Marilyn Manson: How did you and Tim Burton end up working together? How did that whole thing start?
Danny Elfman: Tim used to come and see my band, and he'd done Pee Wee's Big Adventure..
MM: A fine film.
DE: For some bizarre reason, and I'll never quite figure this one out, but maybe when you met him someday you'll ask
MM: [I've met him once?]
DE: E-mail him. So next time ask him, because he's never explained it to me why he decided to call me about scoring his film based on seeing me in a band. Didn't make any sense to me. I told him I thought he was nuts.
MM: Was tha, like, the beginning of..
DE: Yeah. They wanted me to do it, and I swear to God, I said, "I'll fuck up your movie", you know?
MM: I've said the same thing.
DE: Tim had actually developed Nightmare Before Christmas years before it got made, when he was an animator at Disney. And after he got successful I think - what I was told was that they found these drawings and this little storyline that he'd written years before. And suddenly, you know, this idea was up and running, we we didn't really know quite how to start... was a tricky thing, and Tim eventually [decided / just said] why don't just start working on the songs. And that's how we did it.
MM: It is unfortunate, but I actually have to thank this project because I had gotten so disillusioned from the music industry, because I've had a real torturous experience with Colombine and after that, you know. I wasn't going to make another record, I didn't wanna - after I sang this song I immediately got excited and started working on [an] album that I've almost finished, in about a month, two months time. I think it I wouldn't have sang this track I wouldn't have got excited about singing again, because I was very focussed on making a movie, but [Danny's song] I have to thank him for that. Right.
[Shifts to discussion of scariest films?]
DE: For me it was a, of course, an amputee movie. It's called The Beast with Five Fingers [1946, directed Robert Florey, starring Robert Alda, Andrea King and Peter Lorre]. The hand of a pianist which has been removed from the body - he begins singing when nobody's around. I used to have nightmares about being pursued by the hand all the time.
MM: Come to think of it I think the movie that scared me most first was It's Alive [1974, directed Larry Cohen, starring John P. Ryan and Sharon Farrell] and I went on a cross-country driving trip and we stayed at hotels and it was my first experience staying at hotels, and I kept thinking this little kid was going to come out from under the bed and eat me.
DE: Oh yeah, that's a good one.
MM: This really is not logical... now it makes sense to me. I saw the movie for the first time where it's being re-premiered at the El Capitaine Theatre. It was my first trip to Hollywood when I came here to get a record deal. I also paid my keyboard player $150 to [beep] on [beep] so that [beep].. but that's completely unrelated. Disneypie doesn't want to hear that, so, and I used to live in Florida so I've been kicked out of Disneyworld but I have yet to be kicked out of Disneyland. Don't do LSD, kids, see Nightmare Before Christmas in 3D and you won't have to because the colours are so pshhh.
DE: It's just like, you know, you think you were.
MM: [caps hands] Exactly. I need a plural noun.
DE: Animals.
MM: A plural noun again.
DE: Octegenarians.
MM: Octegenarians? An occupation.
DE: Forensic examiner.
MM: A room.
DE: The bathroom.
MM: Adjective.
DE: Erm, ugly.
MM: An animal.
DE: Hyena.
MM: A verbal exclamation.
DE: F**ing hell.
MM: A food.
DE: Pecan pie.
MM: Plural noun.
DE: Asteroids.
MM: A name of a famous person.
DE: Lincoln.
MM: Nice. You didn't say Whoopee Goldberg.
DE: [chuckles]
MM: We thought our trip to the museum of animals would be glowing but we were wrong after we handed our octegenarians to the forensic examiner at the door. We were led into the museum's grand bathroom. The first things I noticed were the mummy cases against the basket ball. Our ugly and horrific museum guide told us how the pharoahs always placed a hyena in the mummy case to protect them from intruders. Suddenly we heard a falling sound coming from inside the mummy case. "F**ing hell," we screamed at the same time. I was almost so scared that I threw up the pecan pie I had for lunch. Just then one of the mummy cases slammed open with a loud explosion. Out jumped a loving mummy, covered with a thousand asteroids. Just as I was about to run from the room the mummy threw off his colourful rags and howled "April fools". It was Lincoln. We had forgotten that this was April 1st but I guess the museum had not.
DE: [chuckles] I liked the "covered with colourful asteroids"
MM: I like it too.
DE: It's the best.
[muted farewells]
