#mini-bios are baaack

[idasessions]

Famous Muses & Girlfriends in Filmmaking Pt. 21

MUSE: Lisa Marie (full name Lisa Marie Smith)

Lisa was born on December 5th, 1968 in Piscataway, NJ, and was primarily raised by a single father. After Lisa turned 16, she dropped out of Catholic high school and moved to New York City to pursue a showbusiness career. She studied dance, piano, guitar, filmmaking and photography before landing a fulltime gig as a fashion model. By the time Lisa was 18, she was already a favorite of designer Calvin Klein and photographer Bruce Weber. Her photoshoots were featured in popular magazines like Esquire, Maxim and Vanity Fair. She even sang backup vocals on rock musician/manager Malcolm McLaren’s 1989 song ‘Something’s Jumpin’ in Your Shirt.’ A year earlier Lisa was briefly seen in Weber’s documentary Let’s Get Lost (1988) and acted in the ‘88 episode ‘Baseballs of Death’ on “Miami Vice.” In 1990, Lisa made her movie debut with a minor role in Woody Allen’s Alice before deciding to take a break from modeling. On New Year’s Eve in 1991, Lisa would meet gothic, cult filmmaker Tim Burton which quickly sparked one of the most prolific personal and professional film collaborations of the 1990s. The two supposedly met late that holiday night at a NYC strip club (classy), coincidentally the same day Tim’s divorce to ex-wife Lena Gieseke was finalized. It was love at first sight, with Tim proposing to Lisa only six weeks later on Valentine’s Day, 1992.

For anyone who’s a fan of Tim, you’ll definitely notice that the guy has a rather specific type for his screen actresses and significant others in real life. Wide eyes, pale skin, dark hair and slim figure; as seen on Winona Ryder, Michelle Pfeiffer, Christina Ricci, Helena Bonham Carter, Anne Hathaway, Eva Green and Krysten Ritter. The most significant impact by far was Lisa. Not only did she co-star in Tim’s films Ed Wood (1994), Mars Attacks! (1996), Sleepy Hollow (1999) and Planet of the Apes (2001); but as his fiancée, she was his main muse for a whole decade. Her physical features are allegedly the basis for ragdoll love interest Sally in Tim’s stop-motion classic The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993); and the couple shot a slightly bizarre promo music video for Ed Wood with Lisa wearing her Vampira costume. Nightmare director Henry Selick credited Lisa as a good influence on Tim’s personal life, with her pushing him to eat healthier. During a 2015 interview with the zine ‘toofab,’ Lisa said that wearing her Martian Girl wardrobe for Mars Attacks! was kind of a nightmare; with the dress being so tight, she had to be sewn into it, and the huge wig/fake beehive really heavy. That same production, Sarah Jessica Parker’s character Nathalie Lake’s pet Chihuahua, was actually owned by Lisa and Tim at the time. The actress and director originally adopted the dog after finding it as a stray wandering the streets of Tokyo, Japan while they were traveling.

Though they were engaged for the vast majority of their relationship, Tim and Lisa never officially made it down the aisle, and just lived together. During the filming of Planet of the Apes, it was ‘rumored’ Tim began a secret affair with Helena Bonham Carter right as both of them were working opposite Lisa on set. Tim didn’t officially break up with Lisa until near the end of the press tour, so this must’ve made the premieres a little awkward. Planet of the Apes ended up flopping, though not because of the transparent overlap in relationships, but because it was crap and got bad reviews. Similar to Lisa, HBC went on to be Tim’s muse/fiancée from 2001-2014 and became mother of his two kids. As an impressionable, early 2000s era 7th grader who was obsessed with Tim Burton films, discovering one of your fave filmmakers is a fuckboy like every other male celeb is a legit bummer. Retrospectively, Lisa can boast about inspiring Tim at the height of his career and craft. Since her time with Tim, Lisa has modeled and acted sporadically and mostly seems to hang around L.A. and Paris these days.