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

[jimbo]

The Director of the Lone Ranger seems to believe that the DS movie is going to take up most of 2011 pushing back his movie to 2012. Gore stated that the Lone Ranger will be Depp's next project after DS. I didn't think the DS movie will be an incredibly long shoot and if the DS movie actually begins filming in April I don't see why the Lone Ranger can't shoot later this year.

http://www.slashfilm.com/gore-verbinski-talks-the-lone-ranger-bioshock/

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Something just dawned on me: Across the Universe features a sequence with dancing clowns ("Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite")! OMG - could that mean that Burton wants Bruno Delbonnel for the Depp/DS film because he was able to show off dancing clowns to perfect advantage in the past and he fully expects Delbonnel to do it again?! OH NO!! 

 


Changing reels and getting serious, I just noticed something that I wasn't aware of: beyond her talent, there would seem to be a really good reason why Eva Green is being considered and just might be playing the role of Angelique - the new version of Camelot, in which she stars, is the first venture for the new TV arm of GK Films, one of the production entities involved with the Depp/DS film. Apparently Graham King was so impressed by Green's work in Camelot that he believes she could be a great Angelique.

And speaking of GK FIlms, one of the many reasons I can't wait for the Depp/DS film to get underway is that we should be getting some great stuff via the GK Films Web site because it often features things like photos, trailers, posters and behind the scenes info for its films.

On the other hand, the Web site for Depp's Infinitum Nihil seems to simply consist of an opening page and nothing more. What's up with that?

[Mysterious Benefactor]

And by casting news, MB means finding out who the heck this Heathcote girl is playing!

Honestly I was thinking more along the lines of casting news on some of the other roles.    But the answer to that question is certainly up there as well. Right now it *seems* like she might be playing Vicki as an amalgam of Vicki and Maggie. But who knows...  

[Mysterious Benefactor]

The Director of the Lone Ranger seems to believe that the DS movie is going to take up most of 2011 pushing back his movie to 2012. ... I didn't think the DS movie will be an incredibly long shoot and if the DS movie actually begins filming in April I don't see why the Lone Ranger can't shoot later this year.

In this article (which is based on interviews done during the recent press junket for Rango that madscntst alerted us to) Verbinski states: "It's looking more and more like next year because Johnny is doing Dark Shadows but that movie is going to take a tremendous amount of prep."

Interesting...

Check out: EXCLUSIVE: Gore Verbinski and Johnny Depp Talk Lone Ranger

(It would have been much better from our POV if the article had been entitled "EXCLUSIVE: Johnny Depp Talks Dark Shadows" - but apparently that's not what the interviewer at MovieWeb was interested in...)

[jimbo]

Depp states in this interview he does not plan on straying too far from Jonathan Frid's portrayal of Barnabas.

http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2011/02/14/johnny-depp-dark-shadows/

[Mysterious Benefactor]

I really like hearing this: "There’s something about this vampire coming back after 200 years into this modern world, with a touch of the poetic, with maybe a tendency to maybe wax a little poetic now and again," he mused. If that's how Barn is written in the script - and from Depp's remark, that would certainly appear to be the case - then I'll be quite happy.

And it's definitely those "couple of different touches here and there" that will help Depp to make Barn his own. I'm really looking forward to his take.

Thanks for posting the link, jimbo. 

[madscntst]

Ah, great, I just saw this MTV interview in my news alerts, and I scampered over here to make sure it'd been posted here.  As always, jimbo's got it covered!  I love hearing Johnny speak with such respect about Frid, and I also love hearing that he feels that Barnabas is "poetic".  You can tell that he really feels very deeply about the character!

Until this snippet, I'd been a little bummed that we haven't heard more talk about DS yet in these press interviews (though it's still early- the interviews have taken place over the last few days, but sometimes it takes a few days for them to trickle out).  However, remember that Gore at least will only be able to talk about The Lone Ranger, since he's not involved with DS.  So hopefully when some more one-on-one interviews with Johnny come out, hopefully they'll be asking him more about DS.

So, it's interesting that MTV says that Bella is Victoria, though they still may just be repeating what they've read...

Cathy

[Cousin_Barnabas]

It is extremely good to hear that Barnabas will be very recognizable.  Hearing Johnny speak of Frid with such admiration was so refreshing.  Let's hope he keeps the bangs.   

[Mysterious Benefactor]

You can tell that he really feels very deeply about the character!

Yes, that is a wonderful thing and really bodes well for the film.    Though the more I think about it, the most I suspect that Depp probably didn't do himself any favors by remarking that his performance as Barnabas won't stray very far from Frid's because that's a perfect setup for the contingent of Frid's fans who believes no one can play Barnabas but Frid. Sure, they were going to come after Depp anyway - that's a given - but now they're going to be armed with the notion that Depp will be sticking closely to Frid's interpretation, so every little thing that Depp might do that can be perceived by them as something Frid would not have done will be that much more magnified because Depp said he won't stray very far from what Frid did. They're not going to simply interpret Depp's remark, as, say, our own Cousin_Barnabas did, to mean that Depp's Barnabas will be very recognizable. And a defense that one needs to realize that naturally Depp wouldn't play scenes as Frid might have because Depp would want to make the role of Barnabas his own will be hard to make fly with them because Depp has said he won't stray very far from Frid's performance.

Though, of course, in the grand scheme of things that remark from Depp isn't going to matter much outside of fandom because we fans of the original DS aren't the target audience for the film. We're but a minute faction of the audience they're hoping to attract and need to attract for the film to be successful. And the actual target audience will not be dissecting  Depp's every expression and gesture and comparing it to what Frid might have done like that contingent of Frid's fans in all probability will...

Until this snippet, I'd been a little bummed that we haven't heard more talk about DS yet in these press interviews

Sadly, more reports seem to be focused on Justin Bieber's surprise appearance than they are with anything Depp had to say.  

[jimbo]

I keep on going back to what DS producer Richard Zanuck had to say last May http://www.movieweb.com/news/exclusive-producer-richard-zanuck-talks-dark-shadows-delays  “One of the problems we’ve had with the script is that there are hundreds of episodes of this and boiling it down to an hour and a half or two hour movie with one story has been a real challenge and that’s what we are doing now. But it will have all of the elements of the TV show. It won’t be high camp, obviously. It won’t be soap opera, which the show was. No, it will be scary, it’ll be very funny and it will carry the Tim Burton stamp of uniqueness.” Of course things most likely changed with the new script and writer but it is encouraging to read that Depp is not going to turn this into a comedic act. I wonder if Depp was ever asked if he saw Ben Cross' portrayal of Barnabas. I would be curious to hear what he thought of his interpretation of Barnabas. I hope Depp speaks more about the movie.
OT the Google alerts are no longer being sent in real time or as it happens. It seems there can be at least an hour delay up to 24 hours after an article has been posted on the web. It is now hit or miss.

[jimbo]

New article about possible casting.
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/blogs/heat-vision/michelle-pfeiffer-talks-reteam-tim-99678

[Sara Monster]

Wow, after Depp, this is the first casting choice I really like.

Just they MUST give her dark hair! But besides that, she has that ageless beauty quality to her that would make her a perfect Liz.

[jimbo]

I thought she would be good for the Julia role but that was until I read this. http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2011/02/15/dark-shadows-helena-bonham-carter-michelle-pfeiffer/ I guess the NY Times was right after all but it may have been an easy guess.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

It's funny that yesterday I was reading some site where someone had suggested Michelle Pfeiffer for Liz and my reaction was that we should be so lucky. I wonder if it was by pure chance that they pulled out her name or if they knew something beforehand. However, I was reading so many different sites that I honestly don't recall how many days ago the post was made or even what site it was on, so I probably can't go back and check. But regardless, this is great news!  

Also, for those who were surprised by Jackie Earle Haley's lack of hair in the pictures they've seen of him, here's a capture from last week's season finale (possibly even series finale) ep of Human Target:

I'm pretty sure he wears a wig in the show - but it's a fairly good wig...

[Mysterious Benefactor]

I guess the NY Times was right after all but it may have been an easy guess.

So much for HBC's denials.    But then we do have cut her some slack if she really was already aware that she would be playing Julia (as opposed to Julie  ) because she could have easily been under strict orders from Burton, if not from the producers and perhaps even Warner Bros., not to say anything until they deemed the time was right, which is apparently now.