Big Fish (2003)

“As you grow up, you get to a point when you start to see your father as a separate human being and not just the man who gave you life,” says August. “And you realize he had this whole other life before you were born. Filling in the missing pieces of that life drive the story of Big Fish.”

Edward Bloom’s life consists of fantastic episodes. When the young Edward decides to leave home, he chooses an unpaved fork in the road outside of town and enters a forest of such dark dangers that he must call forth all his courage and determination to survive an onslaught of stinging bees, jumping spiders, violent ravens and attacking trees.

“Now you know you’ve truly entered Tim Burton’s universe,” says Cohen. “He dredges up the stuff of myth, of legend, of dreams, of nightmares - all the power of the things that made us hide under the bed when we were little kids - as well as all the dreams and ambitions we’ve secretly fostered.”

“The kind of wild, off-beat surrealism is what Tim does so exquisitely,” adds Zanuck. “He’s as totally at home with the eccentric and the exotic as he is transporting us to that world through the film’s hero Edward Bloom.”

Every step of Bloom’s journey is populated by wild and offbeat characters - the kind of people Edward always wanted to meet. Even as a child he knew he was going to have an exceptional life. A witch (Helena Bonham Carter) told him so. And when he hooks up with a giant named Karl (Matthew McGrory - who is featured in the Guinness Book of Records as having the largest feet in the world, requiring size 29 1/2 shoes) he knows he’s on his way. Another memorable encounter is the poet – and later bank robber and Wall Street honcho - Norther Winslow (Steve Buscemi) in the idealized town of Spectre, which lies just at the other end of the foreboding forest. It’s such an amazing town that no one has ever wanted to leave – except Edward. The further he travels from his origins, the more exotic his adventures become. While fighting in Korea, he happens on an unforgettable musical performance by beautiful conjoined twins, Ping and Jing (played by identical twins Ada Tai and Arlene Tai).

Then there are Edward’s circus adventures with Danny DeVito aboard as the crafty and somewhat devious circus owner and ringmaster Amos Calloway. And that’s only the beginning.

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