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

Since Tim Burton is a DS fan, I have to wonder why he never casts any of the DS actors in his films.  You'd think some of them would've turned up in his movies over the years.  I'm hoping we get some cameo appearances in the new DS movie.

~Penny~ 

Just a Reminder this is on BBC America tonight, I believe at 10pm.
I live in NYC and Time Warner cable carries the channel, hopefully they do elsewhere.
I'll report on it tomorrow (even if it isn't newsworthy--following in our best/worst journalism practices of the moment) 

This is PROBABLY a stereotype , but this is the kind of thing about a Burton DS that I fret about--- and IMO, rather funny (rated PG for slightly profane):

http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1929453

It's exactly what I've feared as well - but I'm really trying to keep an open mind that, while Burton will certainly touch on some of his favorite themes because they're also a big part of what makes DS DS, he'll abandon a good deal of his quirkiness in favor of giving DS the serious treatment it deserves (though that joke on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross still scares me because that was hardly the way to explain DS to an audience that knows little about what actually makes DS DS ).

Be all that as it may, though, the video IS a hysterically funny parody. 

Thrillsville.  (set in Portland, Maine.)

Willie "Stake and Hammer Hands" Loomis. Trim those hedges, cut that hair, pound a stake into your favorite vampire there. Ha ha!
Perhaps Burton will utilize his memories of art director Jack Otterson's sets from Son of Frankenstein 1939. It would certainly fit his style. Frank Skinner's music wouldn't hurt either.

Video is on YouTube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVJvC42U-WQ

So, apparently, this new take that Burton and Depp are referring to is this:  They aren't going to do a Dark Shadows story, they are going to do a story about the making of the original Dark Shadows, a la Ed Wood.  It's going to be just like that Bewitched remake a few years back...  This is why Burton so happily shared his vision of swarms of flies being thrown at actors.  Now to cast Bennett and Hall...  

 

Just kidding about this...  I think.  I hope...  But it would be interesting, just not what I want to see from a DS remake at least this time around.  Let's hope that that "new take" they are referring to isn't something this drastic.

Julia 99 posted this on her twitter account! Zachary Quinto says he was a DS fan and he thinks Tim and Johnny can pull it off!

http://community.zacharyquinto.com/entry/6a0120a6109cef970c0120a92f9313970b

Here we go again-boy does this look familiar. myentertainmentworld.com posted this yesterday at its website so it looks like one of the production companies is thinking shooting will begin in September. What no Portland? jk

DARK SHADOWS - September, 2010; Details Are only Available By Subscription.. STORY: The film is about Barnabas Collins, a vampire who lives in an isolated manor house in the sleepy seaboard town of Collinsport, Maine. (Posted: March 16, 2010)

Interesting that it was posted yesterday because yesterday I was quite tempted to take advantage of the 14 day trial on IMDbPro to see what the DS listing was saying now. But I talked myself out of it because I figured that details about the film are always changing - so, while what it says now may be accurate now, what's to say it will be next month or the month after? The way things seem to progress, it's probably still too early for anything to be written in stone. Though it's still nice to see that someone believes that production will begin in September. 

What no Portland? jk

Maybe whoever posted the listing simply hasn't gotten the memo about the location change.  

I think you made a good move MB in not using up the free trial at IMDbPro. It is tempting to pull the trigger but you are only allowed that one try. Timing is going to be difficult. I think September is the best case scenario and everything has to go just right for DS to start filming that month. Pirates 4 will have to be completed etc... But I do like the sound of a September shoot and especially in light that it won't be set in Portland-not that there is anything wrong with Portland. jk

What an interesting way to describe the story.  It's a very true description, but not one that would come to mind right away.  It's odd that there aren't any more plot details.  Usually when one thinks of DS, images of chained coffins, lost love, and "arriving at Collinwood" come to mind.  I wonder what, if anything, we can discern from the lack of any of these details.    

I wouldn't read much into it because practically all of the films have such a brief description - some even shorter. I suspect that, like listings in the classified section of a newspaper, they either have to pay per word or they're allotted so many words and then have to pay extra if they go over.

One thing that we might be able to discern from the description, though, is that it seems as if the film is set in the present because that's not how one would expect the story to be described if it was set in the past and was an origin story similar to 1795, which is what some fans have speculated it might be.

That is true, MB.  They probably do have a limited number of words they can use, but the way it's written is just weird.  They could have described the same exact thing with less words:  "The film is about vampire Barnabas Collins who lives in a secluded mansion in a sleepy coastal town."  Maybe they just wanted to confirm that the setting was indeed Collinsport.  ;-)  When I read that description, though, I think something along the lines of A Series of Unfortunate Events, where some kids stumble upon a creepy old house and the reclusive vampire inside.   

And if we are to speculate further using this strange description, we might also be able to assume that this is the only plot detail everyone working on the film has been able to agree upon: 

"Well, we know there is going to be a vampire named Barnabas; and we know he lives in an old house in Portland..."
"Not Portland!  Collinsport!"
"Right.  Collinsport.  And then there is this werewolf ghost..."
"No!  That is in the sequel!"
"Oh.  Right.  So we have a vampire named Barnabas living in an old house in... Collinsport."