The visual feast of the film has won acclaim from overseas viewers. [Photo provided to China Daily]

He says dark sides have long driven fairy tales and folk legends in many countries' literary histories.

Many of the world's favorite fairy tales, such as Cinderella, The Frog Prince, Snow White and Sleeping Beauty, were not written as the happy-ending stories favored by Disney, but with touches of horror in the original texts by the Brothers Grimm, Hans Christian Andersen and others.

"I never consider myself as a dark person. Despite the fact that some of my movies may have dark things, I always want to mix humor and emotion, sadness and happiness, magic and science ... that's how I feel about life," he says.

In an era when most Hollywood big-budget productions rely heavily on digital technology to create spectacular sets, Burton does not seem so fascinated by computer-generated imagery.

Burton wanted a setting that felt real in the cinematic world, and the production team scouted many locations for Miss Peregrine's home until a castle in Belgium got the green light from the director.

"The first time I saw that empty house, it looked like a real home for peculiar children," recalls Burton.

"I also want the children to be as simple and real as possible. They have peculiar powers, but they're just children at heart."

The maverick director reveals that most of his inspiration came from daydreams.