Tim Burton seemed like the perfect director for After Hours, the kooky 1985 comedy about a character's roaming
misadventures in New York's SoHo neighborhood. It seemed like the perfect opportunity
for Tim Burton, and yet it was directed by Martin Scorsese. What gives?
Burton was about to shoot the film, when out of nowhere Martin Scorsese showed
up. A lack of funds for The Last Temptation of Christ sent Scorsese into the
wilds. He approached the project because he liked the After Hours screenplay that he read and Burton stepped aside and
let him direct the movie out of respect.
Call us crazy but we can't picture Scorsese, forever made infamous to us by
those American Express ads, ever doing the same. In fact, a Burton-directed After Hours seems so perfect for his old
madcap material. Instead though, we would get Burton tackling comic
adaptations.
