Big Eyes is the story of kitschy big-eyed portrait painter Margaret Keane and her fraud of a husband, Walter Keane, who took credit for all her work in the 1950's and 60's while claiming that no one would buy "lady art." Tim Burton has directed what looks to be a fairly restrained (i.e. not very Burton-esque) film on the Keanes, played by Amy Adams and Christoph Waltz, who first met in the Bay Area in 1953. The movie set to be released on Christmas Day.
The trailer, just released Friday, depicts the moment of their meeting in Washington Square Park in S.F.'s North Beach, with big-eyed actress Krysten Ritter as Margaret's friend DeAnn who has to explain to her that espresso is not the same as "reefer."
The couple divorced in 1965 and Walter Keane went on to make millions on the mass production of pictures of these big-eyed waifs. Well into the 1980's, however, Margaret Keane was issuing public challenges to her ex-husband to prove that he could paint at all, and she finally vindicated herself in a courtroom in 1986 where a judge set up easels and asked them each paint a portrait. Margaret quickly dashed one off while Walter begged off claiming a shoulder injury, and went to his grave denying Margaret's claims.