The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)
- Before Danny Elfman was cast, several major A-list stars turned down the lead role because they felt the script was too risky.
- Many of the practical effects used in the climax were achieved without any CGI.
- During the filming of The Nightmare Before Christmas, Danny Elfman improvised one of the most famous lines in the movie.
The Nightmare Before Christmas is a 1993 American stop-motion animated musical dark fantasy film directed by Henry Selick from a story and characters by Tim Burton. The film follows Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King of Halloween Town, who has grown weary of the same annual routine of scaring people and accidentally discovers Christmas Town, a vibrant land of joy, snow, and presents. Enchanted by this foreign holiday, Jack decides to take over Christmas, kidnapping Santa Claus and delivering his own twisted versions of Christmas gifts to the children of the world β with predictably disastrous results.
The Nightmare Before Christmas was a technical marvel of stop-motion animation, requiring three years of painstaking work with over 400 heads for Jack alone to achieve his range of expressions. Danny Elfman composed the score and provided Jack's singing voice, creating songs including "This Is Halloween," "What's This?," and "Oogie Boogie's Song" that have become Halloween and Christmas staples. Tim Burton conceived the story and characters while working as an animator at Disney in the early 1980s, and while he produced the film, it was Henry Selick who directed the actual production β a distinction that has been a source of ongoing credit debate.
The film earned $91 million worldwide and has grown into one of the most enduring cult films in animation, occupying a unique position as both a Halloween and Christmas classic.
