect rent, he steps inside Wood’s apartment to learn that he is in the film business. He mentions to Wood that some of the members of his church are struggling to make a series of religious films.
Wood, ever the determined auteur, sees an opportunity and convinces the landlord to get the church to give him the money to make one of Wood’s films. The logic behind the idea being that if the money can be used to make a film in a commercially successful genre, then the money made in sales can fund the church’s religious films.
The church agrees to fund Wood’s next picture, this time titled: ‘Grave Robbers from Outer Space’, but not before Wood and the rest of his film crew get baptized, which he miraculously gets them all to do. However, just like the previous production, the moneymen soon begin meddling with Wood’s vision for the film, or in the case of the Church, they begin censoring his vision.
When the people sent by the church to oversee the production start asking Wood to take things out and to put certain things in, Wood loses it, and in a desperate attempt to not give up, resorts to showing up to set in women’s clothing as a way of putting himself at ease. The men from the church, completely abhorred by the sight of Wood in drag threaten to pull the plug on the whole production.
Wood storms out of the production and heads to the nearest bar. Whilst seated at the bar he notices a familiar face. Orson Welles (Vincent D’onforio)! Wood takes the opportunity to quickly tell Orson Welles how much he loves his work, but it soon turns into a short conversation where Welles and Wood share each other’s frustrations of trying to make a film that is constantly being tampered with by the people in the studios who fund the project.
Wood with his film: ‘Grave Robbers from Outer Space’, later re-named: ‘Plan 9 From Outer Space’, and Welles with his rendition of: ‘Don Quixote’. It is during this brief interaction that Welles gives the one piece of advice that permeates throughout this whole film, and that is that: ‘Visions are worth fighting for.’
Ed Wood is a film that can be remembered for the many different discussions that it can bring up. Things such as: the struggling rise of the artist to gain acceptance, the struggle behind creating work one truly enjoys and believes in, the ability Hollywood as to drain their once praised stars into a state of nothingness (like in the case of Lugosi who ironically became famous for draining the life out of people), and the struggle to live authentically- in a good or bad way-as oneself when dealing with a partner who just does not understand.
But behind all these things is Ed Wood, Johnny Depp’s portrayal, and the real-life figure, and his unflinching ability to role with the punches and not let failure, loss or even the possibility of sacrifice deter him from seeing his visions projected onto the big screen.
Wood did become a cult figure in cinema, though it may not be through the recognition of the Academy or the Oscars, it was still a name he had made for himself, a name that future generations would admire, not for the quality of his films, but for how good they were at being bad.
Wood probably never wanted to be labelled amongst the misfits of society, but he was, and in the end it seemed as though he accepted what he was, what his films were, and the type of people they catered too.
Proving that a man with a vision will end up ultimately, even if he does not think it is the right place for him upon first glance, where he should be, and amongst the people he should be with.