Director Henry Selick explains that Tim Burton had very little to do with The Nightmare Before Christmas. Very often, some of the best feature films are the result of collaborative efforts between filmmakers with similar minds. In the case of The Nightmare Before Christmas, there were former Disney animators Tim Burton and Henry Selick. Both filmmakers are surrealists who worked on the classic films The Fox and the Hound and The Black Cauldron. After Burton's success in live-action features, he collaborated with Selick to get Nightmare Before Christmas completed.
The Nightmare Before Christmas would go on to be one of the most memorable animated features from Walt Disney Pictures, though it was initially issued under the Touchstone Pictures banner due to Disney's fear over the content. Despite the contrast in fame, Selick is not bitter about Burton's success and the two of them have remained good friends. Despite this, many people still confuse Nightmare as being solely a Burton film and hardly ever bring up Selick's work on it.
Selick sat down with the AV Club to talk about his recent film Wendell & Wild when the subject came around to his work with Burton on The Nightmare Before Christmas. Selick wants it to be known by everyone that even though Burton came up with the idea for the movie, he actually had very little to do with it beyond that. Selick directed the feature film after Burton was preoccupied with Batman Returns and Ed Wood. While most audiences assumed that he made numerous creative decisions, Selick came to set the record straight.
I’ll just go through it again. Tim Burton had very little to do with the making of Nightmare Before Christmas. But it was his idea. It was his character designs. But he entrusted me because he knew me and the head of storyboards, Joe Ranft. But it was my crew up in San Francisco that made that. He showed up at the end with an editor and trimmed out some stuff to tighten up the film.
Selick Was Essential To Nightmare Before Christmas' Success
With Burton's popularity at the time, his name was added heavily to the marketing. The topic of who exactly created the movie has pestered Selick with him stating that he had "won many a bar bet" when confronting people over who directed the film. Composer Danny Elfman, who Selick jokingly stated also claimed ownership over the film, has openly supported and thanked him over the handling of the songs. Since the release of the movie, Selick has opted to have his name be more closely associated with his films such as Coraline and the recent Wendell & Wild, both of which he is proud of.
The Nightmare Before Christmas needed to have someone like Selick directing. While Burton's filmmaking presence cannot be denied, his time was split while he was working on other high-end Hollywood projects and Selick helped bring the film into focus with his similar style and tastes. While it is unfair that the film is mistakenly thought to have been directed by Burton, Selick has still managed to move on to other well-known projects and is still interested in continuing with the art of stop-motion for his future films.
Source: AV Club