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

A)  Who is Mrs. Johnson?

We don't even know if there is a Mrs. Johnson in the film.

I went over to watch shooting.  And what did I see/hear?  Well, I saw them practicing the first scene in which Michelle Pfeiffer is on the Collinwood set.  She looked great in a long flowing black evening gown, but I didn't like what I heard.  She was singing: "I'm creeping, crawling down the stairs in Collinwood Mansion.  I'm creeping, crawling down the stairs to see who's at the door..."

It was horrifying - but really funny at the same time.  Needless to say, Burton had turned DS into a musical

Now you know what it was like when I had my dancing/singing skeletons and clowns dream.    Though while I was having it, there wasn't anything funny about my dream.

The Mrs. Johnson problem needs to be fixed.  She is the glue that holds this show together. 

Exactly!  That's why I had to share.  Funny how we all have dreams about singing and dancing.  We all know that the only way we would have that is if Buzz were in this film...   

I think Johnny did mention once that he was in a sauna when he was dreaming up the Jack Sparrow character, because he was thinking of the guy getting a bit of heat stroke on a ship on the seas, hence the wobbly walk.  I don't know if it's a general thing, though  

For what it's worth, I am watching a live stream of the Moscow press conference right now (7:30 a.m. Eastern time) and sure enough, the question of the sauna came up.  He confirmed that he has thought up "a couple" of his characters there- "there's something about the sensory deprivation."  He didn't specify which ones, though.  No questions about DS yet- it's pretty much all about Pirates.  The stream is here, but I don't know how much longer it'll last.

http://www.livestream.com/piratespremiere

^^^yes, it's over already- less than 40 min. for the press conference, and no DS content    But there really weren't many questions asked, because of the language barrier and the time for translations, etc.

Here is my thought on what Johnny recently said.  When the studio execs saw how he was playing Captain Jack Sparrow they were horrified and thought he acted like a gay pirate. He convinced them to let him continue playing Jack his way and look what we have now;  a fourth movie and a franchise which has made probably at least a billion dollars.  So I am going to give him the benefit of the doubt until he proves me otherwise.  And I am sure that will be after I see the movie!

Thanks so much for reporting on the Moscow press conference, madscntst.  


Changing reels:

I was just over on Bella Heathcote's Twitter account looking to see if she'd tweeted anything about being in London, but nothing yet.

I'm really surprised that there hasn't been a peep out of Bella Heathcote on Twitter considering that she'd tweeted a few times about how excited she was about going to London. However, and I hope it isn't the case, but perhaps she didn't actually go to London when she was expecting to, or if she did, she isn't feeling well enough to fool around with Twitter because last week she'd also tweeted that she was sick - and she hasn't tweeted a thing since the 7th. But maybe it's just that she's been too busy to tweet...

If she is too sick or too busy to tweet, though, that's too bad because I suspect this week might turn out to be when we're going to get the most interesting tweets about the film that we're likely to get. Once shooting actually begins, everyone is going to be bound by Burton's confidentiality agreement, so there won't be much they'll be allowed to tell us. Well, beyond things like "I met/worked with Johnny Depp today" or "I shot a great scene today that I can't say anything about".    At least costume fittings and hair and make-up discussions sound interesting before shooting actually begins.  

From IMDb, someone posted a pic of Johnny in Moscow- check out what he's carrying in his right hand!!

Very nice. You've said that Depp often does something like that to prepare for his characters - and there's the proof!    Thanks for sharing. 

I wonder if that's the actual prop he'll use in the film? Time will tell...

I wonder if that's the actual prop he'll use in the film? Time will tell...

That would be my guess.  He's a prop lover, and he's producing, so nobody is going to deny him permission to take it with him     It doesn't look to me like a replica from the series- in fact, hard to tell at this size, but the wolf's head doesn't look silver to me  (Maybe he won't need to come across any werewolves in this film, lol).  There is some carving or decoration a few inches down the straight portion, so we can see if that will be in the film version. 

The wolf's head on the cane looks like it's supposed to be made of ivory. Actually, I think I like it better than the original silver one.

Here it is in motion- a quick glimpse of Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem, followed by Johnny and the cane

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3CZ6nKNhf0

Very nice madscntst-thanks for sharing. Interesting they are not going with the silver but they must have their creative reasoning to go with the ivory like finish.

Nice to see something from the film that looks terrific other than the cast.  Great new take on the cane.  Very ornate. 

He looks terribly gaunt.

It must be the way the photo was taken because he doesn't look that gaunt in the photos from the other premiers last week.