Okay, I found the alerts in my trash folder, and sure enough, I was denied when I tried to click on the article this time.  Maybe it's because someone caught that it wasn't current.  Trying to remember- I don't know what film they were talking about- maybe it *was* DS and Barnabas, but I think they were saying he's rarely a villain and I seem to remember them mentioning Blow as a rare example of a "bad guy" (but still someone sympathetic, IMHO. And he's done several more of these- Once Upon A Time In Mexico, Sweeney Todd, and even The Libertine come to mind).  At least two of the other news alerts were about Johnny possibly taking over Heath Ledger's role in The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus.

Here's a brief interview with Helena Bonham Carter, with a brief bit about DS at the end:

Helena Bonham Carter Talks "Toast," Perfumes, and Hypnotizing Johnny Depp

"I get to hypnotize Johnny [Depp] and do all sorts of things to him."   LOL, I wonder if she'll use that groovy pendant we all know!  No comment on the "all sorts of things" remark, other than that I am enjoying imagining what they might be   

Since I can never keep my mouth shut when I read Depp-related tidbits 

   I'm not sure, but I think that #2 (Stephen Jones and the mugging) was just a joke.  They did do a recording session(s) together, though, and Johnny plays lead guitar on a song with Jones' band, Babybird that was released last year. He also directed the video
#6:   The claim that Johnny owns a vineyard or makes his own wine has been refuted many times.  He does love wine, though, and surely has it shipped to him.
#7:   The West Memphis Three now have a new hearing scheduled, I think for around September, to look at the DNA evidence that would quite likely exonerate them.  Johnny, Eddie Vedder, and Patti Smith among others performed in a concert last summer in Little Rock, AR to help raise funds and awareness for this cause.

    I'm pretty sure everything else is totally true.  The guy is a class act, all the way. 

^^^ Seems a little optimistic to think the filming would start already on those sets when they're in that condition     (That said, they are coming along quickly!)

Anyway, Happy 48th Birthday to Mr. Johnny Depp!  I'm sure the poor guy will be filming as usual- he usually seems to have to work on his birthday  

Oh wow, love all these new pix!  It's starting to really look like something.  Love the fencing/railing touches.  Gothik, even though Tim uses CGI, he really doesn't like it, and much prefers for there to be something "real" for the actors to look at and be in while they're acting.  That's why it was so weird that Alice In Wonderland was nearly all CGI, though of course much of it had to be 

MB, I'm not a screenplay writer and could never imagine how difficult it must be to incorporate all the story elements and still have it flow nicely for a ~2 hr. film.  That said, I'm hoping that the majority of the film will take place in the present.  The back story is necessary and I hope they don't just gloss over it, but I fear that too much time in the past could bog down the story.  They need to explain the past, but the story has to move forward in the present, IMHO.  I think that I would also prefer for the past to be shown in a series of flashbacks, revealing more and more of what happened in the past as it goes along.  But a linear timeline could be great too, as long as it's not told too dryly.  Agh, if only we knew!  But have less than a year before we know!

Cathy

I was sort of just joking about Joe Haskell (though you never know!)   Love Perez!

Considering the time period, I am really leaning towards bright colors.  But, maybe scenes on the estate will be muted.  Or it could be that the scenery is very muted while the characters are very bright and vivid. 

Yes!  Or maybe the "normal" scenes, with the everyday family goings-on, especially during the day, could be very bright and vivid, whereas after sundown, out comes Barnabas and everything suddenly gets very shadowy and gloomy.  Or is that too cliche? 

There was just a discussion on one of my Depp forums concerning the use of color in DS.  It started when someone said they wished the film would be in black and white, like Ed Wood.  Someone mentioned that it seems like most of Tim Burton's films fall into one of two categories:  either very desaturated and muted colors (Sleepy Hollow), or very emphasized, almost over-bright colors (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory).  They wondered which DS would be and thought, probably the muted colors (and dark shadows, lol!).  But maybe with a generous use of bright red blood, as was done for Sweeney Todd.  But then I was thinking of all of those groovy mod clothing styles that Angelique and Dr. Hoffman and the others could wear and said that I hope there will be at least some fun use of color!  So it'll be interesting to see how the film ends up looking.  Thanks for the interesting article, MB!