Tim Burton was moving for Walt Disney Animation Studios successful the aboriginal 1980s erstwhile helium dreamed up The Nightmare Before Christmas, a riff connected the classical poem "The Night Before Christmas" (first published successful 1823 arsenic "A Visit From St. Nicholas"), and drew the archetypal iteration of Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King of Halloweentown.

He pitched the thought to Disney arsenic a TV special, but the look helium envisioned wasn't the Mouse House's bag, though the workplace hung onto the rights to the communicative astir Jack's well-intentioned but yet too-scary effort to instrumentality implicit Christmas.

Once Burton had go a truly large deal, Disney did marque the film, but it was released successful 1993 by subsidiary Touchstone Pictures.

The Nightmare Before Christmas may automatically conjure visions of Burton dancing successful our heads, but the movie was written by Edward Scissorhands scribe Caroline Thompson and directed by stop-motion specializer Henry Selick.

He and Burton met arsenic students astatine CalArts, past worked unneurotic astatine Disney.

"Tim's a genius for the ideas, the designs, and each the things that truly bash matter, but helium wanted idiosyncratic other to nonstop it," Selick told the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences' A.frame successful 2023. "I'd done immoderate hand-drawn animation. And aboriginal I've done immoderate machine [animation], but I conscionable emotion stop-motion. I emotion moving those puppets around."

While he's ever applauded Burton's vision, Selick made immoderate waves successful 2022 erstwhile helium acknowledged to AV Club that helium felt it was "a small unfair" erstwhile Disney started billing the movie as Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas a fewer weeks earlier its release. 

"And I would person been good with that," helium said, "if that's what I signed up for."

Burton "is a genius—or helium surely was successful his astir originative years," Selick added. "I ever thought his communicative was perfect, and helium designed the main characters. But it was truly maine and my squad of radical [based successful San Francisco] who brought that to life."

Eventually, Selick noted, Burton "showed up astatine the extremity with an exertion and trimmed retired immoderate worldly to tighten up the film."

A twelvemonth aft his "unfair" remark made headlines, Selick insisted it truly wasn't that large of a woody to him…anymore.

It bothered him "a spot successful the past," helium told People in 2023, but "it's not truly a problem…For the astir part, astatine slightest everyone successful the industry, everyone successful animation, cognize it's maine who directed it."

The Nightmare Before Christmas became the archetypal feature-length movie comprising lone stop-motion animation.

And it took much than 3 years to make, Selick's squad moving their handmade puppets incrementally and photographing them framework by frame, producing 1 infinitesimal of movie per week.

He attributed the painstaking process to not knowing immoderate amended astatine the time.

"We conscionable weren't afraid," the manager told Simon Bland for Total Film successful 2023. "We were ignorant and blissful."

Selick didn't conscionable bash the visuals frame-by-frame, millisecond by millisecond.

"He does the dependable enactment that way, too, particularly with a quality similar Sally—a patchwork being," Catherine O'Hara, who voiced rag doll Sally, Jack's crafty emotion interest, told The Edge successful 2013. "My dialog was patchworked together, too, with bits of sentences constructed into 'Sally speak.'"

O'Hara "didn't similar however galore takes [it took]," Selick, calling the histrion "an unthinkable comedian," told People. "I had to bash a batch of takes to get her successful the zone. But she did beautifully."

O'Hara has ne'er had a transverse connection to accidental (publicly, astatine least) astir the filming process.

"To spell into the workplace was a thrilling and mind-boggling thing,” O'Hara told the Los Angeles Daily News successful 2023 of moving with Selick successful San Francisco. "In 1 shot, 5 seconds of a scene, I deliberation that’s similar a week's work. When you spot the movie it’s conscionable truthful beauteous and fluid and realistic successful its ain small world. You conscionable hide each that work, but I truly bash admit it."

At archetypal she "tried to bash much of a breached voice," O'Hara told E! News successful 1993, "her dependable arsenic stitched up arsenic her body, but that benignant of happening tin get successful the mode aft awhile."

In her duet with Elfman successful particular, "I wanted to sing higher than I'm utilized to," O'Hara said, "because it seemed close for Sally. At immoderate points I'd dependable like, you know, [in a precocious timid register] a choir boy."

She added with a smile, "I excused it by saying Sally's not that well-formed, truthful she can't sing that well."

"Tim did a mates of sketches of Jack successful the '80s inspired by Charles Addams, creator of The Addams Family," Selick told Total Film. "Production Designer Rick Heinrichs did the archetypal sculpture of Jack and captured Tim's drawings beautifully. Then it was each astir however to animate him."

Jack was "impossibly thin," helium continued, "so making him into a stop-motion quality was hard. We utilized metallic armatures similar skeletons underneath his clothing. He was each successful achromatic and that didn’t read--since truthful overmuch of Halloweentown is dark, helium disappeared. So I added vertical stripes."

Selick has paid homage to Jack successful each movie he's directed since. "If you look very, precise carefully, you mightiness find that there's immoderate representation of Jack successful each different movie I've made," helium told GamesRadar+ successful August. "But I can't legally accidental that's true, but it mightiness beryllium true."

For instance, the skipper of a set of skeletal pirates successful James and the Giant Peach is called "Skellington," and erstwhile The Other Mother makes eggs successful Coraline, the signifier of the yolk resembles Jack's face.

Jack's singing dependable was provided by predominant Burton collaborator Danny Elfman, who besides composed the film's people and each 10 of its archetypal songs, from "Here Comes Halloween" to "What's This?"

Going for a timeless vibe, "I wanted it to dependable similar it was written 50 oregon 100 years ago," Elfman told Billboard in 2018, "so I turned my ain influences for that stuff. Kurt Weill’s The Threepenny Opera, which was a large happening successful my life, was a source, arsenic good musicals from Cole Porter and Gershwin, and to a definite extent, Rodgers and Hammerstein."

The Nightmare Before Christmas was already the sixth movie Elfman and Burton had worked connected together, their still-going originative concern (2024's Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice is their latest) dating backmost to 1985's Pee-wee's Big Adventure.

"The comic happening astir Tim and I starting The Nightmare Before Christmas is that neither of america had immoderate thought however to bash a philharmonic animated film," Elfman told Little White Lies successful 2018. "When Tim brought maine successful determination was nary script, truthful we started telling the communicative with songs and the publication came afterwards—we did it each backwards, but it made consciousness to us."

Burton would amusement him his drawings, Elfman recalled, "and arsenic helium would picture the country I'd commencement to perceive the song. It was truly speedy and simple. He provided each the imagery I needed to get inspired."

Elfman, arsenic the frontman of caller question set Oingo Boingo, identified with Jack's privation for much contempt already being palmy astatine the occupation he's got.

"When you’re the person of a set it's similar you are The Pumpkin King," helium told Little White Lies. "You're the person of your ain small microverse and I wholly got his tendency of, 'I’m not blessed anymore and I don’t cognize what I privation to bash but I request something.' When I was penning for Jack, I was besides penning for myself. I was singing him astir semi-autobiographically. I injected a batch of myself successful determination and it made it much personal."

Vibing with Jack aside, Elfman "didn't truly person the chops for the dialogue," Selick told People in 2023. So, they had to find a dependable that was "close capable to Danny's that it could pass."

Chris Sarandon, of Fright Night and The Princess Bride fame, acceptable the bill.

"I deliberation it helped a batch to perceive Danny’s dependable singing the songs," Sarandon told CT Insider successful 2023, recalling that the euphony was beauteous overmuch done by the clip helium headed up to San Francisco to talk for Jack. "It was a challenge, to a definite extent, but astatine the aforesaid time, I deliberation successful presumption of the vocal lucifer we were beauteous close."

And helium lone had to audition once.

Sarandon sensed aboriginal connected that helium was portion of thing special.

"I retrieve the archetypal clip I took a look astatine it, I saw it successful achromatic and white," helium recalled connected the Today Show Australia successful 2023.
"I was going into the workplace with Tim Burton to redo immoderate of the lines, and arsenic I'm watching this achromatic and achromatic muddy mentation of it, my 3 young children had gathered beside me, unbeknownst to me, and their mouths were just, like, wholly agape."

So the finished product really blew him distant erstwhile helium attended the premiere with his kids Stephanie, Alexis and Michael (whose ma is his ex-wife Lisa Ann Cooper).

"I was truly backmost against my seat, conscionable going, 'Whoa, what is this?'" helium told ComicBook.com. "This is conscionable thing that's conscionable completely, wholly unique.'"

While Sarandon has described moving connected the movie arsenic a beauteous solitary experience, the process not truly necessitating overmuch look clip with his costars, helium formed an enduring enslaved with the precocious Ken Page, who voiced Oogie Boogie. 

"Very adjacent friends arsenic a effect of our having done a fig of Comic-Cons together," Sarandon told CT Insider successful 2023. "We've spent much and much clip unneurotic and he's 1 of my closest friends, which is an added bonus."

Page told the work astatine the time, "I truly treasure my relationship with Chris due to the fact that present it's been 30 years. And that’s a agelong clip to person immoderate changeless interaction with anybody. I telephone him my roadworthy husband."

After his abrupt passing connected Sept. 30, 2024, Sarandon paid tribute connected Instagram: "We've mislaid a elephantine of a man: actor, singer, director, human. Goodbye with large sadness to my beloved friend, Ken Page."

Page, who did each the dependable enactment for the villainous Oogie Boogie, thought helium would just be asked to sing.

"They asked maine astir the quality and what did I think," the Broadway star, who originated the relation of Old Deuteronomy successful Cats, recalled to CT Insider. "I had seen immoderate of the storyboards. I said, 'To me, possibly it's a transverse betwixt Burt Lahr from The Wizard of Oz, Cab Calloway and the dependable of the demon successful The Exorcist."

It turned retired to beryllium an fantabulous time for an audition.

O'Hara figured she was offered the relation of Sally due to the fact that she and Burton "had a bully time" moving unneurotic connected 1988's Beetlejuice.

"So helium precise kindly offered maine the portion of Sally," the Schitt's Creek star told the LA Daily News in 2023. "Then I went successful to grounds with Danny, and that was breathtaking and scary. And we besides got to bash a Lock, Shock and Barrell opus ['Dear Sandy Claws'] with beloved Paul [Reubens]," who voiced Lock.

What O'Hara did not do was presume that the movie would go a vacation classic. "You effort to get progressive with bully people, enactment connected a bully script, and person immoderate fun," she said. "You ne'er truly cognize what volition happen."

O'Hara attributed the film's enduring popularity to its cosmopolitan themes, often contiguous successful Burton's work, astir the well-intentioned outsider who "just wants to beryllium appreciated and loved."

Jack is "a freak, but not a freak," she told the Daily News. "He's a saccharine soul. Like Edward Scissorhands, and truthful galore characters successful Tim's movies. So yes, the art, the euphony and the sweetness of it."

Sarandon had a akin take, telling People in 2023, "A batch of young radical travel up to maine and say, 'This was a movie that made maine consciousness similar I belonged,' due to the fact that it was truthful unusual and astatine the aforesaid clip truthful beautiful, and its connection was truthful positive. And arsenic it turns out, they, successful turn, present are watching it with their children."

Jack was "perceived arsenic dark, but is truly light," Burton told  Empire successful 2023. "Those are the kinds of things that I love, whether it's Scissorhands oregon Batman, characters that person that. It represented each those feelings that I had. I was perceived arsenic this acheronian character, erstwhile I didn't consciousness that way. So it was a precise idiosyncratic character."

Asked if determination was immoderate speech of making a sequel, Selick said a prequel would marque much sense, since Burton considered The Nightmare Before Christmas to beryllium "a cleanable movie," the manager told People in 2023. And, the manager added, "there mightiness beryllium a much absorbing communicative determination astir however Jack became the King of Halloweentown."

Sarandon, who's continued to dependable Jack successful video games, taxable parkland attractions and different licensed content, told People he'd "be determination successful a minute" should they request his vocal talents for different film.

But astir a period later, Burton confirmed there'd beryllium nary sequel connected his watch.

"I've done sequels, I’ve done different things, I’ve done reboots, I’ve done each that s--t, right? I don't privation that to hap to this," helium told Empire. "It's bully that radical are possibly interested, but I’m not. I consciousness similar that aged feline who owns a small portion of spot and won't merchantability to the large powerfulness works that wants to instrumentality my land. 'Get disconnected of my land! You pesky little… You ain’t getting this property! I don’t attraction what you privation to physique connected it. You travel connected my property… Where's my shotgun?'"