Tim Burton Expresses Concern Over AI as London Exhibition Showcases His Artistic Journey

Tim Burton talks about his dread of AI as an exhibition of his work opens in London

LONDON (AP) -- The imagination of Tim Burton has produced ghosts and ghouls, Martians, monsters and misfits - all on display at an exhibition that is opening in London just in time for Halloween. But you know what really scares him? Artificial intelligence. Burton said Wednesday that seeing a website that had used AI to blend his drawings with Disney characters "really disturbed me." "It wasn't an intellectual thought -- it was just an internal, visceral feeling," Burton told reporters during a preview of "The World of Tim Burton" exhibition at London's Design Museum. "I looked at those things and I thought, 'Some of these are pretty good.' ... (But) it gave me a weird sort of scary feeling inside." Burton said he thinks AI is unstoppable, because "once you can do it, people will do it." But he scoffed when asked if he'd use the technology in this work. "To take over the world?" he laughed. The exhibition reveals Burton to be an analogue artist, who started off as a child in the 1960s experimenting with paints and coloured pencils in his suburban Californian home. "I wasn't, early on, a very verbal person," Burton said. "Drawing was a way of expressing myself." Decades later, after films including "Edward Scissorhands," "Batman," "The Nightmare Before Christmas" and "Beetlejuice," his ideas still begin with drawing. The exhibition includes 600 items from movie studio collections and Burton's personal archive, and traces those ideas as they advance from sketches through collaboration with set, production and costume designers on the way to the big screen. London is the exhibition's final stop on a decade-long tour of 14 cities in 11 countries. It has been reconfigured and expanded with 90 new objects for its run in the British capital, where Burton has lived for a quarter century. The show includes early drawings and oddities, including a competition-winning "crush litter" sign of a teenage Burton designed for Burbank garbage trucks. There's also a recreation of Burton's studio, down to the trays of paints and "Curse of Frankenstein" mug full of pencils. Alongside hundreds of drawings, there are props, puppets, set designs and iconic costumes, including Johnny Depp's "Edward Scissorhands" talons and the black latex Catwoman costume worn by Michelle Pfeiffer in "Batman." "We had very generous access to Tim's archive in London, stuffed full of thousands of drawings, storyboards from stop-motion films, sketches, character notes, poems," said exhibition curator Maria McLintock. "And how to synthesise such a wide ranging and meandering career within one exhibition was a fun challenge -- but definitely a challenge." Seeing it has not been a wholly fun experience for Burton, who said he's unable to look too closely at the items on display. "It's like seeing your dirty laundry put on the walls," he said. "It's quite amazing. It's a bit overwhelming." Burton, whose long-awaited horror-comedy sequel "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice" opened at the Venice Film Festival in August, is currently filming the second series of Netflix' Addams Family-themed series "Wednesday." These days he is a major Hollywood director whose American gothic style has spawned an adjective - "Burtoneqsue." But he still feels like an outsider. "Once you feel that way, it never leaves you," he said. "Each film I did was a struggle," he added, noting that early films like "Pee-wee's Big Adventure" from 1985 and "Beetlejuice" in 1988 received some negative reviews. "It seems like it was a pleasant, fine, easy journey, but each one leaves its emotional scars." McLintock said Burton "is a deeply emotional filmmaker." "I think that's what drew me to his films as a child," she said. "He really celebrates the misunderstood outcast, the benevolent monster. So it's been quite a weird but fun experience spending so much time in his brain and his creative process.

Show of oddities, ghosts and misfits

LONDON (AP) - The imagination of Tim Burton has produced ghosts and ghouls, Martians, monsters and misfits - all on display at an exhibition that is opening in London just in time for October 31. But you know what really scares him? Artificial intelligence (AI). Burton said on Wednesday that seeing a website that had used AI to blend his drawings with Disney characters "really disturbed me". "It wasn't an intellectual thought - it was just an internal, visceral feeling," Burton told reporters during a preview of The World of Tim Burton exhibition at London's Design Museum. "I looked at those things and I thought, 'Some of these are pretty good.' (But) it gave me a weird sort of scary feeling inside." Burton said he thinks AI is unstoppable, because "once you can do it, people will do it". But he scoffed when asked if he'd use the technology in this work. "To take over the world?" he laughed. The exhibition reveals Burton to be an analogue artist, who started off as a child in the 1960s experimenting with paints and coloured pencils in his suburban Californian home. "I wasn't, early on, a very verbal person," Burton said. "Drawing was a way of expressing myself." Decades later, after films including Edward Scissorhands, Batman, The Nightmare Before Christmas and Beetlejuice, his ideas still begin with drawing. The exhibition includes 600 items from movie studio collections and Burton's personal archive, and traces those ideas as they advance from sketches through collaboration with set, production and costume designers on the way to the big screen. London is the exhibition's final stop on a decade-long tour of 14 cities in 11 countries. It has been reconfigured and expanded with 90 new objects for its run in the British capital, where Burton has lived for a quarter century. The show includes early drawings and oddities, including a competition-winning "crush litter" sign a teenage Burton designed for Burbank garbage trucks. There's also a recreation of Burton's studio, down to the trays of paints and Curse of Frankenstein mug full of pencils. Alongside hundreds of drawings, there are props, puppets, set designs and iconic costumes, including Johnny Depp's Edward Scissorhands talons and the black latex Catwoman costume worn by Michelle Pfeiffer in Batman Returns. "We had very generous access to Tim's archive in London, stuffed full of thousands of drawings, storyboards from stop-motion films, sketches, character notes, poems," said exhibition curator Maria McLintock. "And how to synthesise such a wide ranging and meandering career within one exhibition was a fun challenge - but definitely a challenge." Seeing it has not been a wholly fun experience for Burton, who said he's unable to look too closely at the items on display. "It's like seeing your dirty laundry put on the walls," he said. "It's quite amazing. It's a bit overwhelming." Burton, whose long-awaited horror-comedy sequel Beetlejuice Beetlejuice opened at the Venice Film Festival in August, is currently filming the second series of Netflix' Addams Family-themed series Wednesday. These days he is a major Hollywood director whose American gothic style has spawned an adjective - "Burtoneqsue". But he still feels like an outsider. "Once you feel that way, it never leaves you," he said. "Each film I did was a struggle," he added, noting that early films like Pee-wee's Big Adventure from 1985 and Beetlejuice in 1988 received some negative reviews. "It seems like it was a pleasant, fine, easy journey, but each one leaves its emotional scars." McLintock said Burton "is a deeply emotional filmmaker". "I think that's what drew me to his films as a child," she said. "He really celebrates the misunderstood outcast, the benevolent monster. So it's been quite a weird but fun experience spending so much time in his brain and his creative process."

Tim Burton talks about his dread of AI as an exhibition of his work opens in London

LONDON (AP) -- The imagination of Tim Burton has produced ghosts and ghouls, Martians, monsters and misfits - all on display at an exhibition that is opening in London just in time for Halloween. But you know what really scares him? Artificial intelligence. Burton said Wednesday that seeing a website that had used AI to blend his drawings with Disney characters "really disturbed me." "It wasn't an intellectual thought -- it was just an internal, visceral feeling," Burton told reporters during a preview of "The World of Tim Burton" exhibition at London's Design Museum. "I looked at those things and I thought, 'Some of these are pretty good.' ... (But) it gave me a weird sort of scary feeling inside." Burton said he thinks AI is unstoppable, because "once you can do it, people will do it." But he scoffed when asked if he'd use the technology in this work. "To take over the world?" he laughed. The exhibition reveals Burton to be an analogue artist, who started off as a child in the 1960s experimenting with paints and colored pencils in his suburban Californian home. "I wasn't, early on, a very verbal person," Burton said. "Drawing was a way of expressing myself." Decades later, after films including "Edward Scissorhands," "Batman," "The Nightmare Before Christmas" and "Beetlejuice," his ideas still begin with drawing. The exhibition includes 600 items from movie studio collections and Burton's personal archive, and traces those ideas as they advance from sketches through collaboration with set, production and costume designers on the way to the big screen. London is the exhibition's final stop on a decade-long tour of 14 cities in 11 countries. It has been reconfigured and expanded with 90 new objects for its run in the British capital, where Burton has lived for a quarter century. The show includes early drawings and oddities, including a competition-winning "crush litter" sign a teenage Burton designed for Burbank garbage trucks. There's also a recreation of Burton's studio, down to the trays of paints and "Curse of Frankenstein" mug full of pencils. Alongside hundreds of drawings, there are props, puppets, set designs and iconic costumes, including Johnny Depp's "Edward Scissorhands" talons and the black latex Catwoman costume worn by Michelle Pfeiffer in "Batman." "We had very generous access to Tim's archive in London, stuffed full of thousands of drawings, storyboards from stop-motion films, sketches, character notes, poems," said exhibition curator Maria McLintock. "And how to synthesize such a wide ranging and meandering career within one exhibition was a fun challenge -- but definitely a challenge." Seeing it has not been a wholly fun experience for Burton, who said he's unable to look too closely at the items on display. "It's like seeing your dirty laundry put on the walls," he said. "It's quite amazing. It's a bit overwhelming." Burton, whose long-awaited horror-comedy sequel "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice" opened at the Venice Film Festival in August, is currently filming the second series of Netflix' Addams Family-themed series "Wednesday." These days he is a major Hollywood director whose American gothic style has spawned an adjective - "Burtoneqsue." But he still feels like an outsider. "Once you feel that way, it never leaves you," he said. "Each film I did was a struggle," he added, noting that early films like "Pee-wee's Big Adventure" from 1985 and "Beetlejuice" in 1988 received some negative reviews. "It seems like it was a pleasant, fine, easy journey, but each one leaves its emotional scars." McLintock said Burton "is a deeply emotional filmmaker." "I think that's what drew me to his films as a child," she said. "He really celebrates the misunderstood outcast, the benevolent monster. So it's been quite a weird but fun experience spending so much time in his brain and his creative process. "His films are often called dark," she added. "I don't agree with that. And if they are dark, there's a very much a kind of hope in the darkness. You always want to hang out in the darkness in his films." "The World of Tim Burton" opens Friday and runs until April 21, 2025.

Tim Burton talks about his dread of AI as an exhibition of his work opens in London

LONDON -- The imagination of Tim Burton has produced ghosts and ghouls, Martians, monsters and misfits - all on display at an exhibition that is opening in London just in time for Halloween. But you know what really scares him? Artificial intelligence. Burton said Wednesday that seeing a website that had used AI to blend his drawings with Disney characters "really disturbed me." "It wasn't an intellectual thought -- it was just an internal, visceral feeling," Burton told reporters during a preview of "The World of Tim Burton" exhibition at London's Design Museum. "I looked at those things and I thought, 'Some of these are pretty good.' ... (But) it gave me a weird sort of scary feeling inside." Burton said he thinks AI is unstoppable, because "once you can do it, people will do it." But he scoffed when asked if he'd use the technology in this work. "To take over the world?" he laughed. The exhibition reveals Burton to be an analogue artist, who started off as a child in the 1960s experimenting with paints and colored pencils in his suburban Californian home. "I wasn't, early on, a very verbal person," Burton said. "Drawing was a way of expressing myself." Decades later, after films including "Edward Scissorhands," "Batman," "The Nightmare Before Christmas" and "Beetlejuice," his ideas still begin with drawing. The exhibition includes 600 items from movie studio collections and Burton's personal archive, and traces those ideas as they advance from sketches through collaboration with set, production and costume designers on the way to the big screen. London is the exhibition's final stop on a decade-long tour of 14 cities in 11 countries. It has been reconfigured and expanded with 90 new objects for its run in the British capital, where Burton has lived for a quarter century. The show includes early drawings and oddities, including a competition-winning "crush litter" sign a teenage Burton designed for Burbank garbage trucks. There's also a recreation of Burton's studio, down to the trays of paints and "Curse of Frankenstein" mug full of pencils. Alongside hundreds of drawings, there are props, puppets, set designs and iconic costumes, including Johnny Depp's "Edward Scissorhands" talons and the black latex Catwoman costume worn by Michelle Pfeiffer in "Batman." "We had very generous access to Tim's archive in London, stuffed full of thousands of drawings, storyboards from stop-motion films, sketches, character notes, poems," said exhibition curator Maria McLintock. "And how to synthesize such a wide ranging and meandering career within one exhibition was a fun challenge -- but definitely a challenge." Seeing it has not been a wholly fun experience for Burton, who said he's unable to look too closely at the items on display. "It's like seeing your dirty laundry put on the walls," he said. "It's quite amazing. It's a bit overwhelming." Burton, whose long-awaited horror-comedy sequel "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice" opened at the Venice Film Festival in August, is currently filming the second series of Netflix' Addams Family-themed series "Wednesday." These days he is a major Hollywood director whose American gothic style has spawned an adjective - "Burtoneqsue." But he still feels like an outsider. "Once you feel that way, it never leaves you," he said. "Each film I did was a struggle," he added, noting that early films like "Pee-wee's Big Adventure" from 1985 and "Beetlejuice" in 1988 received some negative reviews. "It seems like it was a pleasant, fine, easy journey, but each one leaves its emotional scars." McLintock said Burton "is a deeply emotional filmmaker." "I think that's what drew me to his films as a child," she said. "He really celebrates the misunderstood outcast, the benevolent monster. So it's been quite a weird but fun experience spending so much time in his brain and his creative process. "His films are often called dark," she added. "I don't agree with that. And if they are dark, there's a very much a kind of hope in the darkness. You always want to hang out in the darkness in his films." ___ "The World of Tim Burton" opens Friday and runs until April 21, 2025.

Tim Burton talks about his dread of AI as an exhibition of his work opens in London

LONDON (AP) -- The imagination of Tim Burton has produced ghosts and ghouls, Martians, monsters and misfits - all on display at an exhibition that is opening in London just in time for Halloween. But you know what really scares him? Artificial intelligence. Burton said Wednesday that seeing a website that had used AI to blend his drawings with Disney characters "really disturbed me." "It wasn't an intellectual thought -- it was just an internal, visceral feeling," Burton told reporters during a preview of "The World of Tim Burton" exhibition at London's Design Museum. "I looked at those things and I thought, 'Some of these are pretty good.' ... (But) it gave me a weird sort of scary feeling inside." Burton said he thinks AI is unstoppable, because "once you can do it, people will do it." But he scoffed when asked if he'd use the technology in this work. "To take over the world?" he laughed. The exhibition reveals Burton to be an analogue artist, who started off as a child in the 1960s experimenting with paints and colored pencils in his suburban Californian home. "I wasn't, early on, a very verbal person," Burton said. "Drawing was a way of expressing myself." Decades later, after films including "Edward Scissorhands," "Batman," "The Nightmare Before Christmas" and "Beetlejuice," his ideas still begin with drawing. The exhibition includes 600 items from movie studio collections and Burton's personal archive, and traces those ideas as they advance from sketches through collaboration with set, production and costume designers on the way to the big screen. London is the exhibition's final stop on a decade-long tour of 14 cities in 11 countries. It has been reconfigured and expanded with 90 new objects for its run in the British capital, where Burton has lived for a quarter century. The show includes early drawings and oddities, including a competition-winning "crush litter" sign a teenage Burton designed for Burbank garbage trucks. There's also a recreation of Burton's studio, down to the trays of paints and "Curse of Frankenstein" mug full of pencils. Alongside hundreds of drawings, there are props, puppets, set designs and iconic costumes, including Johnny Depp's "Edward Scissorhands" talons and the black latex Catwoman costume worn by Michelle Pfeiffer in "Batman." "We had very generous access to Tim's archive in London, stuffed full of thousands of drawings, storyboards from stop-motion films, sketches, character notes, poems," said exhibition curator Maria McLintock. "And how to synthesize such a wide ranging and meandering career within one exhibition was a fun challenge -- but definitely a challenge." Seeing it has not been a wholly fun experience for Burton, who said he's unable to look too closely at the items on display. "It's like seeing your dirty laundry put on the walls," he said. "It's quite amazing. It's a bit overwhelming." Burton, whose long-awaited horror-comedy sequel "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice" opened at the Venice Film Festival in August, is currently filming the second series of Netflix' Addams Family-themed series "Wednesday." These days he is a major Hollywood director whose American gothic style has spawned an adjective - "Burtoneqsue." But he still feels like an outsider. "Once you feel that way, it never leaves you," he said. "Each film I did was a struggle," he added, noting that early films like "Pee-wee's Big Adventure" from 1985 and "Beetlejuice" in 1988 received some negative reviews. "It seems like it was a pleasant, fine, easy journey, but each one leaves its emotional scars." McLintock said Burton "is a deeply emotional filmmaker." "I think that's what drew me to his films as a child," she said. "He really celebrates the misunderstood outcast, the benevolent monster. So it's been quite a weird but fun experience spending so much time in his brain and his creative process. "His films are often called dark," she added. "I don't agree with that. And if they are dark, there's a very much a kind of hope in the darkness. You always want to hang out in the darkness in his films." ___ "The World of Tim Burton" opens Friday and runs until April 21, 2025.

Tim Burton a 'deeply emotional filmmaker' is afraid of AI

The imagination of Tim Burton has produced ghosts and ghouls, Martians, monsters and misfits -- all on display at an exhibition that is opening in London just in time for Halloween. But you know what really scares him? Artificial intelligence. Burton said Wednesday that seeing a website that had used AI to blend his drawings with Disney characters "really disturbed me." "It wasn't an intellectual thought -- it was just an internal, visceral feeling," Burton told reporters during a preview of "The World of Tim Burton" exhibition at London's Design Museum. "I looked at those things and I thought, 'Some of these are pretty good.' . . . (But) it gave me a weird sort of scary feeling inside." Burton said he thinks AI is unstoppable, because "once you can do it, people will do it." But he scoffed when asked if he'd use the technology in this work. "To take over the world?" he laughed. The exhibition reveals Burton to be an analogue artist, who started off as a child in the 1960s experimenting with paints and colored pencils in his suburban Californian home. "I wasn't, early on, a very verbal person," Burton said. "Drawing was a way of expressing myself." Decades later, after films including "Edward Scissorhands," "Batman," "The Nightmare Before Christmas" and "Beetlejuice," his ideas still begin with drawing. The exhibition includes 600 items from movie studio collections and Burton's personal archive, and traces those ideas as they advance from sketches through collaboration with set, production and costume designers on the way to the big screen. London is the exhibition's final stop on a decade-long tour of 14 cities in 11 countries. It has been reconfigured and expanded with 90 new objects for its run in the British capital, where Burton has lived for a quarter century. The show includes early drawings and oddities, including a competition-winning "crush litter" sign a teenage Burton designed for Burbank garbage trucks. There's also a recreation of Burton's studio, down to the trays of paints and "Curse of Frankenstein" mug full of pencils. Alongside hundreds of drawings, there are props, puppets, set designs and iconic costumes, including Johnny Depp's "Edward Scissorhands" talons and the black latex Catwoman costume worn by Michelle Pfeiffer in "Batman Returns." "We had very generous access to Tim's archive in London, stuffed full of thousands of drawings, storyboards from stop-motion films, sketches, character notes, poems," said exhibition curator Maria McLintock. "And how to synthesize such a wide ranging and meandering career within one exhibition was a fun challenge -- but definitely a challenge." Seeing it has not been a wholly fun experience for Burton, who said he's unable to look too closely at the items on display. "It's like seeing your dirty laundry put on the walls," he said. "It's quite amazing. It's a bit overwhelming." Burton, whose long-awaited horror-comedy sequel "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice" opened at the Venice Film Festival in August, is currently filming the second series of Netflix' Addams Family-themed series "Wednesday." These days he is a major Hollywood director whose American gothic style has spawned an adjective -- "Burtoneqsue." But he still feels like an outsider. "Once you feel that way, it never leaves you," he said. "Each film I did was a struggle," he added, noting that early films like "Pee-wee's Big Adventure" from 1985 and "Beetlejuice" in 1988 received some negative reviews. "It seems like it was a pleasant, fine, easy journey, but each one leaves its emotional scars." McLintock said Burton "is a deeply emotional filmmaker." "I think that's what drew me to his films as a child," she said. "He really celebrates the misunderstood outcast, the benevolent monster. So it's been quite a weird but fun experience spending so much time in his brain and his creative process. "His films are often called dark," she added. "I don't agree with that. And if they are dark, there's a very much a kind of hope in the darkness. You always want to hang out in the darkness in his films."

Tim Burton Talks About His Dread of AI as an Exhibition of His Work Opens in London

LONDON (AP) -- The imagination of Tim Burton has produced ghosts and ghouls, Martians, monsters and misfits - all on display at an exhibition that is opening in London just in time for Halloween. But you know what really scares him? Artificial intelligence. Burton said Wednesday that seeing a website that had used AI to blend his drawings with Disney characters "really disturbed me." "It wasn't an intellectual thought -- it was just an internal, visceral feeling," Burton told reporters during a preview of "The World of Tim Burton" exhibition at London's Design Museum. "I looked at those things and I thought, 'Some of these are pretty good.' ... (But) it gave me a weird sort of scary feeling inside." Burton said he thinks AI is unstoppable, because "once you can do it, people will do it." But he scoffed when asked if he'd use the technology in this work. "To take over the world?" he laughed. The exhibition reveals Burton to be an analogue artist, who started off as a child in the 1960s experimenting with paints and colored pencils in his suburban Californian home. "I wasn't, early on, a very verbal person," Burton said. "Drawing was a way of expressing myself." Decades later, after films including "Edward Scissorhands," "Batman," "The Nightmare Before Christmas" and "Beetlejuice," his ideas still begin with drawing. The exhibition includes 600 items from movie studio collections and Burton's personal archive, and traces those ideas as they advance from sketches through collaboration with set, production and costume designers on the way to the big screen. London is the exhibition's final stop on a decade-long tour of 14 cities in 11 countries. It has been reconfigured and expanded with 90 new objects for its run in the British capital, where Burton has lived for a quarter century. The show includes early drawings and oddities, including a competition-winning "crush litter" sign a teenage Burton designed for Burbank garbage trucks. There's also a recreation of Burton's studio, down to the trays of paints and "Curse of Frankenstein" mug full of pencils. Alongside hundreds of drawings, there are props, puppets, set designs and iconic costumes, including Johnny Depp's "Edward Scissorhands" talons and the black latex Catwoman costume worn by Michelle Pfeiffer in "Batman." "We had very generous access to Tim's archive in London, stuffed full of thousands of drawings, storyboards from stop-motion films, sketches, character notes, poems," said exhibition curator Maria McLintock. "And how to synthesize such a wide ranging and meandering career within one exhibition was a fun challenge -- but definitely a challenge." Seeing it has not been a wholly fun experience for Burton, who said he's unable to look too closely at the items on display. "It's like seeing your dirty laundry put on the walls," he said. "It's quite amazing. It's a bit overwhelming." Burton, whose long-awaited horror-comedy sequel "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice" opened at the Venice Film Festival in August, is currently filming the second series of Netflix' Addams Family-themed series "Wednesday." These days he is a major Hollywood director whose American gothic style has spawned an adjective - "Burtoneqsue." But he still feels like an outsider. "Once you feel that way, it never leaves you," he said. "Each film I did was a struggle," he added, noting that early films like "Pee-wee's Big Adventure" from 1985 and "Beetlejuice" in 1988 received some negative reviews. "It seems like it was a pleasant, fine, easy journey, but each one leaves its emotional scars." McLintock said Burton "is a deeply emotional filmmaker." "I think that's what drew me to his films as a child," she said. "He really celebrates the misunderstood outcast, the benevolent monster. So it's been quite a weird but fun experience spending so much time in his brain and his creative process. "His films are often called dark," she added. "I don't agree with that. And if they are dark, there's a very much a kind of hope in the darkness. You always want to hang out in the darkness in his films." ___ "The World of Tim Burton" opens Friday and runs until April 21, 2025. Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Tim Burton talks about his dread of AI as exhibition opens in London

The touring "The World of Tim Burton" exhibition is opening at London's Design Museum exhibition just in time for Halloween, and while the Oscar-nominated director has given audiences all kinds of gothic ghosts and ghastly ghouls over the years, there's one thing that really scares him right now: Artificial intelligence. Burton said prior to the opening of the exhibition that he's not a fan of "disturbing" AI. When seeing a website that had used AI to blend his drawings with Disney characters, Burton shared that it "really disturbed" him. "It wasn't an intellectual thought - it was just an internal, visceral feeling," the 66-year-old director told reporters during a preview of the exhibition. "I looked at those things and I thought, 'Some of these are pretty good.' (But) it gave me a weird sort of scary feeling inside." Burton said he thinks AI is unstoppable, because "once you can do it, people will do it." But he scoffed when asked if he'd use the technology in this work. Burton, who returned this year with the box office hit Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, the sequel to his 1988 cult film Beetlejuice, has always been an analogue artist. "I wasn't, early on, a very verbal person," Burton said. "Drawing was a way of expressing myself." In our review of the Venice-premiering film, we stated: "From the extravagant art direction to the practical stop-motion effects that hark back to the original's cartoony mentality, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice matches its predecessor's anarchic vibe rather well." Burton's films, including Edward Scissorhands, Batman, The Nightmare Before Christmas and Frankenweenie, all begin with drawing. The exhibition includes 600 items from movie studio collections and Burton's personal archive, and traces Burton's ideas as they advance from sketches through collaboration with set, production and costume designers on the way to the big screen. Check out some of the items in the exhibition: London is the exhibition's final stop on a decade-long tour of 14 cities in 11 countries. It has been expanded with 90 new objects for its run in the British capital. Tim Marlow, CEO of the Design Museum, said: "During his extraordinary career, Tim Burton has harnessed a compelling mixture of gothic horror and black comedy, of melancholy and enchantment, of oddball whimsy and visionary range in the creation of fantastical filmic worlds." High praise, but seeing it has not been a wholly fun experience for Burton, who said he's not keen on looking too closely at the items on display. "It's like seeing your dirty laundry put on the walls," he said. "It's quite amazing. It's a bit overwhelming."

Director Tim Burton Is Spooked by One Thing: Artificial Intelligence

But you know what really scares him? Artificial intelligence. Burton said that seeing a website that had used AI to blend his drawings with Disney characters "really disturbed me." "It wasn't an intellectual thought -- it was just an internal, visceral feeling," Burton told reporters during a preview of "The World of Tim Burton" exhibition at London's Design Museum. "I looked at those things and I thought, 'Some of these are pretty good.' ... (But) it gave me a weird sort of scary feeling inside."