S.F.: Next year (2003) is the 10th Anniversary of the release of The Nightmare Before Christmas [NmBC]. What are your thoughts on its continued success?

G.S.: This is one project I felt was a classic the first time I saw a rough cut. Tim invited a small group (Catherine O'Hara, Bo Welch, Jeff Jones and me) to a private screening in the late summer of 1993. The effect was immediate. Tim's spirit explodes throughout this film. I'm not at all surprised about this one. Burton imagined this world and he and Henry Selick brought it to the screen with the dedicated help of an incredible collection of talented artists and filmmakers. Everyone involved is proud of the results.

This plate was designed for auction for the Birmingham AIDS Outreach 2007.  It brought in a nice big chunk of change

S.F.: Did you have to audition for the voice of The Mayor of Halloween Town?

G.S.: No, Tim was very familiar with my loud mouth! I was in his pool and he was in the Jacuzzi nearby one Sunday afternoon in the summer of 1991 when he yelled down to me, "Hey Glenn, you got a big voice. Wanna do the Mayor in Nightmare?" I wasted no time yelling back, "Sure!" And that was that.

S.F.: Do you know anything about the evolution of The Mayor as a character?

G.S.: Yes, in fact, among the images Tim provided for this section of my site is an early version of The Mayor as an insect-like creation with like eight legs and another "slimmer" Mayor as well. But by the time the part was given to me he had the exchangeable faces and… uh… had gained a few pounds [laughter].

S.F.: The Mayor has a voice that reflects his double personality extremely well, how'd you come up with it?

G.S. [laughter] I do have a story about that. The happy, confident Mayor was a breeze. I just pulled out a twisted mixture of my good time Southern politicians, but for the anxiety ridden, unhappy Mayor my inspiration was Karen Black. Yes, Karen Black. Remember Airport 75? Well, Karen has a line as the stewardess forced to take controls of the plane. She does her famous eye-crossed grimace and says in a high- pitched voice "I can't fly a plane!" I found that by imitating Karen saying that line I could get the perfect character for the fearful, pessimistic Mayor. I would literally be in the booth saying her line out loud over and over before switching to the pouty Mayor. I would even cross my eyes!

S.F.: What do you know about the origins of the ideas for the film?

G.S.: It all bubbled out of Tim Burton. I know that. He originally developed the idea while at Cal Arts and made an attempt to have it produced on television during his tenure as an animator at Disney. At the time Disney was not so keen on the idea. It was too dark for the people in power at the time. When it was finally made as a Touchtone feature it was still treated as a stepchild by Disney. They do, however, seem to have finally warmed up to it. In a big way as a matter of fact.

S.F.: Speaking of Disney, last fall Jack Skellington invaded Disneyland and turned the Haunted Mansion into his own twisted vision of Halloween and Christmas.

G.S.: Oh yes, Disney's all over it now. I think it had to prove itself with the public before Walt's company felt safe to embrace its offbeat, dark quirkiness. But embrace it they finally have!

S.F.: I really enjoyed it and was quite surprised with how well it turned out. It seems as though Disney spared no expense, which is a rarity these days. Did you get a chance to go through it?

G.S: Yes I did. I was asked to come to the park in Anaheim for the opening ceremonies. There was a panel discussion and slide show with Henry Selick, Rick Hienrick, Chris Sarandon, Frank Thompson and I, then we toured the redecorated Haunted Mansion. [The Mansion] was spectacular and it seems it was such a success that it is now going to happen annually. In fact, I will be appearing at The Fantasyland Theater this coming October 3rd 2002 at 7pm for another panel discussion with a few surprises, I'm told. This event will open this year's Nightmare Before Christmas Haunted Mansion and kick off the "NIGHTMARE" season!

S.F.: What was the recording process like for you?

G.S.: This was my first experience with any kind of animation and I was not sure what to expect. Surprising to me was the fact that there was no read-thru where the entire cast met and read the script together. It was all done individually. I recorded all of the mayor's dialogue with Henry Selick in the first few sessions and then over the next two years I came in for various fine tuning as well as the musical numbers which were conducted by Danny Elfman.

S.F.: NmBC is the only movie that required you to sing, what was that like?

G.S.: God bless Danny Elfman! He was so patient. I actually have a decent baritone singing voice but was untrained and technically inexperienced back in '93. Danny made the process fun and guided me through the songs. [singing in a LOW register] "Making Christmas, Making Christmas, is so fine!"

S.F.: Where did the recording sessions take place?

G.S.: Most of the early sessions were done at The Skellington Production Offices in San Francisco. Later on there were pick-ups in Los Angeles studios and all the musical numbers were recorded in Los Angeles.

S.F.: Tim Burton produced NmBC but didn't direct it which leaves to question just how much of the movie he was involved with. Setting the record straight, was this a Tim Burton film or a Henry Selick film?

G.S.: It was quite literally both. Tim created the world and Henry brought it to life. Tim would have gone mad with the slowness of directing stop-motion animation. Henry has more patient for that sort of process. It is very much Tim's creation and Henry did a magnificent job executing and contributing to Tim's original concept.

S.F.: Here's the inevitable sequel question: will there be one?

G.S.: Not that I know about. There's been talk, of course. There's always talk about sequels when a film is a success. I think it's all there. Why do another, really? I mean, there are so many projects for Tim to tackle. I think Jack Skellington hijacking Thanksgiving would be a real turkey… sorry, I couldn't help myself! But, seriously, it's like Beetlejuice as far as I'm concerned. Each is complete without additional chapters created just to rake in bucks.

S.F.: Are you saying you wouldn't do a sequel?

GS: Heavens no, I'm not saying that! [laughter] Should Tim want me to reprise ANY character I would jump at the chance. Working with him is such joy and he would never do a project unless he had fresh dynamite to detonate.

S.F.: Do you have any NmBC trivia for us?

G.S.: Well there is an amusing outtake I've heard about from Clive Matthews [author of TIM BURTON from Virgin Film Books]. It's apparently included on the DVD. The vampires playing ice hockey with a Jack-o-Lantern were originally intended to be playing with a severed human head modeled to look like Tim's. But it was decided this was going a bit too far. I have to get the DVD and take a look!

S.F.: When we talked about Beetlejuice you mentioned that you didn't get a "Handbook for the Recently Deceased" prop because it was stolen from the set. I hope you managed to secure a few props from Halloween Town.

G.S.: I was promised one of the handbooks from Beetlejuice and it did disappear and I am still a little peeved now that you mention it. The folks at Skellington Productions sent me the Mayor's Megaphone and badge as well as the scroll from which he read his proclamations.

S.F.: Would you like to do more voice-over work?

G.S.: Actually Nightmare opened the door to a lot of work. I've done dozens of cartoons and currently recur on Lloyd In Space, Jackie Chan, The Mask, Da Mob and a few more that are on and off the air. Tim and I had fun with his Internet series STAINBOY for which I did a number of characters including "Sgt. Glen Dale" of the Burbank Police Department.

S.F.: Final question: Any upcoming projects with Burton?

GS: Hmmm. Nothing I can talk about. I do promise this, you will be the first to hear when I CAN talk about it!