<Li> O - Lan Jones--Esmeralda </Li> <P> The genesis of Edward Scissorhands came from a drawing by then - teenaged director Tim Burton, which reflected his feelings of isolation and being unable to communicate to people around him in suburban Burbank . The drawing depicted a thin, solemn man with long, sharp blades for fingers . Burton stated that he was often alone and had trouble retaining friendships . "I get the feeling people just got this urge to want to leave me alone for some reason, I don't know exactly why ." During pre-production of Beetlejuice, Burton hired Caroline Thompson, then a young novelist, to write the Edward Scissorhands screenplay as a spec script . Burton was impressed with her short novel, First Born, which was "about an abortion that came back to life". Burton felt First Born had the same psychological elements he wanted to showcase in Edward Scissorhands . "Every detail was so important to Tim because it was so personal", Thompson remarked . She wrote Scissorhands as a "love poem" to Burton, calling him "the most articulate person I know, but couldn't put a single sentence together". </P> <P> Shortly after Thompson's hiring, Burton began to develop Edward Scissorhands at Warner Bros., with whom he worked on Pee - wee's Big Adventure and Beetlejuice . However, within a couple of months, Warner sold the film rights to 20th Century Fox . Fox agreed to finance Thompson's screenplay while giving Burton complete creative control . At the time, the budget was projected to be around $8--9 million . When writing the storyline, Burton and Thompson were influenced by Universal Horror films, such as The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923), The Phantom of the Opera (1925), Frankenstein (1931), and Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954), as well as King Kong (1933) and various fairy tales . Burton originally wanted to make Scissorhands as a musical, feeling "it seemed big and operatic to me", but later dropped the idea . Following the enormous success of Batman, Burton arrived to the status of being an A-list director . He had the opportunity to do any film he wanted, but rather than fast track Warner Bros .' choices for Batman Returns or Beetlejuice Goes Hawaiian, Burton opted to make Edward Scissorhands for Fox . </P> <P> Although Winona Ryder was the first cast member attached to the script, Dianne Wiest was the first to sign on . "Dianne, in particular, was wonderful", Burton said . "She was the first actress to read the script, supported it completely and, because she is so respected, once she had given it her stamp of approval, others soon got interested". When it came to casting the lead role of Edward, several actors were considered; Fox was insistent on having Burton meet with Tom Cruise . "He certainly wasn't my ideal, but I talked to him", Burton remembered . "He was interesting, but I think it worked out for the best . A lot of questions came up". Cruise asked for a "happier" ending . Gary Oldman and Tom Hanks turned down the part, the latter in favor of critical and commercial flop The Bonfire of the Vanities . Oldman declined as he found the story absurd, but said of the finished film: "Literally two minutes in, I went,' Yeah, I get it' . I just got it too late ." Jim Carrey was also considered for the role, while Thompson favored John Cusack . Elsewhere, William Hurt, Robert Downey Jr. and musician Michael Jackson expressed interest, although Burton neglected to converse with Jackson . </P>

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