Ed Wood (1994)

In Tim Burton's biopic of the reportedly 'worst director' of all time during the late 1950s - it provided a perceptive look at schlock film-making through the eyes of optimistic, determined, passionate and ever-enthusiastic film director Edward D. Wood, Jr. (Johnny Depp) in the making of three Z-grade films: Glen or Glenda? (1953), Bride of the Monster (1955), and Plan 9 From Outer Space (1957/1959) - ("This is the one I'll be remembered for"):

• Ed Wood met with Screen Classics' sexploitation film producer Georgie Weiss (Mike Starr) and told him about his 'special qualifications' to direct a revised "sex-change flick" - possibly to be called "I Changed My Sex"; he revealed his own secret cross-dressing transvestism and his fetish for angora sweaters and lacy undergarments:
  • "I'm your man. I work fast and I'm a deal. I write and direct. And I'm good...Mr. Weiss. I have never told anyone. what I'm about to tell you but I really want this job. I like to dress in women's clothing... I love women. Wearing their clothes makes me feel closer to them"
• outcast and morphine-addicted ("with a demoral chaser") Universal horror star Bela Lugosi (Oscar-winning Martin Landau) famously recited from Bride of the Monster (1955):
  • "Home? I have no home. Hunted. Despised. Living like an animal. The jungle is my home. But I shall show the world that I can be its master! I shall perfect my own race of people, a race of atomic supermen that will conquer the world!"
• Wood revealed to his first girlfriend Dolores Fuller (Sarah Jessica Parker), after handing her his script for Glen or Glenda? (1953) with himself in the title role, that he was a transvestite - she had a violent reaction to his exploitative use of their characters for his script:
  • "So that's where my sweater's been. How long have you been doing this?...Jesus Christ, and you never told me?...What?! By putting me in a f--kin' script for everyone can see? What kind of sick mind operates like that?...And what about this so-called Barbara character that's obviously me? This is our life! It's so embarrassing!... How can you act so casual when you're dressed like that?"
• in an autograph scene, after Bela Lugosi was asked for his signature by actor-fan Conrad "Connie" Brooks (Brent Hinkley) and he was referred to as Karloff's "sidekick" - Lugosi ranted back at his rival: ("Karloff? Sidekick? F--K YOU! Karloff does not deserve to smell my s--t! That limey c--ksucker can rot in Hell for all I care!")

Bela: "Home? I have no home..."

Bela Lugosi (Martin Landau)

The Film's Signature Scene: Lugosi's Rant About Karloff

• during a night scene, Bela Lugosi thrashed around in two feet of water in a pretend fight with an unmotorized, inanimate rubber giant octopus to please his director
• the entire assortment of misfit freaks in Wood's traveling group of eccentric actors included:
  • Vampira (Lisa Marie), horror-film TV hostess
  • Criswell (Jeffrey Jones), a charlatan psychic
  • Tor Johnson (George "The Animal" Steele), a massive Swedish wrestler-turned-actor
  • John "Bunny" Breckinridge (Bill Murray), an aspiring transsexual
• Lugosi exclaimed about Vampira appearing on TV: ("I think she's a honey. Look at those jugs!")
• during a tender scene, Wood confessed his love of wearing women's clothing to his new girlfriend and future wife Kathy O'Hara (Patricia Arquette) while stuck inside a stalled carnival Spook House ride:
  • "I like to wear women's clothes. Panties, brassieres, sweaters, pumps. It's just something I do. And I can't believe I'm telling you this, but I really like you, and I don't want it getting in the way down the road."
• in a pool baptism scene, all of them were immersed to secure film funding from a Beverly Hills Baptist church
• Wood engaged in a short 'fictional' conversation at Musso & Frank Grill with his auteur-hero and idol Orson Welles (played by Vincent D'Onofrio, with Welles' trademark voice dubbed by Maurice LaMarche) about how a director must stick to his vision:
  • "Ed...Visions are worth fighting for. Why spend your life making someone else's dreams?", and his subsequent words to his backers: "We are gonna finish this picture just the way I want it because you cannot compromise an artist's vision."