Depp/Burton DARK SHADOWS Is In Production!!

[Cousin_Barnabas]

I am so glad that someone posted this on the Internet...

Hear the complete "Widows' Hill" here:

http://soundcloud.com/timburden/movie-magic-dark-shadows-and

It is so lushly beautiful.  There's a lot of John Williams in this piece.  Can you hear his Dracula score? 

[jimbo]

The way things are being played out there will be no sequels. I'm actually hoping for a new small screen series. NON-WB this time.

[Cousin_Barnabas]

The only thing I am saying is that I believe this movie is going to be very weird in terms of how it ends.  You need only look at the score tracks to know that.   

[borgosi]

Remember this IS Dark Shadows. There could do a sequel and tell us this entire happened in PT time. Barnabas or someone else could go back and time and try to prevent this story from happening. It wouldn't be outside the world of DS.

[Uncle Roger]

Well, if Superman can make time go backward to save Lois Lane, then it should be child's play for Barnabas to do the same.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

I was just finally watching Friday's Ellen and they promoted that Johnny Depp will be on in May. And I could be wrong - and I'm sure madscntst will correct me if I am - but I don't think Depp has ever been on the show before. Though considering Ellen is produced by WB TV and the show premiered the first trailer, I suppose it's not a surprise that he'll be on the show to promote DS.

And I agree, borgosi and Uncle Roger - anything is possible in the DS universe. 

18 days 3 hours 30 minutes 56 seconds until the day the Depp/Burton Dark Shadows is released(ET)!!

[madscntst]

I was just finally watching Friday's Ellen and they promoted that Johnny Depp will be on in May. And I could be wrong - and I'm sure madscntst will correct me if I am - but I don't think Depp has ever been on the show before.

Nope, he never has!  He did the old Rosie show several times, Oprah once, and of course both Leno and Letterman multiple times.  Even Arsenio back in the day.  But not Ellen, and I think it'll be a great fit!  (Not that I ever watch Ellen, unless I'm home sick from work or something, but I just like her laid-back banter and think it'll be fun.  I did hear that he'd be on, but I haven't heard of a date yet, so hopefully we'll know soon!

[verusselle]

Eva Green will be the lead guest on Jimmy Kimmel Live on Wednesday May 2 according to The Late Night TV Page - Talk Show Guest Listings http://www.interbridge.com/lineups.html
This site also has advance guest lists for four of the major daytime talk shows including Ellen and could be useful in the coming weeks.

[ProfStokes]

Time to play catch-up!

If you had seen the film after having seen the trailer, would you have been more receptive to it?  I think a lot of us lowered expectations after seeing that trailer.  Having now seen and having coming to terms that this will have a lot of comedy, would you be pleasantly surprised by the final product or still as disappointed?

First of all, I had no interest in seeing the movie even before any of the photos or trailers appeared.  If I had seen the trailer as a naive viewer, I probably would have been so horrified by the campy, spoofy tone that I would have wanted to go into seclusion until after the movie's theater run had ended to avoid being exposed to the publicity and the fan furor surrounding it. I certainly would not have been interested in seeing a DS comedy. Granted that what I saw was not a final cut of the film, and that there certainly were things that I liked about the movie, I still didn't care for the product as a whole either as a representation of DS or as a movie on its own merits.  I'm not sure how the final version might be an improvement.

Based on the AintitCool review, it does sound like there may have been significant changes to the film.  For example, [spoiler]this review and the movie plot descriptions posted elsewhere (e.g., imdb) describe Barnabas as a stuck-up womanizer.  However, none of that was apparent to me from the all-too-brief prologue and without the studio-issued plot summary, I would not have guessed that was the person the character was supposed to be.  Perhaps the final cut has added some scenes to flesh out the prologue? 

I agree with the reviewer's assessments of the characters. Haley's Willie Loomis is very different from Karlen's portrayal, but he was still one of my favorite characters in the movie, after Elizabeth and Vicki.  Chloe Grace Moretz plays moody, hostile teenage Carolyn (think of how the character acted in the pre-Barnabas storyline) very believably; I simply don't care for moody teenagers, so her character, though well-played, didn't do anything for me.  I didn't feel any special bond between her and Barnabas either (unlike the interactions between Barnabas and David), so either Derek has a different perception than I do, or more scenes were added to the film.[/spoiler]

Mysterious Benefactor, I enjoyed reading the blurb you posted about Sleepy Hollow.  While I agree that it has some funny scenes (moments of humor primarily derived from tension over the situations the characters are in), I have never thought of this movie as a "funny comedy" so Depp's description of it as such was surprising.

I did attend Seth Grahame-Smith's panel at the Festival of Books this morning and hope to have a summary ready to post tomorrow.

ProfStokes

[Cousin_Barnabas]

Thanks so much for the response, ProfStokes.  I really do appreciate it.  I want to enjoy this movie, because it has been so long since we've seen anything new from the realm of Dark Shadows.  I want it to be respectful to the original and to get the tone somewhat "right."  I am glad that you agree with the AICN article in some respects.  And I am glad you enjoyed those characters, as those are some of my favorites.  The one character you mention that you didn't seem to enjoy doesn't bother me that much, as I never really cared for this particular reinvention either.  (I've always been a fan of the original take on her, but subsequent ones have fallen into the category of "She's just there" and "I don't really need to care about her in this version of the story.")

Well, it's only a few weeks now and I will finally get to be pleasantly surprised or somewhat disappointed.  Thanks again for taking the time to respond so thoughtfully.   

[usffan]

There are now so many instances of Dark Shadows commercials appearing on television (examples from last night included the Fox 25th Anniversary special and during the airing of The Dark Knight) that I don't typically take notice, but I did notice scenes that I haven't seen before, including one where Barnabas talks about how the Collins family is known for holding the biggest balls (yes, I'm aware of the double entendre).  There's also a scene where Elizabeth is in the foreground shuddering, presumably after an interaction with Angelique (who appears in the background to be talking with Barnabas). 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

I haven't seen that one yet - and I didn't record either of those. But hopefully it will show up during another program this week - or on YouTube...

Though for all I know I may already have a recording of it during a show that I haven't watched yet...

Thanks for the heads up. 

17 days 10 hours 52 minutes 7 seconds until the day the Depp/Burton Dark Shadows is released(ET)!!

[usffan]

Happy to help.  I was still feeling a bit guilty of pointing out the appearance during college basketball games only to have them "take a day or two off" and stop airing them.   

In that latest commercial, Roger responds to Barnabas' line about big balls with something akin to "not THAT'S what I'm talking about!"  So, in other words, there's still more humor waiting to be played out...

[Mysterious Benefactor]

I was still feeling a bit guilty of pointing out the appearance during college basketball games only to have them "take a day or two off" and stop airing them.   

There's no need to feel bad about that.    You can't mind read when the TV spots are going to show up. If only you could. 

17 days 10 hours 35 minutes 24 seconds until the day the Depp/Burton Dark Shadows is released(ET)!!

[usffan]

I had meant to mention that I had the occasion to attend the 40th anniversary celebration of the Oakland Athletics World Series win from 1972 this weekend at the Oakland Coliseum.  They played music that came out in 1972 between innings.  Several songs that we've heard from the commercials and trailers appeared, though enough other ones that weren't featured (like Yes' Roundabout, Led Zeppelin's Stairway to Heaven and America's Horse With No Name all come to mind) made me a bit wistful about what could have been instead of using things like Barry White's You're The First, The Last, My Everything, which didn't come out until 1974.