Depp/Burton DARK SHADOWS Is In Production!!

[borgosi]

arashi - Try to find the movie "What's up Tiger Lily?" It's very easy to do. Now try and find the movie "International Secret Police: Key of Keys", good luck. The second movie is a Japanese action film. The first is the same movie re-dubbed by Woody Allen. It's about a secret egg salad recipe. I have no idea if it was any good in it's original format but that's kinda the point.

[jimbo]

Stuart's take on the trailer debate: http://darkshadowsnews.blogspot.com/2012/03/seeing-funny-side-dark-shadows-trailer.html

MB I guess we will never know the true results of the test audience.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Stuart's take on the trailer debate

I agree with him. But I suppose that's not a surprise given what I've been saying since we've seen the first trailer.

MB I guess we will never know the true results of the test audience.

Maybe not. But I think we can pretty much deduce from the various reports about the test screening that have mentioned the audience's reaction while watching the film that on a whole they seemed to have enjoyed it. So, chances are Seth Grahame-Smith wasn't misrepresenting that reaction.

I've not seen this scene in the context of the movie - you have - and I would have to agree with you on this point.  Definitely seems a little odd.

I've bemoaned the Barnabas/Angelique/tongue scene elsewhere.  It struck me as way over-the-top and was something I would have expected from an Austin Powers movie.

But you know what's interesting - and because on previous viewings I was only paying attention to the trailer itself so it's something that I didn't really take notice of until today when I watched Ellen again (to check out something about how the trailer was shown on her show) - the Angelique/Barnabas/serpentine tongue licking sequence got a big laugh from Ellen's studio audience.

52 days 4 hours 36 minutes 56 seconds until the day the Depp/Burton Dark Shadows is released(ET)!!

[borgosi]

Maybe JD can do a series of films ( two or three of each type ) where in he put Jack Sparrow in different classic movie types. Sparrow as vampire, Sparrow as cowboy, Sparrow as spacehero, could be fun!

[ShadowsAtlanta]

All hysterics and hyperbole aside, it seems very likely at this point that this trailer is doing what it appears to be doing: promoting the latest in a parade of pandering, lowest-common-denominator remakes that are high on budget but low on intelligence, drama, or thoughtful humor.  Really, anyone who's seen Burton's "Alice in Wonderland" shouldn't be too surprised. 

I'm sure I'll end up seeing this because, hey, it's Dark Shadows.  But I'm definitely managing my expectations.

[Cousin_Barnabas]

Interesting that Graham-Smith says the test screening went over great. I wonder if that's the official result or simply his own general impression because, as per ProfStokes' observations, it appeared that much of the audience was into it?

I've heard audience reaction was generally positive. 

In regards to the trailer doing its job, it did.  Number 6 on IMDB.

[michael c]

a couple notes on today...

when i arrived at work this morning people who had seen the trailer over the weekend approached me with what almost amounted to as condolences. as if someone had died. they seemed nonplussed when i replied that i really wasn't upset about it.

the 'chevy' joke fell flat all around.

and another observation i hadn't though of was someone said it reminded them of 'the witches of eastwick'. i haven't seen that in many years. does that like a valid comparison to anyone?

[Cousin_Barnabas]

I don't understand why fans throw around the word "betrayal" like that.  Rationality is seldom rewarded, I guess.  And the movie could not have been done without the wholehearted support of the Curtis estate.  Intellectual property is meant to be purchased and used.  If this movie turns out to royally suck, nothing bad happens to the original or the revival.  It's just another movie that sucks.
... is this new DS movie somehow worse because it has more humor in it?  Might be a parody?

I kind of understand the position of people who feel "betrayed."  My interpretation of their plight has nothing to do with Burton/SGS/Depp doing their own thing with the property, though.  It has more to do with the fact that Depp and others had been saying things that seemed to please the fans, making certain fans (myself included) inclined to believe their film would be a Gothic Thriller with some trademark Burton comedy.  I was not prepared for the kind of trailer I saw.  So, I think fans who use the term betrayed should use the word "duped" instead. 

I cannot speak for these people who throw about the word "betrayed" (just based on a trailer), but I can speak for myself in regards to the "duped" statement.  I openly admit that I feel duped, but it's not really the studio's fault.  It's mine.  I held onto certain statements and ideas and a firm belief in Depp/Burton (having been fans and all) of staying true in "tone" - something Burton always touted he was trying to get right.  What I brushed off were reports of the film being "funny" and "very funny."  And that is solely my fault.  I wanted to believe that the tone would be in-line with the original's intended tone, not its tone as perceived by Burton.  I was prepared for the fish-out-of-water comedy.  And because I was prepared for that, I enjoyed it.  I just wasn't prepared for "boob jokes" and vampire toothbrushes, and it's that type of humor that has caused me to feel duped... by myself. 

I blame no one but myself for that.  In the end, I hope that that type of comedy is toned down (or at least doesn't expand beyond what is in the trailer - Heck, they can ramp up the Barnabas fish-out-of-water stuff, and I'd be okay with it) and that the new film does get the "gothic" tone right.  I have come to terms that this film will be funny, but I really would like the comedy to simply be one component of the whole, rather than the whole.    If it isn't, well... it isn't.  There's nothing I can do about it then.  But, in the meantime, I can hope that the final cut has a different tone from the trailer... despite that it probably won't.  So, I won't feel duped again if it doesn't. And I will be pleasantly surprised if it does.   

[michael c]

interesting observation...

as i said earlier i can't muster a grand sense of "betrayal" but a considerable amount of double-talk has been employed by those involved for months. "duped" might be an apt term for it.

that said we have been hearing the word "funny" tossed around since day one. countless times in fact and many of us chose to mishear it or "reinterpret" it to our own liking. it's still happening.

we'll see.

[Phil]

I think we agree with each other, MS - without the new creative bood, this would be the same old junk with no indigenous spark. Like it or not, this will be the first true re-interpretation to hit screens.

Now, I am NOT in the least suggesting the original series is worthy of being compared to Shakespeare, but Macbeth is one of my favorites, and I love Polanski's film, Kurosawa's Throne of Blood, and Scotland, PA, all appealing to me for their differences as much as their similarities.

[Brandon Collins]

I cannt believe no one has pointed this out yet, but in regards to certain fans feeling betrayed by the new film and feeling that this film betrays Dan Curtis' original vision, perhaps Barnabas himself sums it up the best in what is one of his most famous lines....

"You've betrayed me!!!!"

Cue the music.

[petofi]

Yes-  "Betrayal" being part of the sometimes sanguine (pun intended) melodrama of TOS, the movies, and 1991, it's no surprise the concept would find its way into discourse on these boards.   

Petofi

[Nancy]

I suppose I am more surprised at the willingness to judge what a two hour plus movie will be based on the trailer, scenes and sound bites which are taken completely out of context.  The best visual shots and lines are always featured in a trailer but, again, without any sense of where those scenes and lines fit into the overall film.  For me, it's too earlier to feel duped or betrayed.  We haven't seen the damn thing yet.  My sense is that it will be creepy with humor.  I like that kind of movie as long as humor doesn't outweigh the creepy.  I hope I like it but if I don't, well . .  I will manage to go on somehow.

I kind of understand the position of people who feel "betrayed."  My interpretation of their plight has nothing to do with Burton/SGS/Depp doing their own thing with the property, though.  It has more to do with the fact that Depp and others had been saying things that seemed to please the fans, making certain fans (myself included) inclined to believe their film would be a Gothic Thriller with some trademark Burton comedy.  I was not prepared for the kind of trailer I saw.  So, I think fans who use the term betrayed should use the word "duped" instead.

[PennyDreadful]

My uncle Valdemar, the one who introduced me to DS many moons ago, watched the trailer and was very unhappy and disappointed with it.   

I think Cousin_Barnabas nailed it with the description of feeling "duped."  Burton and Depp both claimed they were fans and that they wanted to get it "right."  Based on the trailer alone, it seems their idea of doing it right is spoofing it and pointing out the absurdity of the situations.  Of course, this might be WBs marketing strategy and there is likely more to it than what we see.  I plan to wait and watch the film, and then will give my thoughts on it, perhaps via a PD video.   Honestly though, even if those comedy sequences comprise a small portion of the film I just don't see how they can maintain any sense of terror and dread in the movie with the wacky hijinks in there.  I really wish Guillermo Del Toro made this film.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

I don't honestly feel betrayed or duped - if anything I feel confused. And the current reason for that is that despite several people describing what they saw at the test screening as a comedy, there are still denials coming from people closely involved with the film and others, with them saying that it isn't a comedy. Just within the past few days such denials have come from Seth Grahame-Smith, Richard Zanuck, Tim Burton, Fangoria's editor-in-chief Chris Alexander, and even David Selby. It's like two different films exist and each camp is seeing a different version.

For the record, though, the word "funny" hasn't always been associated with the film. As I posted a few weeks ago:

back in January '08 Jim Pierson remarked in an article on the MPI Web site about how Barnabas coping with the modern world be featured in the film and it was something they had planned to do had the '04 pilot gone to series. And while he didn't use the word "funny," he did imply that there would be humor to it in the film. But I seem to recall that the first time the word "funny" was used was when Richard Zanuck used it in May '10, which not incidentally was before Seth Grahame-Smith became involved with the film (he wasn't brought on board until July)

The forum posts that detail our first surprise at that description start here:

Zanuck:  "...it'll be very funny..."  Whoa, that's news to me!

Though in the same interview (which is linked to in the post previous to that one) Zanuck also said that the film "won't be high camp, obviously" and "it will be scary."

Burton and Depp both claimed they were fans and that they wanted to get it "right."  Based on the trailer alone, it seems their idea of doing it right is spoofing it and pointing out the absurdity of the situations.  Of course, this might be WBs marketing strategy and there is likely more to it than what we see.

If we can go by everything that's still being said, there would seem to be more to it than what we're seeing in the trailer. However, there is no doubt that Burton and Depp enjoy spoofing DS and pointing out the absurdity of its situations and they haven't kept that fact a secret because all one need do is watch the videos from their appearance on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross to see it. Initially that interview frightened me to all hell - but I put those fears aside as others and more significantly Depp made more reassuring comments. But apparently the attitude toward DS that they expressed on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross is just as much a part of the film as those reassuring comments might be. And I've come to make my peace with that and am still trying to keep an open mind.

51 days 12 hours 59 minutes 23 seconds until the day the Depp/Burton Dark Shadows is released(ET)!!