Depp/Burton DARK SHADOWS Is In Production!!

[Mysterious Benefactor]

A very interesting article about Graham King, whose GK Films is one of the production companies involved with the Depp/DS film:

It's good to be King: Scorsese, Depp & Jolie highlight GK Films slate

Just based on his track record alone DS could be an international smash. 

197 days 10 hours 1 minute 7 seconds until the day the Depp/Burton Dark Shadows is released(ET)!!

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Well, what do you know - the first thing Depp talked about on Letterman was that he made DS over the summer and it's "something like" a vampire movie. And that's all he said about it (but then, that's all Letterman asked about it). But that's a start.  

195 days 23 hours 30 minutes 2 seconds until the day the Depp/Burton Dark Shadows is released(ET)!!

[madscntst]

I was hoping for a little more too, but hey, it was mentioned and hopefully will be in people's minds for next year.  And Lone Ranger and Dr. Seuss weren't mentioned at all!

Overall, the interview had me in stitches.  Johnny usually does pretty well on Letterman because I think their senses of humor jive somewhat.   And hey, (reference to Dave's Top Ten List) if I can order Pirates of the Caribbean from Netflix and have Johnny deliver the DVD to me personally, I'll be glad to remain a loyal customer 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

And Lone Ranger and Dr. Seuss weren't mentioned at all!

True - and they've been overshadowing DS in a lot of interviews lately, so it was about time DS got mentioned and not either of those.  

Overall, the interview had me in stitches.  Johnny usually does pretty well on Letterman because I think their senses of humor jive somewhat.

Yes, it was quite funny. Loved the Hairy Black Tongue story!  

And hey, (reference to Dave's Top Ten List) if I can order Pirates of the Caribbean from Netflix and have Johnny deliver the DVD to me personally, I'll be glad to remain a loyal customer  

If they did that, I bet they'd gain a hell of lot more than the 800,000 subscribers that left!  

195 days 23 hours 1 minute 12 seconds until the day the Depp/Burton Dark Shadows is released(ET)!!

[Nancy]

And hey, (reference to Dave's Top Ten List) if I can order Pirates of the Caribbean from Netflix and have Johnny deliver the DVD to me personally, I'll be glad to remain a loyal customer  

Me too! What an excellent idea!

[Mysterious Benefactor]

A few things:

The new issue of Entertainment Weekly has an article written by Anthony Breznican about Seth Grahame-Smith and his producing team partner David Katzenberg. We'll all recall that Breznican famously tweeted that in the actual film Depp's Barnabas doesn't look like the paparazzi photos, then premiered that cast photo on EW's Web site, and also wrote the companion article for the print issue. So, it's probably no surprise that the fact that Grahame-Smith co-wrote the screenplay for DS is mentioned in the Grahame-Smith/Katzenberg piece. Though unfortunately, that's the only reference to DS. But then, the article is really about what they have coming up, not what they've done in the past. (Though the fact that Grahame-Smith is referred to as having co-written the screenplay is also another indication that the people who've said John August was fired and his contributions to the film have been thrown out have no idea what they're talking about.)

It's really interesting how many people are still just learning about the DS film. Quite a few people on Twitter are tweeting about how Depp mentioned on last night's Letterman that he did DS over the summer as if it's breaking news. Though I suppose it is breaking news to anyone who hasn't heard about it. And it's never a bad thing for more people to become aware of the film. Which just goes to show how valuable appearances on these talk shows can really be when it comes to getting the word out about films.

And speaking of Twitter, literally hundreds of people have been tweeting over the past two days about Alice Cooper's remarks about doing DS. Actually, even more so today than yesterday because a lot of other sites have picked up his remarks and are sharing them. And ever since first reading his remarks I've been thinking about how his appearance in the film could actually be used to an interesting advantage. I can certainly see where one might fear that his participation could come off as campy and funny. And who knows, it may turn out that way. But I can see a way that it could be anything but - and that could be if Cooper's performance of "No More Mr. Nice Guy" is intercut with, well, Barnabas acting out violently against some character or characters, as in attacking them for whatever reason. Several Web sites are questioning why Cooper is performing that particular song and not one of his that's more horror themed. Well, perhaps if the plan really is to do some sort of intercuting sequence between his performance and some other action in the film, the title of the song itself could be the answer. But I suppose we'll see...

195 days 11 hours 10 minutes 21 seconds until the day the Depp/Burton Dark Shadows is released(ET)!!

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Johnny Depp and Ricky Gervais' Square Off

I've seen the parts of this clip about the Golden Globes, but I had no idea that there's references to the DS film too. Here's the whole video: Johnny Depp gives Ricky Gervais a piece of his mind (Life's Too Short). Love it!  

195 days 8 hours 48 minutes 42 seconds until the day the Depp/Burton Dark Shadows is released(ET)!!

[Gothick]

Nice to see that Depp had time to amuse himself with this sort of thing while he was in London.

I don't know the show, but the punchline of this skit almost made me laugh out loud.

Cathy, does Depp smoke in real life?  I turn to you as the ultimate authority.

G.

[madscntst]

Yes, Johnny had a history of being a terrible chain smoker back in the day.   When his kids were young, he started talking about trying to quit for their sake.  Then around the time of Public Enemies, he claimed to have quit altogether.  And true, we didn't see any photos of him smoking at that time, even in paparazzi shots.  But more recently, he started again, and I suspect that filming The Tourist may have been a temptation to start again (his character is smoking electronic cigarettes through most of the film, but at the end he switches to real ones), though I don't know if that's what actually did it or not.  Coincidentally, he just played a concert in Austin last weekend, and a friend of mine got to go.  One of the questions I asked (as I noticed photos of him with a cigarette) if he smoked much during the 1.5 hr+ show, and she said no, just one.  No offense to any smokers here, but I am a cancer researcher, so naturally, I'm biased toward hoping he's trying to go light on the cigs  

[Gothick]

Thanks, Cathy.  I am very disappointed to see 20something hipsters here in Cambridge MA so fervently embracing nicotine addiction... given that my beloved Grayson Hall died a cruel, nasty death as a result of lung cancer, my prayer for any and all smokers who wish to stop is that they can get off the damn coffin nails... sigh..

And I hate to say it, but whenever someone as cool as Johnny Depp smokes on TV, that gives the nasty habit a little bit more cachet and glamour.

Just my two drachmae.

G.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

And let's not forget that there may be smoking in the Depp/DS film. Well, at least smoking of a different kind:

kr_shhh
Today for work I had to find herbal green tobacco that we can pretend is marijuana on film! Movie magic.
1 hour ago

Though, of course, just because we'll supposedly see what appears to be marijuana, that doesn't necessarily mean that anyone smokes it on screen...

194 days 11 hours 35 minutes 8 seconds until the day the Depp/Burton Dark Shadows is released(ET)!!

[madscntst]

Gothick, that is so true what you say about the "glamour" factor in smoking.  But for better or worse, for a Johnny fan like me, it's part of the package.  And I'm always torn- I hate seeing him smoke, and was sad to learn that he had started up again, but darn it all, it does make him look sexy!  

Thanks for the reminder about the "funny" tobacco, MB.  Hmm, I may be wrong about this, but I'm pretty sure if they show characters imbibing in that, it might give the film an R rating.  So I guess it would have to depend on the rating they're shooting for.  Personally, I don't mind an R rating at all, but I must admit that a PG-13 would probably result in a better box office.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

I'm torn between wanting an R and a PG-13, too. I'd love for the film to have the sort of mayhem that an R allows, but like you say, PG-13 allows for bigger box office numbers. It's definitely going to be interesting to see how the rating plays out...

194 days 10 hours 40 minutes 26 seconds until the day the Depp/Burton Dark Shadows is released(ET)!!

[Cousin_Barnabas]

Actually, the MPAA makes a distinction in its rating system in terms of drugs.

PG-13: "Any drug use will initially require at least a PG-13 rating."

R:  "An R-rated motion picture may include adult themes, adult activity, hard language, intense or persistent violence, sexually-oriented nudity, drug abuse or other elements."

So PG-13 films can have drug use, just not drug abuse. 

Not that that isn't subjective at all...

Personally, I am hoping for a PG-13 rating.  It will allow for a wider audience, and maybe an alternative to those teen vampire films for young movie-goers. 

[madscntst]

Okay, thanks for the clarification, Cousin.  I thought that the combination of drug use and it being an illegal substance (assuming it's not for medicinal purposes) might make it R.  I guess I'm too strict, LOL.

Funny, I was just watching a History channel show about vampires (I've seen it before so it's probably been repeated a zillion times, but it was fun to have on on a snowy () fall afternoon.  It mentioned DS as being instrumental in making the vampire more sympathetic to the audience.  Anyway, it got me thinking about the current Twilight fad, and as Johnny said recently, "Nobody looks like a vampire, man!"  So in a way you're right, Cousin, that a PG-13 rating might make teens see it and realize there's more to vampires than sparkly young hunks.  I do lean slightly toward a grittier R rating, though.  I'm bad