At One Point, Danny Elfman 'Wanted To Kill' The Nightmare Before Christmas Filmmakers
Based on Tim Burton's 1982 gothic poem, "A Nightmare Before Christmas" has become a seasonal classic that's come close to eclipsing "Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer" and "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" as the quintessential holiday movie. Whether you and your family watch it over Halloween or Christmas (or both), the macabre musical is just as much of a staple during the Fall months as candy corn and eggnog.
Together, stop-motion master Henry Selick ("Coraline"), screenwriter Caroline Thompson ("Edward Scissorhands"), and composer Danny Elfman executed Burton's original vision perfectly, creating a world where each holiday exists within a magical realm unto itself where the inhabitants can celebrate all year round. Originally, Elfman was tasked with writing the songs and music, in addition to voicing lead character Jack Skellington, the so-called "Pumpkin King" of Halloween Town. As a result, Elfman became deeply attached to the part, making the decision to ultimately choose another actor in Chris Sarandon ("Fright Night") to voice Jack all the more difficult.
In the exhaustive new book "The Nightmare Before Christmas Visual Companion," Selick provides a much more detailed account of what happened, revealing how deeply personal the project was to everyone involved. "I think that Danny, myself, and Tim — who's the father of the project — in our own way, all saw ourselves as Jack." As it turns out, Elfman's dedication to the part led to a rather serious case of separation anxiety.
'We have to replace hiim'
Anyone who has witnessed the spectacular stage production and tour that Elfman, now 70 years young, has been performing in recent years knows that the man can sing. The frontman for Oingo Boingo is a demanding presence, and that certainly comes across when listening to the composer and singer-songwriter belting out the vocals heard in "A Nightmare Before Christmas." Elfman turned out to be the perfect singing voice for Jack, but something just wasn't clicking for Selick when it came to Jack's speaking voice. During the long production, Selick had Burton listen to a number of dialogue recordings which led to the painful decision that Elfman needed to be replaced by an actual actor.
That was not an easy conversation for all parties involved. "Danny wanted to kill us both," Selick admitted. At that point in the creative process, Elfman was deeply invested in portraying Jack Skellington, despite the fact that voice acting was completely foreign to him at that time. Understandably, having someone else voice Jack didn't really register.
"I mean it was just second nature," Elfman explained. "There was a point after we did the demos where I went to Tim and I realized, 'Oh my God. I could never let anybody else sing this song.' I was, then, really attached to it." Fortunately, Burton wasn't planning on having a professional come in and take away Elfman's singing voice to add insult to injury. "I said, 'Tim?' He goes, 'Yeah, you should do it,' and I was like 'thank God,' 'cause that would've killed me if we had another singer come in."
Currently, there are no plans for a sequel, but there's always a chance that fans haven't seen the last of Halloween Town.