[6] The film stars Ewan McGregor, Albert Finney, Billy Crudup, Jessica Lange, Helena Bonham Carter, Alison Lohman, Robert Guillaume, Marion Cotillard, Steve Buscemi, and Danny DeVito.

It tells the story of a frustrated son who tries to distinguish fact from fiction in the life of his father, a teller of tall tales.

The screenwriter John August read a manuscript of the novel six months before it was published and convinced Columbia Pictures to acquire the rights.

Tim Burton and Richard D. Zanuck took over after completing Planet of the Apes (2001), and brought McGregor and Finney on board.

Big Fish was shot on location in Alabama in a series of fairy tale vignettes with a Southern Gothic aesthetic.

Edward traverses a swamp and discovers the hidden town of Spectre, where he befriends the poet Norther Winslow and the mayor's daughter, Jenny.

He parachutes into the middle of a North Korean military show, steals important documents, and persuades the twins Ping and Jing[b] to help him escape in exchange for making them celebrities.

About six months before it was published, the screenwriter John August read a manuscript of the 1998 novel Big Fish: A Novel of Mythic Proportions by Daniel Wallace.

[13] In August 2000, the producers Bruce Cohen and Dan Jinks began discussions for Steven Spielberg to direct the film.

Spielberg planned to have DreamWorks co-finance and distribute Big Fish with Columbia, and intended to start filming in late 2001, after completing Minority Report (2002).

August, Jinks and Cohen considered Stephen Daldry as a potential director before deciding to approach Tim Burton.

The script's combination of an emotional drama with exaggerated tall tales allowed him to tell multiple stories of different genres, which he enjoyed.

He signed on to direct in April 2002, which prompted Richard D. Zanuck, who worked with Burton on Planet of the Apes, to join Big Fish as a producer.

In order to depict Nicholson as the young Edward, Burton intended to use a combination of computer-generated imagery and prosthetic makeup.

[13] After viewing Finney's performance in Tom Jones (1963), Burton observed similarities between him and McGregor, and coincidentally found a People magazine article comparing the two.

"[19] The same dual casting applied to the role of Edward's wife, Sandra, who would be played by Jessica Lange and Alison Lohman.

[13] Both Burton and Zanuck had been impressed with Lohman's performance in White Oleander (2002), and felt she was the ideal candidate for the role.

Helena Bonham Carter's prosthetic makeup was designed by Stan Winston Studios, which also created animatronics for the production.

[e] Although Burton limited the use of digital effects in Big Fish, he employed color grading to achieve a Southern Gothic aesthetic.

[13] After viewing an early print of the film, the group's vocalist Eddie Vedder wrote the song "Man of the Hour".

[33] Pearl Jam's guitarist Mike McCready stated, "We were so blown away by the movie ... Eddie and I were standing around talking about it afterwards and were teary-eyed.

[36] The US wide release occurred on January 9, 2004, with the film appearing in 2,406 theaters and earning $13.8 million in its opening weekend.

[37] In his review of the film, Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly called Big Fish "a wide-eyed Southern Gothic picaresque in which each lunatic twist of a development is more enchanting than the last.

"[6] Peter Travers of Rolling Stone praised Burton's directing and described the film as a touching father-son drama and a celebration of the art of storytelling.

He called the evolution of Alison Lohman's character into an older woman "delightful" and "a metamorphosis to equal any in screen history.

He called the film "a clever, smart fantasy that targets the child inside every adult, without insulting the intelligence of either.

"[13] The film scholar Kent L. Brintnall claimed that the father-son relationship resolves itself at the end of Big Fish.

Brintnall called Will's willingness to finish his father's story a "gesture of love and comprehension" and an "act of communion and care".

Brintnall asserted that Will comes to understand that Edward's stories "gave him a reality and substance ... that was as real, genuine, and deep as the day-to-day experiences that Will sought out".