It's official: Dark Shadows returns as a film with Johnny Depp

I seem to recall this place having shown up on this forum before, but I think with a little work it would make a smashing Collinwood for Johnny Depp. I don't like the idea of a CGI Collinwood, which is what I fear they might choose.

It's an abandoned girls' school in Millbrook, New York, I understand.

What a gorgeous-looking place!  Thanks for posting those pics Mark.  That would make a great-looking Collinwood.

I agree. That would be a great step up for the future Collinwood in any incarnation that Dark Shadows could return in. And it really wouldn't take much to fix it up either. Just some face lift type of stuff and with computers they could do wonders to it.

There's been speculation about whether Tim Burton might direct the DS movie: according to zap2it.com., Burton has a two-picture deal with Disney, starting with a 3-D version of Alice in Wonderland: Down the Rabbit Hole for Tim Burton

I'm not sure how this might affect his availability, since we don't exactly know when DS would be going into production.

ProfStokes

Uggg maybe I'm biased but I think DS is way more important than another Alice in Wonderland film or a Frankenweenie remake.

I'm not sure how this might affect his availability, since we don't exactly know when DS would be going into production.

Hmmm - the article makes it seem like Burton could easily be locked into those two projects for two years or even longer given the level an animation that seems to be involved. Before the writers' strike, anyway, there was hope that the Depp/DS film would at least be in production within the next two years (though with the strike it's anyone's guess when it might happen). But if those projects do indeed preclude Burton's participation in the DS film, I can't say I'd necessarily be all that upset because I've already questioned whether or not Burton's quirkiness could be kept in check enough to be compatible with the DS universe...

Having just re-watched the 2005 Phantom of the Opera, I would kind of like to see Joel Schumacher direct.  His Phantom had such a beautiful, sweeping Gothic feel that I think would be perfect for DS.  Just watch the scene of Christine in the cemetery and imagine she's Josette at the Collins mausoleum. 

ProfStokes

Good observation, Prof. When I saw PHANTOM OF THE OPERA a while back, I was struck by the fact that Emmy Rossum might make a mighty passable Josette.

Variety is reporting that the strike has caused Depp's/King's/WB's next movie to be put on hold:

'Shantaram' latest strike casualty

I don't know enough about the business to really know what the impact of this will be, but I have to think it's bad news all around.  Last time Shantaram was delayed, it gave Johnny an opportunity to do Sweeney Todd.  This time, though, he's not going to be able to work on other projects, because of the writer's strike.  So unless I am understanding this wrong, this is going to push back Dark Shadows, too.  Well, I only hope that the writer's strike can be resolved soon.

As for Tim Burton, well, I love him and I love his collaborations with Johnny, but I guess I'm in the camp that feels that Tim doesn't necessarily have to be involved with this one.

Cathy

Good observation, Prof. When I saw PHANTOM OF THE OPERA a while back, I was struck by the fact that Emmy Rossum might make a mighty passable Josette.

OMG I hope not! As a Phantom fan, I feel Joel S. and ALW did a horrible job with the film and Emmy can't really act IMO. I would cringe if either one of them were involved in DS.

I loved the Phantom of the Opera movie, and I do like Emmy Rossum. I don't think she's a bad actress at all, but I do feel that the conflict within the Christine character might have been a bit too much for her. I had issues with her when the film first came out, but I've become a fan of her over time.

I don't think I would cast her as Josette, though. Maybe someone like Natalie Portman.

I wouldn't choose Joel S to direct DS. He was a bit too lavish with Phantom. I think DS should be darker and more subdued.

well 1stly is i LOVE Tim Burton as well, but i don't really care for "Sleepy Hollow" i have it on dvd & all cause Christopher Lee" is in it actually.    anyways, i have a feeling this film won't get into theatres at least until (2009) or perhaps even (2010) cause of the strike. i honestly don't know who i could see being "Barnabas" today. cause since Johnathon Frid is too old. i did LOVE seeing "Ben Cross" as him back in the (1991) version. & let me add is that is what version i 1st saw back than. i think they should re-tell the story buut also don't make it a 90 minute or 100 min movie. 135 minutes or so can be the right time. have the retelling of barnanbas's story
of how he came in our time. & also maybe new stuff? i did like the 1795 idea though. buut ONLY thing that i woudln't want them to do is to leave it on a cliff-hanger cause IF  we have to wait another 2 or 3 yrs. just for the damn thing to get made i'd go nuts. & also

IF the film flopped we'd be stuck with a cliff-hanger. i mean the harry potter films really don't leave ya's on a cliff-hanger, they finish the school year & than go home. & ayuh the story isn't finished by the end of the film. buut it doesn't leave ya's with a cliff-hanger well NOT so much as let's say the "Phantasm" films do. am i right? buut ayuh "Depp" would be good. jut as long as we don't get a perfermance like we did when he did "Charlie & the Choclate Factory" that's ALL I ask. he was TERRIBLE in that. least i think so.

I loved Depp's performance in Charlie. The role called for an off the wall performance. Some people thought it was too off the wall, but I enjoyed it. That says nothing about what he would do with the role of Barnabas, just like it was completely separate from his Jack Sparrow character. That's what makes Depp the best actor out there today, IMO. His ability to transform himself into a different character in every film.

I just saw the trailer for Tim Burton's Sweeney Todd with Depp.
It looks like a creepy, Gothic nightmare!

Oh, it looks FABULOUS.

http://www.sweeneytoddmovie.com/ ... View the Trailer

I was just checking my e-mail and discovered Variety's notice of their review. To say it's glowing would be an understatement. And to say they love Depp's performance would also be an understatement. Here's just the opening paragraph:

Both sharp and fleet, “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” proves a satisfying screen version of Stephen Sondheim’s landmark 1979 theatrical musical. Where much could have gone wrong, things have turned out uniformly right thanks to highly focused direction by Tim Burton, expert screw-tightening by scenarist John Logan, and haunted and musically adept lead performances from Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter. Assembled artistic combo assures the film will reap by far the biggest audience to see a pure Sondheim musical, although just how big depends on the upscale crowd’s tolerance for buckets of blood, and the degree to which the masses stay away due to the whiff of the highbrow. In all events, DreamWorks-Paramount and Warner Bros. have a classy and reasonably commercial delicacy on their hands.

The complete review can be read here: Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

And just two more excerpts. Not exactly being a Broadway musical fan, I found this particularly encouraging:

it will be hard to argue that Burton and his cohorts have not imaginatively reconceived the piece as a work of cinema; strictly in film terms, “Sweeney” is seamless, coherent and vibrant, with scarcely a trace of “Broadway.”

And as far as Depp goes, doesn't this sound very Barnabas-like:

There is deeply buried emotion and charged motivations in both characters that Depp and Bonham Carter consistently express, and the eerie similarity of their looks -- the endlessly dark eyes, cascading black hair, delicate facial structure, sunken cheeks, exaggerated lips, slight stature -- accentuates the characters’ complicity; at one point, they are both so pale, they look like they’ve been done up in whiteface.

A whiff of the highbrow?  It was adapted from an old 1840s penny-dreadful serial and was a huge mass market hit for the bus and tunnel crowd on Broadway way back when.

On the other hand, some powers of ratiocination are required to follow the story so perhaps that does set it somewhat apart.  I wonder whether MacDonald's will run a "Happy Meal" marketing tie-in; something to do with meat pies?  *cackles*

G.