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Tim Burton's the Nightmare Before Christmas poster

Poster: Tim Burton's the Nightmare Before Christmas

CHARACTER · TIM BURTON'S THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS

Jack Skellington

Appears in
Tim Burton's the Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)

9 archived facts 2 topics

Jack Skellington is a character in the film Tim Burton's the Nightmare Before Christmas (1993).

9 Interesting Facts About Jack Skellington

Interesting Facts (8)

  1. #001

    Tim Burton and Henry Selick resisted giving Jack Skellington eyes, despite pressure from Disney. Burton told Mouseplanet in 2018: "The first rule of drawn animation is that you have to have eyes for expression. I thought it would be great to give life to these characters that have no eyes." He continued, "Disney really fought for us to give Jack these friendly eyes instead of dark holes but we wouldn't budge."

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  2. #002

    Danny Elfman described writing Nightmare's 10 songs as "one of the easiest jobs I've ever had. I had a lot in common with Jack Skellington." After making demos of every song for the director's approval, he grew attached to Jack: as lead singer of Oingo Boingo, he knew what it was like to be loved and famous, yet, like Jack, he had grown unhappy with his situation. Elfman worked up the nerve to ask his friend and producer Tim Burton whether he could voice Jack, but before he could finish, Burton told him, "Danny, don't worry about it, you got the part."

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  3. #003

    In Tim Burton's first sketches, Jack Skellington wore a black suit. Henry Selick switched it to pinstripes after early screen tests showed Jack's body appearing to vanish against Halloween Town's dark backdrop.

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  4. #004

    Chris Sarandon, Jack Skellington's speaking voice, counts the role as his personal favorite among all he has played. He came out of retirement to voice Jack again in Disney Dreamlight Valley (2022).

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  5. #005

    Jack's sleigh is shaped like a coffin, a detail that may point to a dark or macabre theme in the story.

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  6. #006

    The official soundtrack CD contains a bonus segment not included in the film, in which Santa pays Jack a visit years later and discovers that Jack has 4 or 5 skeleton children who make music together.

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  7. #007

    In one Kingdom Hearts game, Jack organizes a "Heartless Halloween" festival, using a special heart built by Doctor Finkelstein to command the Heartless; the experiment sends them out of control, and Oogie Boogie makes off with the heart.

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  8. #008

    In another Kingdom Hearts game, Jack watches Roxas depart through a Dark Corridor and draws inspiration from it, creating balloons full of spiders, exploding frost pumpkins and Halloween lanterns, then builds a frightening scarecrow likeness of Roxas as his centerpiece Halloween decoration.

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Production Story (1)

  1. #009

    Danny Elfman was picked to voice Jack Skellington, but while his singing was considered excellent, his speaking voice came across as too wooden and stiff. Chris Sarandon was cast as Jack's speaking voice instead, since his voice closely matched Elfman's singing.

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