Quite frankly, the characters of DS, not the supernatural elements, are why I enjoy the show, and a good deal of that is the friendship and jealousy between Barnabas and Julia. It's quite clear with Julia, from the minor things (her "Here we go again!" looks when Barnabas finds Josette in 1897 and finds Roxanne in 1970PT, as well as her "What else have you had, Barnabas?" in relation to Megan) to the major (her outburst over Angelique, and did it look to anyone else like [spoiler]she shoved Roxanne out of the PT room at the end of 1970PT?[/spoiler]). It always provided a good amount of entertainment from those two. Of course, the fact that Barnabas was thoroughly unwilling to let Julia get swept away by some other vampire is an interesting parallel to that.

Back on topic...

"Got-the-Willies" Loomis
Rev. "Mutant Michael Jackson" Trask (revival)

They could make Maggie's alcoholic artist father into her alcoholic artist grandmother and use KLS there.

I would be quite pleased if Jonathan Frid played Old Barnabas, but Frid actually looks rather youthful for a man in his eighties, and since he is still a man in his eighties, he might not be able to wear the proper prosthetics. Then again, perhaps by 2010 CGI will have replaced make-up entirely and they'll just be able to manipulate the film, no make-up needed. I agree it would be great.

Charlize Theron as Angelique... I like it. I really do. I'm also pretty sure some people will throw Angelina Jolie out there, which I'd be less than pleased with. Gillian Anderson could also work as Angelique if she was a bit younger.

As far as the whole Crazy Jenny bit, as funny as HBC could be as her, I highly doubt they'll even get to the Quentin Haunting storyline, let alone delve that far into 1897.

Finally, forgive my screw-ups with Vicki's various ages. I couldn't recall that being mentioned anywhere, but had guessed at 18 or so.

I don't have any problem with British actors/actresses playing Americans or vice versa.

Oh, I wouldn't really mind that much if it didn't seem that the way it happened was "American plays British person, accent gets picked apart on forums; British person plays American person, accent gets rabidly praised on forums." Hearing about Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins or Renee Zellweger in Bridget Jones constantly while almost never hearing about Jude Law in Cold Mountain or similar cases gets old really, really fast. And I respectfully disagree with you on Kate Beckinsale, again, not because she's British, but because I think that she's a woman in her thirties and it shows. It would stretch credibility for her to be playing the 18-year-old naive governess fresh out of the orphan shack.

And also, I'm going to backtrack here and change my opinions on a couple of things. As far as Susan Sarandon goes, I've changed my mind. I think she'd be great for the part if she wasn't too old for it, which is another reason I disagree about Helen Mirren. So I'd like to say Gillian Anderson for Elizabeth, not Julia. I hadn't seen it in any photos or films before, or since then for that matter, but I saw a photo of Joan Bennett that looked so much like Gillian Anderson it's scary. So, borrowing previous statements about the cast where I'm happy with it, here's my ideal cast:

Barnabas Collins - Johnny Depp
Dr. Julia Hoffman - Juliet Landau
Willie Loomis - Shia LaBeouf
Victoria Winters - ???? (this one still has me stumped)
Professor Timothy Eliot Stokes - Philip Seymour Hoffman
Elizabet Collins Stoddard - Gillian Anderson
Roger Collins - Kelsey Grammer
Carolyn Stoddard - ???? (Evan Rachel Wood looks the part, but I don't know how well she can act, as I've never seen her in anything)
Burke Devlin - Josh Brolin
Maggie Evans - Emmy Rossum
Angelique - ???? (See Carolyn)
Tony Peterson - Joaquin Phoenix
Sarah Collins - ???? (I don't know any child actors nowadays, and though Abigail Breslin is a good actress, she's the new Dakota Fanning in that she's getting EVERY role for a litle girl)
Nicholas Blair - ????
Sam Evans - ????
David Collins - ???? (see Sarah)
Joe Haskell /Lt. Nathan Forbes --- James Franco
Jason McGuire - Pierce Brosnan
Eagle Hill Cemetery Caretaker - Jonathan Frid
Dr. Dave Woodard - Michael Keaton
Mrs. Johnson /Abagail Collins - ????

I left out my previous suggestion of Keshia Knight-Pulliam for Maggie here because that'd definitely require changing it to Vicki looking like Josette, as a young woman of aristocratic French descent being black would be beyond unbelievable, historically.

I can see the Xbox 360 version going *ding* "Achievement Unlocked: Annoy Elizabeth with Horrible Dates for Carolyn 15 Times."

A dancing mini-game is a funny idea. Even the characters who initially seem the most worthless in video game form drip with potential. Perhaps Sam could let you play mini-games where you have to paint whilst trying to shake off a hangover.

I'll be honest here. I'm a big fan of Tim Burton, and I have most of his movies on DVD. That said, I hate his policy of filming American stories overseas with foreign actors that he started with Sleepy Hollow; there were at least a dozen major and supporting characters in that film, and if I remember correctly, only three were actually played by Americans (Depp as Crane, Christina Ricci as Katrina, and someone else I can't remember at the moment). Granted, this is Dark Shadows, where Quentin from New England speaks with a West Virginia accent, but it annoys me all the same. Also, though I love Burton's brand of dark comedy, I simply don't want that applied to Dark Shadows, at least not in huge amounts. If he films it here with a pinch of his trademark humor, local actors, and a lot of visual flair, I'll be pleased. If he uses a nearly all-British cast and/or overdoes the humor, I'll be disappointed.

However, one Brit I definitely wouldn't mind seeing involved (and if Burton is the director, it's a sure thing) is Helena Bonham Carter. Did anyone else think "Barnabas and Julia" during the wedding bit in Sweeney Todd?

This thread is going in a weird and somewhat frightening direction. XP

I've watched all the Beginning collections out so far to non-MPI subscribers and am loving it. I can't get over the fact that Roger married his grandmother, but that's technically 1897's fault. But anyway, the show had a good deal of sharp wit in the original episodes that they sadly neglected to use later on, when the humor became mostly unintentional via lines like Adam's "I don't like it when men try to handle me" and Barnabas's "When your husband... disturbed me... he was looking for the family jewels..." (notable exception being one of my favorites, from the Leviathan arc, where Julia quite plainly asks Barnabas what else he's had besides a chat with Megan, but I'm going way off-topic here). Carolyn has so much more personality now than she did when she became "the rich girl with the heart of gold." Nutty David and snide, sarcastic Roger are also great. Maggie and Vicki seem mostly the same, but with a few IQ points added (or a few dozen, in Vicki's case). Elizabeth also got her best moments here.

Yes, I meant for filming. And I think that they might have used the same house for the interiors, as well, not just the exteriors.