Henry Selick’s fascinating interview with the AV Club, published today, has Selick coming off as slightly bitter towards Tim Burton. I don’t blame him.
The gist of the story has to do with Burton stamping his own name on the title for the 1993 animated classic “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” to the point where many now associate that movie as being directed by Burton and not Selick:
That was a little unfair because it wasn’t called Tim Burton’s Nightmare until three weeks before the film came out,” Selick revealed. “And I would have been fine with that, if that’s what I signed up for. But Tim was in L.A. making two features while I directed that film, and I mean, Tim is a genius—or he certainly was in his most creative years. 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.”
When it comes to “Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas,” hey, that’s the title, it’s come to the point where, over the years, most moviegoers who mention the film automatically associate it with Burton. They probably don’t even know who Selick is. The marketing worked.
Almost certainly Burton’s name was inserted into the title to market the film, and to be fair, Burton did create the story. However, Selick does deserve more recognition, he created the visual aspect of the film, which is what it is most known for, and he’s the clear “auteur” of the whole thing.
In ensuing years, if you had ever worked with Tim Burton, it was enough for studios to add "from the makers of Nightmare Before Christmas” to whatever project connected with Burton. So even when Selick directed “James and the Giant Peach” and “Coraline”, it was still indirectly credited to Burton because Selick’s name didn’t sell tickets.
In fact, there still are people out there who believe Burton directed Selick’s own “Coraline,” so the ‘Nightmare’ name-stamp has definitely haunted poor Henry all these years later.