Is The Nightmare Before Christmas a festive movie or a Halloween film? Danny Elfman says...
Danny Elfman has revealed whether he thinks 'The Nightmare Before Christmas' is more of a holiday classic or a Halloween film, more than 30 years after he starred in the cult favourite.
Danny Elfman "personally" thinks 'The Nightmare Before Christmas' is a Halloween movie.
The 71-year-old musician wrote the score and sang the part of Jack in the 1993 Tim Burton movie and while it has gone on to become celebrated as a classic for the spooky season in October, as well as the festive period in December, he feels as if it belongs moreso in the Halloween canon.
He exclusively told BANG Showbiz: "I personally, my own feeling is that it's a Halloween movie, but it works as a Christmas movie because it straddles both holidays. But, for me, it taps into myself as a kid, Halloween was my favourite night of the year. And it's, it's, it's very ironic that not only I've won, but two movies very much associated with 'Nightmare Before Christmas', and 'Edward Scissorhands'.
The composer - who has also written the theme music for series such 'Desperate Housewives' and 'The Simpsons' - recalled that Christmas was "really depressing" for him when he was growing up and he much preferred Halloween at that time.
"And, I grew up very Christmas was a really depressing time of the year for me as a kid, it was a big black cloud that would roll in every year, and I didn't really learn to appreciate Christmas until I became an adult, and then had children, and then was able to discover Christmas through their eyes how wonderful it was and but, it was always like, Halloween was my best night of the year, and Christmas was this dark, sad night, I lived in a neighbourhood where I was Jewish kid living in a neighbourhood without Jewish friends, and so Christmas time was just lonely.
All my friends were with their families, and I had nothing to do, and I was bored. And , the Christmas music playing in the stores, my mom would take new stores, they'd be playing all this cheery music, and there was this whole kind of, what I felt was this forced cheeriness, which backfired on me and just made me really depressed. "
Danny - who has been married to Bridget Fonda since 2003 and has 19-year-old son Oliver with her but also has Lola, 45, and Mali, 40, from previous relationships - noted that it wasn't until he had children did he really learn to appreciate the holiday season.
He added: "The pleasure of preparing all the presents the night before and imagining their faces and just as they go to sleep, that real enthusiasm, especially when they're really young, and they think maybe there's a Santa Claus, although I'm not sure my kids ever did believe in Santa Claus. I didn't push that, but just the fact that they thought there might be was really charming, and it was really sweet."
