SPOILERS! You've been warned.
Rated 14a
Last seen: January 2005
Ed Wood
Johnny Depp, Martin Landau, Sarah Jessica Parker
Directed by: Tim Burton
ASTRID'S COMIC GENIUS LIST
DIRECTORIAL GENIUS
CHARACTERS
Ed Wood - Young aspiring director. Might be a little mental.
Bela Lugosi - Ed's best friend and a herion addict. Used to star in Dracula movies. Stars in Ed's movies.
Dolores Fuller - Ed's ex-girlfriend. Until he starts having marginal success. That's all the role she plays.
Kathy O'Hara - Ed's new girlfriend. She's very understanding.
Criswell - Quack psychic who believes in Ed.
Vampira, Tor Johnson, Loretta King - Just bit actors that appear in Ed's films.
PLOT
Ed Wood is a struggling director. He aspires to be like Orson Welles who had success at 28 with Citizen Kane. There is a slight problem though, Ed can't direct worth shit. His girlfriend, Dolores tries to be supportive.
Ed finally gets a break when he is interviewed by a director who needs a film made post-haste. The plot has something to do with a man getting a sex change to become a woman. Ed decides to change the story into his own life's experiences as a cross-dresser who adores pink angora sweaters. The movie is called Glen or Glenda. When Dolores reads the script, she is angry at first that Ed has written all about their life for the world to see. After Ed calms her with promises of fame and fortune, she reluctantly agrees to co-star with him. While searching for money, Ed comes upon Bela Lugosi. Ed admires him for the Dracula movies he made early in his career. They become friends and Bela agrees to star in Ed's movies.
The movie is made. The director is horrified at the result. He throws Ed out of his office with no more promises of making movies. Ed, so confident in his abilities, tries to pitch the movie to a movie company. They watch the movie and are convinced, that since it is so horrible, it must be some sort of joke. When Ed calls back later, they tell him the same thing the director told him.
Ed raises money to make his new film, Bride of the Atom (later named Bride of the Monster). He encounters Loretta King and thinking that she is rich, he invites her to act in his movie. Dorlores is rightfully pissed at this, but she agrees to play a smaller role in the movie. Ed also enlists the help of Tor Johnson for acting in his films. They bump into a few problems filming. It seems that Ed misunderstood Loretta, and instead of having $60 000, they only have $300. After some creativeness, Ed convinces a meat-packer to fund them if he promises to put the meat-packers son in the movie.
The movie Bride of the Atom is made with little problem thereafter. Ed calls up to invite Vampira to the opening of Bride of the Monster. He had to change the name so that it would sell better. Vampira refused to star in this movie because at the time, she was the host of late-night horror movies. The movie opens and Ed thinks this is going to be the one that makes him famous.
As it turns out, Dolores dumps Ed because she thinks that the whole film idea is reaching ridiculous proportions. What's even worse is that Bela Lugosi almost dies and is sent to rehab when his heroin addiction gets the best of him. Ed meets Kathy O'Hara at this rehab because her father is there. He manages to take her out on a date and reveals to her that he likes to dress up like a woman, particularly in pink angora sweaters. Kathy is alright with that, so there their relationship begins.
Ed convinces his Baptist-minister landlord to fund him for his next movie, Grave Robbers from Space. The result of it is that is that Ed has to get all his friends baptized. He succeds in this task. Bela has to get released from rehab because he doesn't have enough money to cover the cost of staying there. So, still being sick and all, Bela is released. Ed films some short footage of him to use in the new movie and Bela dies shortly thereafter. Ed convinces Vampira to star in this movie if he just films her with no speaking lines. Ed also discovers Kathy's chiropracter and tells him he can star if he keeps the bottom half of his face covered. The fact that he is one foot taller than Bela was doesn't seem to perturb Ed in the slightest way. He films the movie.
Trouble begins when Ed begins having conflicts with the Baptists about the title of the film. Later on, they stick one of their young priests to play the hero in their movie. Ed is furious at this. He is finally so stressed that he goes into his trailer and dresses up like a woman. The Baptists are stunned by this. Ed storms off and encounters Orson Welles in a bar. Orson offers Ed some advice and Ed goes back to the warehouse to direct the film his way. He agrees to change the title of the film to Plan 9 From Outerspace. No reference is made to the 8 plans before it. The film is released and Ed truly believes that this will be the one that makes him famous. He and Kathy run off to get married at the end.
FAVORITE SCENE
Opening credits.
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