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

I have the double issue of EW but haven't found the LET THE BUZZ BEGIN section, can you please tell me what page it's on?

There are so many mansions in England that are used for filming. I for one also care that its not done via CGI. I envision a dark mansion whose extensive gardens have seen better days.  

Not that the Daily Star is the most reliable source of information but it does state that JD has already "shipped" his family to a mansion with a wine cellar in the UK.

A wine cellar?  You know, Collinwood really ought to have a wine cellar.

Joeytrom-- p. 76

There are so many mansions in England that are used for filming. I for one also care that its not done via CGI. I envision a dark mansion whose extensive gardens have seen better days.

Ooo, that sounds intriguing.  


Tudor Gothic could be an interesting style to go in for Collinwood, and two different examples that I came across would be these:

Muirhouse Mansion, which, with its turrets, gables and chimneys, is sort of a cross between Lyndhurst and Greystone:

And at night:

And Knebworth House:

And the opposite side, featuring the tower:

And with Knebworth House there's the added bonus of:


A fence/gate with spooky gargoyles.

Its own cemetery on the grounds.

And its own mausoleum, complete with spooky tree.

I could go for Muirhouse.  It resembles Lyndhurst.  

As for the other option, I'd have to decline.  It looks way, way, way too European to be Collinwood.  It looks like a British castle (which, I guess, it is  ).  Muirhouse is pushing it, but because it resembles Gothic Revival houses, I can dig.  

If they do go CGI, they might as well make it the Carey Mansion; otherwise, why bother?  If they go with a real house, something that looks more American would be best.  

Because they'll be using a Britsh mansion if they go with a real house, I was thinking more along the lines of the same sort of backstory for Collinwood that was used for the '91 Series - that Collinwood was originally built in England and then disassembled and moved to America. And Tudor Gothic (which both Muirhouse and Knebworth House are examples) would be a perfect style for that sort of backstory. And even though the movies used a Gothic Revival house, it was supposed to be more of an original Gothic period house, having originally been built in the 1600s and then added to through the years. They fudged on the actual Gothic Revival period because it spanned 1840 to 1880, which would have been too late a period for the movies' Collinwood to have been originally built.

Of course, we have no idea what Collinwood's backstory will be in the Depp/DS film. For all we know it wasn't built until 1950 and it'll be some sort of glass and steel monstrosity (heaven forbid!!  ).

Thank you Midnite!

I actually have grown quite fond of Muirhouse, but Knebworth doesn't do a thing for me - and probably never will.  The grounds are nice.  The building, however, lacks a certain "American" character that the previous houses of Dark Shadows seemed to have.  It's way too British to ever be in America imo, even if it were re-built, which I am hoping it won't be.  I'd like Collinwood to be American-made because it just lends itself so well to the 18th century Collins family attitudes (OS).  Collinsport has always been an anomaly.  For all we know, they could have started the Gothic Revival early.  Fudging a few decades to get an awesome looking house isn't a big problem to me.  Drastically re-envisioning Collinwood would be...  No steel structures, por favor!  

The problem with looking for a house in Great Britain with American character is that it would probably fall into two styles: Georgian or Federal (which was known as Adam in GB) - and frankly, the exteriors of both styles are boring and nothing most of us would associate with a house such as Collinwood. The interiors do have a great deal of character, but neither would be Gothic - and the one thing we do know about Collinwood in the Depp/DS film is that it has "a huge Gothic entrance hall" because such a set has been built at Pinewood studios. So, one needs to find architectural styles in Great Britain whose interiors would feature such an entrance hall. Tudor Gothic houses would, and perhaps a couple other styles. But the thing is most if not all are going to look like English castles, or at least English manor houses like:

Halsway Manor

or

Levens Hall

Changing the subject entirely, I just checked IMDb before planning to shut off my computer and go to bed, and it's looking like the Depp/DS film could certainly be on track to be shot in 3D because a head of 3D services has been added to the Visual Effects Dept. of the film.

Oooh, count me as somebody who LOVES the look and possibilities of Knebworth House!  The cross that's visible on the wall in the second picture shown by MB adds an interesting twist.  Plus I love the possibilities of using the grounds.  Truth be told, though, they could use the grounds of the Knebworth House and an exterior from a house 500 miles away.  Whenever I'm sufficiently familiar with the locations used for filming a movie or TV show, I get distracted by breaches in geography or logic.  There's a TV show that's airing right now called Body of Proof that's currently killing me by screwing up Philadelphia geography, and I had to suspend disbelief in 24 when Jack Bauer could drive from downtown LA to Ontario in 20 minutes. 

To me, Knebworth still looks like a strange cross between the Tower of London and Buckingham palace.  But, that's me...  

Halsway Manor on the other hand would do just fine.  They could add a CGI tower, and we'd be set.  (Yeah, I'm okay with CGI enhancements, but not whole buildings.)  

Another possibility is that they could make a CGI house and just use close, exterior shots of some building in Britain for "outside Collinwood" fare.  Not the best scenario, but a possibility.  

There's only one real Collinwood and it's the Carey Mansion, anything else is a bad fake and so far as I know they're not using it so I really don't care if the new fake is cgi or a matt painting or a still photo.

I prefer Greystone. That's Collinwood to me. Viva la 91 series!!

MB thanks for the breath taking photos. With and without the added special effects the Muirhousehouse could absolutely work as Collinwood. Amazing actually.
The young Barnabas speaks when he may start filming and  hints when his character first appears in the story so I guess this is a spoiler alert.
http://www.movieline.com/2011/04/thomas-mcdonell-on-prom-dark-shadows-and-his-chance-start-in-acting.php