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Big Eyes
In the late 1950s and early '60s, artist Walter Keane achieves unbelievable fame and success with portraits of saucer-eyed waifs. However, no one realizes that his wife, Margaret, is the real painter behind the brush. Although Margaret is horrified to learn that Walter is passing off her work as his own, she is too meek to protest too loudly. It isn't until the Keanes' marriage comes to an end and a lawsuit follows that the truth finally comes to light.
2014 · Directed by Tim Burton · 106 min · Drama · Screenplay in the scene database · 17 frames
Tagline
She created it. He sold it. And everyone bought it.
Plot
In 1958, Margaret Ulbrich leaves her then-husband Frank and takes her young daughter Jane to North Beach, San Francisco, where she gets a job painting illustrations at a furniture factory. While doing portraits at an outdoor art show, she meets Walter Keane, who sells paintings of Parisian street scenes but makes his money in real estate. They soon become close friends. Margaret is distraught when her ex-husband, Jane's father, asks for custody of Jane as part of the divorce settlement. Walter proposes, and they marry and honeymoon in Hawaii. She retains custody of Jane.
Unable to get his or Margaret's paintings into a fine art gallery, Walter convinces Enrico Banducci, the owner of a popular jazz club, to rent him some wall space to exhibit their work. He is frustrated when the designated space is in the back by the bathrooms. He fights with Banducci and puts the man's head through one of Margaret's canvases. This becomes a front-page story in a local newspaper, which packs the club with people curious to see the art that made grown men fight. Dick Nolan, a celebrity gossip columnist, wants to know more about the artwork but proceeds to ask about Margaret's paintings of young girls with big eyes. Walter goes along with the misunderstanding, failing to clarify that they are Margaret's creations. Afterward, he shows Margaret how much money he made selling her work and suggests they team up, with her staying at home painting and him taking credit and handling publicity and sales.
Walter opens his own gallery selling Margaret's art and eventually comes up with the idea of making cheap reproductions of Margaret's works, which sell in huge numbers. The family moves into a mansion. Walter spends his time hobnobbing with celebrities while Margaret is stuck at home, feeling increasingly isolated. He even makes Margaret lie to Jane about who is doing the paintings.
Plot summary from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA.
Crew
- Written by: Larry Karaszewski, Scott Alexander
- Cinematography: Bruno Delbonnel
- Edited by: Joseph C. Bond IV
- Music: Danny Elfman
- Production design: Rick Heinrichs
- Produced by: Tim Burton, Lynette Howell Taylor, Scott Alexander, Larry Karaszewski
Cast
- Amy Adams as Margaret Keane
- Christoph Waltz as Walter Keane
- Danny Huston as Dick Nolan
- Jon Polito as Enrico Banducci
- Krysten Ritter as Dee-Ann
- Jason Schwartzman as Ruben
- Terence Stamp as John Canaday
- Madeleine Arthur as Older Jane
- Delaney Raye as Young Jane
- James Saito as Judge
Production
- Country: United States of America, Canada
- Language: Italian, English, French
- Studios: The Weinstein Company, Silverwood Films, Electric City Entertainment, Tim Burton Productions
- Budget: $10,000,000
- Box office: $28,900,000
- Themes: husband wife relationship, court case, hawaii, painting, artist, biography, based on true story, honolulu, hawaii, jehovah's witness, 1950s
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