the movie

big fish is a 2003 movie based on the book by daniel wallace. the movie was directed by tim burton (known for his directing work on beetlejuice, sweeny todd, edward scissorhands, and producing the nightmare before christmas) and starred ewan mcgregor and albert finney as edward, billy crudup as will, jessica lange and alison lohman as sandra, helena bonham carter as jenny and the witch, and danny devito as amos. see the full cast and crew here.

watch the movie here

read the screenplay here

the adaptation

John August (b. 1970), American screenwriter and author, first read Daniel Wallace’s book in the fall of 1998. August and Wallace met that October (in Richmond, Virginia at that!) and discussed the prospect of making it into a movie. From that point onward, August began adapting the segmented, short stories into a linear, family drama (read their conversation here).

The movie boils down to two parallel stories: Edward in the past and Will in the present. Instead of being told exclusively through Will’s point of view of his father’s life, the movie allows for Edward to tell the stories of himself. The singular myths shown in the chapters of the book are synthesized to the whimsical and spooky world of Tim Burton, the director of the movie (the circus, Spectre, etc). Additionally, Daniel Wallace had a cameo in the movie version as the economics professor at Auburn University. August discusses the process of the adaption extensively in this forward to the book and this page on his website.

In 1998, John August wrote a letter to Columbia Pictures to try to convince them to option the rights to Big Fish. He ended it with “likely you’ll have your own anecdotes, because Wallace has the weird ability to feel universal and highly specific, as if he stumbled across some secret trove of shared histories.” Read the whole letter here.

the production

Once he convinced Columbia Pictures to acquire the film rights for Big Fish, John August and the producers began discussions about who would direct the film and where to find the other right collaborators. Initially, Steven Spielberg, with the financial backing of DreamWorks, was set to direct and had his eyes on Jack Nicholson for the role of Edward. Once Spielberg (and DreamWorks) pulled from the project to work on Catch Me if You Can, August finalized the script and signed on Tim Burton to direct. The team originally wanted one actor to play both past and current Edward, but eventually cast Ewan McGregor as young Edward and Albert Finney as old Edward. They carried over that dual-casting to the role of Sandra; Alison Lohman and Jessica Lange split the role.

Filming began in January of 2003. The whole film (minus one week in Paris filming for Will and Josephine, who is not in the book and is French in the movie) was filmed in Alabama, where the story is set and Daniel Wallace, the book author grew up. The book takes place in Ashland, Alabama, which is a real place. The movie (and musical) takes place in Ashton, Alabama, which is not real. Wetumpka, AL and Prattville, AL served as downtown Ashton and the location of the Bloom’s home, Karl’s cave is on the banks of the Tallapoosa River, Auburn University is actually Huntington College, and the witch’s house is the Dickinson Plantation in Lowndesboro, AL. Read more about it here.

After filming was complete, the film was edited using color grading to achieve the Southern Gothic aesthetic. The movie was scored by Danny Elfman (best known as the singing voice of Jack Skellington and scoring The Nightmare Before Christmas) and has an original song by the lead vocalist of Pearl Jam. The movie was released on January 9, 2003. It grossed a total of $122.9 million worldwide. More info and images here.

the reviews

"A wide-eyed Southern Gothic picaresque in which each lunatic twist of a development is more enchanting than the last."
— Entertainment Weekly

“In less capable hands, Big Fish could play like a tribute to a liar's pathology. Or, worse, Edward could be a holy fool, like Forrest Gump. He isn’t… As the son learns to talk to his father on the father's terms and still see him clearly, Big Fish takes on the transformative power of art."
— Rolling Stone

"a clever, smart fantasy that targets the child inside every adult, without insulting the intelligence of either."
— James Berardinelli

On Rotten Tomatoes, 75% of critics have positively reviewed Big Fish, giving it an average score of 7.2/10.

Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of B+.