Ed Wood (film) - Plot

Plot

In 1952, Ed Wood is struggling to join the film industry. Upon hearing of an announcement in Variety that producer George Weiss is trying to purchase Christine Jorgensen's life story, Ed is inspired to meet Weiss in person. Weiss explains that Variety's announcement was a news leak, and it is impossible to purchase Jorgensen's rights. The producer decides to 'fictionalize' the film titled I Changed My Sex!, and "do it without the shemale". One day, Ed meets his longtime idol Béla Lugosi, after spotting him trying out a casket. Ed drives Béla home and the two become friends. Later, Ed decides to star Béla in the film and convinces Weiss that he is perfect to direct I Changed My Sex! because he is a transvestite.

Ed and Weiss argue over the film's title: Weiss has already had the poster printed, which Ed changes to Glen or Glenda. The shoot finishes on Glen or Glenda, and Ed is enthusiastic that he starred, directed, wrote and produced his own film just like his hero Orson Welles did when he made Citizen Kane. Glen or Glenda is released to critical and financial failure. Ed is unsuccessful in getting a job at Warner Bros., a producer there tells him Glen or Glenda is the worst film he has ever seen, but Ed's girlfriend, Dolores Fuller, tells him that he is not "studio material", and that he should find independent backers for his next film, Bride of the Monster. Ed is unsuccessful in finding money for Bride of the Monster, but is introduced to the psychic The Amazing Criswell.

At a bar, Ed meets Loretta King, who he thinks has enough money to fund Bride of the Monster. Filming begins, but is halted. Ed convinces meat packing industry tycoon Don McCoy to take over funding the film. McCoy does so, but on the condition that the film ends with a giant nuclear explosion, and that his son Tony, who "is a little slow", is the leading man. The filming of Bride of the Monster finishes, but Dolores and Ed break up after the wrap party, because of Ed's circle of friends and transvestism. Also, Béla, who is revealed to be highly depressed and a morphine addict, attempts to conduct a double suicide with Ed, but is talked out of it. Béla checks himself into rehab, and Ed finds love when he meets Kathy O'Hara, who is visiting her father at the same hospital. Ed takes her on a date and reveals to her his transvestism, which she accepts.

Ed begins to shoot a film with Béla outside his home. When Ed and company attend the premiere for Bride of the Monster, an angry mob chases them out of the theater. Sometime later, Béla dies leaving Ed without a star. Ed convinces a church leader named Reynolds that funding Ed's script for "Grave Robbers from Outer Space" would result in a box office success, and generate enough money for Reynolds' dream project (the Twelve Apostles films). Dr. Tom Mason, Kathy's chiropractor, is chosen to be Béla's stand-in. However, Ed and the Baptists begin having conflicts over the title and content of the script which they want to have changed to Plan 9 from Outer Space along with Ed's B movie directing style, his casting decisions and his transvestism. This causes a distressed Ed to leave the set and immediately take a taxi to the nearest bar, where he encounters his idol Orson Welles. Welles tells Ed that "visions are worth fighting for", and filming for Plan 9 finishes with Ed taking action against his producers. The film ends with the premiere of Plan 9, and Ed and Kathy taking off to Las Vegas, Nevada to get married.