Jenna Ortega (Wednesday), Johnny Depp (Sleepy Hollow), Christopher Walken (Severance), Winona Ryder (Stranger Things), Mia Wasikowska (Blueback), Christopher Waltz (Django Unchained), Helena Bonham Carter (Enola Holmes 2), Michael Keaton (Dopesick), Danny Devito (It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia), and composer Danny Elfman (Spider-Man: No Way Home) have been summoned, as popular humming birds of TV and cinema, to swarm in the upcoming Untitled Tim Burton Documentary directed by Tara Wood (3 Days). Tim Burton, who has pried back bottomless layers of nightmare fuel in movies and TV such as Wednesday, The Nightmare Before Christmas, and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, will be the gummy nucleus of the four-part documentary series en route to the Cannes Market. The untitled project promises “an otherworldly, dream journey into the mind.”

“Tim’s films are just the tip of the iceberg. The documentary explores how Burton brings his vision to life through his own joyous idiosyncrasy and his ability to meld the ominous and the frightful with a sense of whimsy,” according to release notes about the new docuseries. “Tim continues to build his aesthetic, the Burton-esque style, derived from a wealth of art, cinematic, and literary genres.”

Captured off the horizon of Deadline, the Untitled Tim Burton Documentary series is embalmed with unreleased footage and raw interviews. Johnny Depp, who blasted apertures as the Cannes Film Festival entrée in Maïwenn’s Jeanne du Barry will spike the new docuseries with a lightning that has lured Burton’s camera on more than one occasion in films like Edward Scissorhands, Alice Through the Looking Glass, and Corpse Bride. 

“The most important filmmaker who changed my life completely is Tim,” Depp stated. Burton and Depp’s first collab was on the set of the cult classic film Edward Scissorhands. “In the very beginning, he’s the guy that fought for me.”

“In the making of this doc,” Wood commented, “Tim’s creative family, a gaggle of creative genius, met me with open hearts and enthusiasm to share their profound insights into Tim’s unique, magical world. And it has been a truly inspiring, joyous and life-changing experience. Whatever you do or where you come from, Tim’s story will inspire you.”

Wood, writer and director of the Quentin Tarantino (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood) documentary QT8: The First Eight and 21 Years: Richard Linklater, a documentary of the indie writer-director of Slacker, will also produce the Burton (Sleepy Hollow, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) docuseries along with Jake Zortman (The Mars Underground) and Joe Clarke (QT8: The First Eight) while composer Danny Elfman (The Nightmare Before Christmas) will score the theme song. Riki Rushing and Allen Gilmer (Death in Texas) of Thunderbird Pictures render as executive producers.

“Tim Burton is a legendary auteur and artist with such a rich and distinctive body of work, spanning from the 80s to present day – from celebrated films like Edward Scissorhands, Alice In Wonderland, Batman and Beetlejuice, through to his latest record-breaking Netflix TV show, Wednesday, which is now gearing up for a second season – he is truly a household name and global cultural icon,” noted Liz Tang, executive director, acquisitions, at Fifth Season who will be handling global sales. “His eclectic gothic charm pioneered through animation, stop motion, sketches, poems, live action filmmaking and everything in between has influenced generations of creators – and this definitive 4-part docuseries will be a beautifully realized journey into his creative process, told through the eyes of the A-listers closest to him whose careers he helped to shape. We are thrilled to partner with Tara Wood and her team to bring this unique project to buyers worldwide.”

Winona Ryder (Gone in the Night), Jenna Ortega (Scream), Michael Keaton (Spotlight), Monica Bellucci (Mafia Mamma), and Catherine O’Hara (Schitt’s Creek) are now tackling Burton’s sequel to 1988’s Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice 2.