The Disaster Artist, an endearing tale of friendship about the making of The Room, a film generally considered one of the worst ever made, was one of the surprise hits of last year. Praised for its unique style and genuine warmth, the Oscar contender was not without precedent. Tim Burton’s Ed Wood (1994) lovingly tells the story of one of the worst directors in the history of the medium and his friendship with Bela Lugosi, the man who immortalised Dracula on screen.

Burton has said he was drawn to the story because Wood’s relationship with Lugosi reminded him of his own friendship with Vincent Price late in the actor’s life. The decision to shoot in black and white saw Columbia Pictures drop the project and Walt Disney Studios step in and, though the film was a box office bomb, Burton can feel vindicated. Ed Wood celebrates the spirit of its subject’s 1950s exploitation pictures in both its tone and the stylised performances of its leads, not least Johnny Depp in the title role and the great Martin Landau as Lugosi (a performance for which the latter won his only Academy Award).

It is easy to see why Burton would feel drawn to the man who made Plan 9 from Outer Space, another contender for the worst film in history. Wood might not have been a talented filmmaker but what comes through in his own work and this biopic is an undeniable love of cinema. In Depp’s hands, the character is a wide-eyed optimist who believes every take is perfect, regardless of the most obvious blunders. He feels a kinship with Orson Welles because both are outsiders determined to realise their idiosyncratic vision without quite seeing the gulf in talent between the two auteurs.