Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street won the 2008 Scream Award (bestowed by Spike TV) for Best Horror Film, and Johnny Depp won Best Actor in a Horror Film for his portrayal of the homicidal barber. Sweeney Todd’s director, Tim Burton, was honored with the Immortal Award for his body of work: according to the awards committee, Tim Burton has “contributed more to the genres of fantasy, sci-fi and horror than any other filmmaker of his generation.” Wow! Congratulations!

The photo at left shows Burton, in his customary black, making his acceptance speech after arriving at the ceremony in a hot-air balloon. (He received his award from Winona Ryder; Johnny Depp did not attend the Scream Awards, which were taped on Saturday, October 18 and aired on Tuesday, October 21.) It is unusual for Burton to venture out to awards ceremonies: “I don’t do it very often so it’s not something I’m very used to,” he confessed to Geoff Boucher of the Los Angeles Times last week. “I’m not comfortable in big public situations, but at the same time it’s a very nice thing. It’s a very nice thing to do.”

Still, Burton’s favorite form of recognition remains “the people that come up to you on the streets, the people that say something to you in person, something nice and thoughtful, that’s so much more interesting than connecting with a sort of staged event.” He explains, “[W]hen someone comes up to me on the street and they have one of my drawings as a tattoo on their body, a real tattoo . . . I mean, that’s pretty amazing. That’s happened to me a few times.”

The Zone thanks FANtasticJD for breaking the news; you can read more about the Scream Awards on the News & Views forum. Tim Burton’s interview with the Los Angeles Times is on the Porch forum; thanks to Theresa for posting it. –Part-Time Poet