The Nightmare Before Christmas performer Danny Elfman
The Nightmare Before Christmas (also known as Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas) is a 1993 American stop-motion animated musical dark fantasy film directed by Henry Selick (in his feature directorial debut) and produced and conceived by Tim Burton. It tells the story of Jack Skellington, the King of "Halloween Town", who stumbles upon "Christmas Town" and schemes to take over the holiday. Danny Elfman wrote the songs and score and provided the singing voice of Jack. The principal voice cast also includes Chris Sarandon, Catherine O'Hara, William Hickey, Ken Page, Paul Reubens, Glenn Shadix, and Ed Ivory.
The Nightmare Before Christmas originated in a poem written by Burton in 1982 while he was working as an animator at Walt Disney Productions. With the success of Vincent in the same year, Burton began to consider developing The Nightmare Before Christmas as either a short film or a half-hour television special, to no avail. Over the years, Burton's thoughts regularly returned to the project, and, in 1990, he made a development deal with Walt Disney Studios. Production started in July 1991 in San Francisco; Disney initially released the film through Touchstone Pictures because the studio believed the film would be "too dark and scary for kids".The film met with critical success upon release, earning praise for its animation (particularly the innovation of the stop-motion art form), characters, songs and score. While only a modest box office hit at first, it has since garnered a large cult following. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects, a first for an animated film, but lost to Jurassic Park. The film has been reissued by Walt Disney Pictures and was re-released annually in Disney Digital 3-D from 2006 until 2010.Voice cast
Chris Sarandon (speaking voice) and Danny Elfman (singing voice) as Jack Skellington, a skeleton known as the "Pumpkin King" of Halloween Town. Elfman was initially cast as Jack's singing voice and, after the songs were recorded, Sarandon was cast to match Elfman's voice style.Elfman also voices:
Barrel, one of the trick-or-treaters working for Oogie Boogie.
The Clown with the Tear-Away Face, a self-described clown who rides a unicycle.
Catherine O'Hara as Sally, a rag doll/Frankenstein's monster-like creation of Finkelstein and Jack's love interest. She is a toxicologist who uses various types of poison to liberate herself from the captivity of her "father". She is also psychic and has premonitions when anything bad is about to happen. O'Hara had previously co-starred in Burton's Beetlejuice.
O'Hara also voices Shock, one of the trick-or-treaters working for Oogie Boogie.
William Hickey as Doctor Finkelstein, a mad scientist and the loving but overbearing "father" of Sally. He is listed in the credits only as "Evil Scientist" and is only mentioned by name twice in the film.
Glenn Shadix as the Mayor of Halloween Town, an enthusiastic leader who conducts town meetings. His wild mood swings from happy to distraught because his head spins between a "happy" and "sad" face; where some career politicians are described as figuratively two-faced, the mayor is literally so. Shadix and Burton had previously worked on Beetlejuice.
Ken Page as Oogie Boogie, a villainous bogeyman in Halloween Town, who has a passion for gambling and rivalry with Jack.
Ed Ivory as Santa Claus, the ruler of Christmas Town. Santa is responsible for the annual celebration of Christmas, in which he delivers presents to children in the real world. He is also referred to by Jack and Halloween Town's residents as "Sandy Claws". Ivory also provides the brief narration at the start of the film.
Paul Reubens as Lock, one of the trick-or-treaters working for Oogie Boogie. Reubens and Burton had previously worked on Pee-wee's Big Adventure and Batman Returns.
Frank Welker as Zero, Jack's pet ghost dog who has a tiny Jack-o'-lantern on top of his nose.The cast also features Kerry Katz, Carmen Twillie, Randy Crenshaw, Lisa Donovan Lukas, Debi Durst, Glenn Walters, Sherwood Ball, John Morris and Greg Proops voicing various characters. Patrick Stewart recorded narration for a prologue and epilogue. While not used in the final film, the narration is included on the soundtrack album.