Depp/Burton DARK SHADOWS Is In Production!!

[neiljohnson]

I just had an interesting thought about the film.  According to the storyline details in the press-release, [spoiler]Barnabas is probably an only child, and has no children of his own.[/spoiler]  So, where does the 1972 Collins family come from?  They must have some ancestors.  It this a flaw in the writing?

[Cousin_Barnabas]

[spoiler]He must have some younger siblings who are yet to be born when they come to the New World.  He would still be Master of Collinwood then.  Though he certainly could have had a child with Josette and that is what sets Angelique off...  [/spoiler]

[neiljohnson]

Wow, a child with Josette.  Never even considered that, but with the new re-writes, anything is possible.

[michael c]

the "present time" collins family was never the offspring of barnabas or any of joshua and naomi's children for that matter...

they're descended from daniel collins of the new york branch of the family. so one can assume that for these purposes the current collins' are similarly descended from some other part of the family i guess.

[Cousin_Barnabas]

You could do that, yes, but for the limited amount of time, I'd hope they would go with a cleaner angle.  After all, what is the point of having [spoiler]Joshua and Naomi coming to the New World[/spoiler] if their relatives are already here in another part of the country?  Then again, it's possible that they kept with the same old story.  But, due to time constraints, figuring out the whole cousins angle seems a little tedious.  HOWEVER, we have to figure out the story Barnabas comes up with for his origins...  That probably plays into this whole thing as well. 

[neiljohnson]

My point, exactly.  Assuming the 1968 ABC-TV storyline (the Daniel heritage) is abandoned -- who are the 1972 Collins family?  And how are they related to Barnabas?

[LdyAnne]

Video games David might be engrossed in these.

In 1972 the only video game David may be into would be Pong we had one and after about an hour
it was boring so I am sure David would be "engrossed" in other things.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Intriguing tweet from Chloe Moretz' brother:

TrevorDMoretz
Watching the most bizarrely brilliant performance from @chloegmoretz directed by #timburton I've ever seen, so fun to be nurtured creatively
2 hours ago

I had a suspicion that she might be shooting today because 8 hours ago she tweeted that it was too early to be up. 

353 days 13 hours 54 minutes 3 seconds until the day the Depp/Burton DARK SHADOWS is released(ET)!!

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Just noticed on IMDb that they've added Neil Swain as a dialect coach. Don't tell me the film is actually going to attempt to have the characters speak in a Maine dialect? That should be interesting...

Also, I see where the film has jumped up to #408 on MOVIEmeter, based mostly on reports that it has begun filming. That jump hasn't translated to many of the actors, though, because, with the exceptions of Depp, Moretz and Heathcote, their rankings have fallen. Heathcote enjoyed the biggest STARmeter jump, from 4,248 to 2,531, but then she has the much lower ranking. Moretz jumped from 121 to 73. And Depp jumped from 12 to 4 - though a great deal of that is naturally attributed to Pirates.

(And I swear I'm not the person who posted on the film's message board about how much they love Stan Hywet Hall and think it's a perfect example of Tudor architecture. (

My Dream Collinwood (or would we really want "purely American" 1790s architecture

) That is simply another person with great taste in houses.    )

353 days 13 hours 20 minutes 27 seconds until the day the Depp/Burton DARK SHADOWS is released(ET)!!

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Oops - I forgot to mention that Jonny Lee Miller's STARmeter rose from 1,500 to 1,374 - but that wasn't based on anything related to DS because news of his casting had yet to come out. It was actually based on some articles about Angelina Jolie (for those who don't know, Miller was once married to her).

It will be interesting, though, to see what his numbers are once his casting in the Depp/DS film are factored in...

353 days 12 hours 39 minutes 31 seconds until the day the Depp/Burton DARK SHADOWS is released(ET)!!

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Perhaps she's done for the day:

ChloeGMoretz
Just got off set @trevordmoretz mom and I cooking a good ol' dinner with #EddieRedmayne
9 minutes ago

353 days 11 hours 35 minutes 42 seconds until the day the Depp/Burton DARK SHADOWS is released(ET)!!

[Mysterious Benefactor]

A recent series of articles that Variety has featured spotlighting Pinewood's 75th Anniversary along with recent discussions here following WB's press release have me thinking about Collinwood in the Depp/DS film again. When I read the release, I didn't take the part that said that the once-grand estate of Collinwood had fallen into ruin to mean that the mansion was in ruins. As others have noted, that sort of phrasing is often part of Gothic plots and most often it simply means that a house has fallen into disrepair and the grounds haven't been kept up and are perhaps overgrown. And also in most cases people are still living in the house - it isn't that it's unlivable. However, that being said, I am very intrigued with the idea that Collinwood could have fallen into such a state that the house is actually unlivable. As others have said, that could certainly solve a problem if there is no Old House because, if the Collins family is living in some other mansion on the estate, Barnabas could move into Collinwood and fix it up. I can even imagine the three hippies alluded to on IMDb inadvertently stumbling into a section of what they think is a deserted house only to find that the house isn't quite as deserted as they thought is was and paying a very large price for trespassing.    The thing about the house being in ruins, though, may mean that the exterior of Collinwood might be completely CGI generated, and I don't know what I think about that. But I do think I could accept a ruined Collinwood in CGI easier than I would a mansion that isn't in disrepair. But I suppose only time will tell because it could very easily be jumping the gun to think that Collinwood of the film will be unlivable in 1972.

But getting back to the Pinewood articles in Variety, one of them (which does mention that DS is currently shooting at Pinewood (The lay of the land) also mentions that Pinewood not only comes complete with its own mansion, called Heatherden Hall, but also formal gardens and a lake. The house isn't quite what I would picture as Collinwood, though parts of it could pass (or it could be used as an exterior or even the interior of the house where the Collinses reside should Collinwood be unlivable), but the gardens could be perfect because there appears to be walkways with gargoyles and fountains and what have you, all of which could be easily dressed down to look like they've seen better days (just as, say, the exterior of Greystone was in the pilot for the '91 Series). And thanks to the article in Variety, I came across this page on Pinewood's own Web site: Location Filming. Simply scroll down and click on the photos in the "Heatherden Hall (exterior)" and "Pinewood Formal Gardens & Lake" sections. And as an added bonus, in the "Black Park" section there's also a cemetery with really old gravestones that looks like it could be a perfect location for the Depp/DS film. (There's also another mansion (Littleton House) in the Shepperton Studios Locations section, but there's been no mention of the Depp/DS film also utilizing Shepperton Studios Locations, so I'm disregarding what's there.)

Also speaking of Collinwood, there's been speculation on IMDb that a recent photo that's been posted to Flickr could be showing the construction of a Collinwood facade set. It's way too early in the construction as depicted to really know what they're building, but it's an interesting theory. Here's a link to the photo in question: Dark Shadows Film Set - 2 (those Gothic windows coud perhaps be a part of Collinwood - or they could be a part of a church for all we know ). (And there's also an even more obscure photo: Dark Shadows Film Set - 1.)

Let the speculation continue...

353 days 8 hours 51 minutes 6 seconds until the day the Depp/Burton DARK SHADOWS is released(ET)!!

[borgosi]

I just wanted to add that if the movie were set in 2011, I'm sure that a Willie of 2011 would be able to put together a BS internet profil for Barnabas, it isn't that hard. Also, I know real people that you can do a search on and get nothing.

Oh, and Barnabas could give Josette a ringtone to remind her of him. I think we all know what it would sound like.

It could be done, is all I'm saying.

[michael c]

i thought the film had already started shooting?

how is it that the sets are still in such an early stage? if filming's begun i'd think they'd be complete or very close to it.

[borgosi]

I don't know but I think that some sets could be used early on in the filming and other sets could be used later. Maybe some sets are completed and they are filming on those and later they will film on other sets. They may ever have to complete all filming on some sets in order to strike those and build others.

I'm just saying.