Depp/Burton DARK SHADOWS Is In Production!!

[Nancy]

KLS is really annoyed over the piece and sent a letter to the editor.  She posts extensively on her feelings regarding the article on her FB page.

Front page of today's Calendar section of the LA Times:
Undying Quirk  'Dark Shadows' reinterprets a favorite show from its director's and star's youths. As adults, they're having fun with it.

See Reply #3123 for a link to the text of the article on the Times' blog,

[Nancy]

I, for one, understand your point of view even though I don't have that same kind of investment in the original characters and story.  If I have any emotional attachment to the original it is to the people I've met at festivals/conventions over the years and became friends with.  Nothing will detract from my enjoyment of the original.  But I don't have the kind of attachment or emotional investment in any of the characters that prevents me from watching a reworking of the original no matter how out there it may be.  Obviously, not everyone feels the same way.

But to me, DS wasn't like a theatrical epic; it was like the part of my family I never met--the people who were like ME (which nobody else in my real family ever was).  To that extent, I like the publicists' angle about every family having its weirdies or however they're phrasing.

If I walked into a room and saw somebody portraying my Aunt Lillian, and not only that, had the imposter who was supposed to be her running around in a crushed velvet cape with five hundred pounds of pancake makeup, it would be jarring and I wouldn't be able to "just get used to it."  To me, DS is a cast of characters portrayed by Jonathan Frid, Grayson Hall, Joan Bennett et al. as they were 40 years ago.

[Nancy]

Thanks for the great links and the wonderful screen captures!   

[Mysterious Benefactor]

I, for one, understand your point of view even though I don't have that same kind of investment in the original characters and story.  If I have any emotional attachment to the original it is to the people I've met at festivals/conventions over the years and became friends with.  Nothing will detract from my enjoyment of the original.  But I don't have the kind of attachment or emotional investment in any of the characters that prevents me from watching a reworking of the original no matter how out there it may be.  Obviously, not everyone feels the same way.

I understand Gothick's point, too, and I can really empathize with it. And if I was being truthful I would have to admit that I really do have an emotional connection to the original DS and (most of) its characters (I'm not talking about you, Jeff Clark, or you, Jeb Hawkes.  ) Though at the same time I don't believe that any of the original actors are the only ones who can embody any of the characters or that any of the characters and storylines can't be reinterpreted with new and even major twists and turns (I came to truly love Jim Fyfe's Willie in the '91 DS - and he's about as different from the original take on Willie as it can possibly get). I suppose that's why, even though this new film will not be what I might have originally hoped it might have been, I'm still open to what it will turn out to be - and yes, even though in many ways it appears to go quite far afield from what we've come to expect DS to be. And again if I'm being truthful, I would have to admit that I really do love much of what I'm seeing in the trailers and TV spots. And the more I see, the more I'm coming to be won over, and the more I'm coming to love and to be intrigued by. Was I initially disappointed that the new film won't be what I might have originally hoped it might have been? Yes. But I've also come to be excited for the film it might turn out to be - and that despite having few illusions that except for maybe a few sequences here and there it will be the serious take on DS that we're most familiar with. And I'm also not blind to the fact that most often studios put all the best stuff in the trailers or the fact that trailers showcase mere minutes from any film, so I'm also well aware that when I see the final film, it could easily turn out to be quite a disappointment. But I won't be making any decision about what I ultimately feel about the film until after I've actually seen it all for myself.

45 days 12 hours 30 minutes 15 seconds until the day the Depp/Burton Dark Shadows is released(ET)!!

[madscntst]

I had a thought the other day-- I realized that if there is anything I am unhappy about regarding the trailers and TV spots I've seen, it's the music they're using.  Somehow, it's the music that seems a little too flip or something- the actual scenes, jokes and all, look fine to me.  Granted, at least Alice Cooper's No More Mr. Nice Guy will be in the film, though I guess it's going to feel more in context then.  And I think I heard somewhere (maybe here) that Bang a Gong is included in the film, as well.  Don't get me wrong- I love those songs!  But in the context of the film trailer they seem a little much or something.  But maybe with more of Elfman's score (especially if there are nods to Cobert's music) maybe the feel of the movie will start to feel more right to me.

Interestingly, after I started thinking this thought, I went to watch the DVD I rented this past weekend, Young Adult, that had an old trailer for Hugo with it.  I was struck by how *little* I liked the Hugo trailer in comparison with the film itself, and noticed that the trailer didn't have the final score music with it.  For me, the music was so important in conveying the sweet, warm tone of the film.  I guess I'm just very impressionable in how music shapes my feelings.  Hmm.

I'm actually loving the idea of Barnabas sort of skulking around in the background- hanging upside down, shoved into an armoire, etc.  I'm guessing that Johnny had a ball doing that. 

[michael c]

KLS is really annoyed over the piece and sent a letter to the editor.  She posts extensively on her feelings regarding the article on her FB page.

i'm not sure what all the fuss is about. i read the piece and it's not that unflattering. we've all certainly heard worse.

seems like a tempest in a teapot.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

I'm sort of jealous that you've already received your KLS book from Amazon because they didn't ship my copy until today and I supposedly won't receive it until Thursday. Though things often arrive before they tell me they will.

And this was no exception because my copy of the book arrived today. I've only glanced through the photos but I was pleasantly surprised to discover the shot with Michelle Pfeiffer because I'd figured most of the interesting photos associated with the new film had already been circulated on the Internet. And I'm definitely looking forward to reading the section about the new film.

(And I was also pleasantly surprised to discover new NoDS photos as well as many from the '04 pilot. I'm really looking forward to reading those sections as well. Though at this point I don't know what new details I could learn about NoDS - but the section is written by Darren, so if anyone could pull something new out of his hat, it could be him.    And just as a side note to anyone still wondering, the book really does contain loads of completely new and/or different versions of photos from every incarnation of DS. The book is certainly worth it just for the photos alone.)

44 days 9 hours 14 minutes 46 seconds until the day the Depp/Burton Dark Shadows is released(ET)!!

[Cousin_Barnabas]

Discovered this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmUdV6mnF64&feature=player_embedded

Some of it actually works really well...

[Mysterious Benefactor]

I don't know what the intent of that version was, but to me it actually shows that much of the new film version hews to the original.

Thanks for the link, Cousin_Barnabas. 

44 days 8 hours 50 minutes 42 seconds until the day the Depp/Burton Dark Shadows is released(ET)!!

[Cousin_Barnabas]

It does.  Except they had to kill all the Barnabas-Angelique sexy scenes.     Because, after 1795, that didn't happen.  So they had to use Bramwell and Catherine for the final montage instead. 

Still want to know how the new Barnabas justifies that in his own mind.  It will be interesting to see. 

[madscntst]

Thanks for finding that Youtube, Cousin B- that was pretty entertaining!   

[jimbo]

This movie will be nothing like the original series and that is the truth. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/fash-track/johnny-depps-dark-shadows-costumes-bloopers-304723

[KMR]

(In response to the article linked by Jimbo above)

I'm sorry, but I must emphatically take exception to describing the original series as having a "plethora of bloopers ... in very episode" and being "hilarious (in that so bad it's good way)".  This is getting ridiculous.  The production values of DS were the same as for any other soap opera of the era, and the show was very far away from being in the same league as Plan 9 from Outer Space.  Taking a string of bloopers from a series that ran for over 400 hours greatly exaggerates their importance, and in absolutely no way gives a true representation of the typical episode.  "DS is so bad it's good" has simply become the mantra, repeated by people who really have no clue as to what DS is actually like.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

This movie will be nothing like the original series

Though the writer thinks that's a good thing. And I would actually disagree with her take that the film will be nothing like the original because much of what I've seen in the trailers and TV spots is indeed like the '60s TV Series. But it is most probably true that we won't be seeing "the plethora of bloopers – wrong props, bats flitting about on visible wires, falling scenery, muffed dialogue, the crew seen walking through shots, the cast trying in vain to ignore them" in the film, much to some fans' disappointment because many have said that they didn't like the '91 Series because it was missing those things and was too polished. To each their own, I suppose - though I can't say I missed them. 

44 days 4 hours 21 minutes 56 seconds until the day the Depp/Burton Dark Shadows is released(ET)!!

[jimbo]

For the record I also disagree with the writer. As you know I am against this movie as presently constituted.