Billie Piper was “fanatical” about Tim Burton before joining Wednesday: ‘Beetlejuice inspired my fashion sense’
Piper will play the enigmatic Isadora in season 2 of the Netflix series.
This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine.
Alongside American lead Jenna Ortega, Netflix’s Wednesday already boasts a formidable British female cast, with Catherine Zeta-Jones and Joanna Lumley as her mother and grandmother in the upcoming second series — and now Billie Piper joins their number.
In series two of the spooky Addams Family spin-off she plays mysterious music teacher Isadora Capri, described by Piper as “a really accomplished musician who ends up teaching at [Wednesday’s school] Nevermore — and has an interesting past of her own”.
According to Netflix, Isadora’s signature look, takes inspiration from singer Florence Welch from Florence + the Machine, while Piper also looked to the wardrobes of Kate Bush and Stevie Nicks to add to what Wednesday’s costume designers Colleen Atwood and Mark Sutherland envisaged for the character.
Of course, Piper also has her own musical past to bring to the part of Isadora. Before she became best known for acting, Piper was a pop star, getting to number one with Because We Want To in 1998, the youngest ever female singer to do so (she was 15).
But perhaps her most relevant experience isn’t her musical skills – it’s her obsession with Tim Burton, who’s a director and executive producer on the show. Piper tells RT she was “quite overwhelmed” to be working with him after years of hero worship.
“My kids and I love The Nightmare Before Christmas and Frankenweenie,” she says. “And growing up, I was a huge fan of Big Fish. I watched Beetlejuice so many times as a kid that I actually feel like it inspired the interiors in my house and the clothes I wear. I was fanatical.”
But in real life, could Burton live up to the hype? Fortunately, he did, says Piper. “I realised I was dealing with someone who’s really childlike energetically – open and engaging and fun.
“I love his energy, and I’m grateful to be inside one of his pictures. And that’s what it feels like [on Wednesday]: like you’re being painted into Tim Burton’s piece of art, because it’s a very specific composition a lot of the time, and it’s striking.”
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