Depp/Burton DARK SHADOWS Is In Production!!

[borgosi]

I can only comment on what is being said about the film. If I come across as being negative then so be it but I'm not going to lie and say that I'm for something or that I like something when I don't. If the "masters" of this board only want "yes" people here I will leave. They need to just tell me that.

I have always said that I want this to be a great film and I still do. I will not support a film call "Dark Shadows" if I wouldn't know it to be based on it if the title was different. More over I think this movie should be close enough to the original that we would get pissed off if it were released with a different title. I want it to be fresh but I don't really want a Groovy 70's vampire movie. I want a great Dark Shadows movie that fans of can go watch the original and enjoy the original as much as we do, not wonder how they got one from the other.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Interesting tweet from Phirm FX Garage (which is apparently a small family run business that mostly offers car accident repairs and body repair services):

kayleaphirmfx
Morning #Farnham can finally reveal that we have been working on 2 car for the new Johnny Depp / Burton film #Dark Shadows. www.phirmfx.com
5 hours ago

BODYMagUK
@kayleaphirmfx Any pics?
4 hours ago

kayleaphirmfx
@BODYMagUK Unfortuntely not untill film is out may next year!! wouldnt want to ruin the surprise #darkshadows #farnham www.phirmfx.com
3 hours ago

It would seem like they've spruced up some old cars for the film. And at this point I would have even settled for photos of cars as the first official photos from the film. But it's not to be... Though it would be a hoot if that car that was on the Collinwood set was one of them.  

(And speaking of "official" photos, one new Web site post about the Collinwood set seems to have the impression that the four photos that are currently circulating all over the Web are "official" photos. Don't know where they got that impression because mostly all the other sites are clearly saying they're photos taken by fans. But, of course, we know how often times things get embellished as they pass down the line. Apparently now it's not just saying the photos are the "first" images of the set...  )

311 days 12 hours 54 minutes 20 seconds until the day the Depp/Burton DARK SHADOWS is released(ET)!!

[Midnite]

Though it would be a hoot if that car that was on the Collinwood set was one of them.  

Aren't there 2 abandoned cars on the Collinwood set?

[Gothick]

I don't mind your comments, borgosi.  I myself have reservations about the project, but have been surprised at how many elements that actually tickle me (in a GOOD way) have come to light about it.  It is a 2011 Tim Burton/Johnny Depp feature film with more money undoubtedly set to be spent on it than was ever budgeted in all five years of the original series--and then some.  So, we know going in that it is going to be a very different animal from the Sixties series we all adore.  I personally think including Alice Cooper is kind of a stylish way of commenting upon the media image of the series back in the day--which had a weird disconnect, if you think about it, from how the shows actually played.  The media image in the Sixties was all about fangs, trippy Gothique scenes, groovy ghoulies, monster rallies.  The actual shows were much more about the chemistry of the actors together and the scripts that were sometimes incredible literate and layered, especially when compared with other 1960s daytime dramas.  So, Alice Cooper in the Blue Whale with scenesters rolling joints kind of comments on that element of the DS success story.  Do you know what I mean?

I'm actually rather fond of Dracula A.D. '72.  A funny fact about that movie is that the rock band in one of the early party sequences was actually a US midwestern born-again Christian rock band that someone at Hammer found--I guess they were touring in the UK.  There is a whole big article on them, and other aspects of the movie, in an issue of Little Shoppe of Horrors from a few years ago--check out the Little Shoppe website for info.

G.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Aren't there 2 abandoned cars on the Collinwood set?

I honestly only noticed the orange one with its hood up. I'll have to go back and look...

311 days 12 hours 8 minutes 49 seconds until the day the Depp/Burton DARK SHADOWS is released(ET)!!

[Mysterious Benefactor]

You're right - there's a yellow one, too. I don't know how I missed that because if it had been any more prominent in the photo, it would have reached out and smacked me in the face!!  

Hmmm - orange and yellow - if those two colors don't scream '70s, nothing does!    

So, I wonder if those are the two cars she was tweeting about this morning? If so, obviously she isn't aware that photos of them have already shown up online...

311 days 11 hours 55 minutes 35 seconds until the day the Depp/Burton DARK SHADOWS is released(ET)!!

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Oops - I missed this new photo yesterday (I probably didn't pay enough attention and thought it was a link to those same four older photos ):

LouLuBabe Louise Fitz
Dark Shadows film set...still waiting on Johnny Depp. This is Collinwood Manor. #DarkShadows http://yfrog.com/h4bz7nej
3 Jul

So, apparently they haven't started to pull down the set, so perhaps it's looking better that they'll be shooting something for 1772 at some point...

311 days 8 hours 26 minutes 25 seconds until the day the Depp/Burton DARK SHADOWS is released(ET)!!

[LdyAnne]

while i can certainly understand your reservations about the film...i think we all have them to some extent...i must say that your relentless negativity about the project is really bringing the tone of the board down.

Well said, I see the samething on Facebook. It seems that every update or post I share on the Central Florida DS Fan Club group it gets blasted by naysayers.

[Zahir]

On FB it is almost routine to find posts urging people to boycott a movie no one has seen and isn't anywhere near finished, condemning in amazingly harsh language anyone who doesn't agree that no one in all time can ever play Barnabas Collins but Jonathan Frid (although by my count four other actors have), etc.

You know, I think it bears repeating--No One Has Seen This Movie.  It isn't even finished yet!  Can't we wait to praise or condemn until after the movie has been finished?  Is that really even remotely unreasonable?  Haven't every single one of us been pleasantly (and unpleasantly) surprised by a movie?

It would be one thing if the director were some schlockmeister responsible for Bloodrayne or maybe My Mother Has A Gun or Santa Claus Conquers the Martians.  But these are the same folks who made Sleepy Hollow and Sweeney Todd--they've earned enough credit to have us wait and see what emerges.

[Mary]

Hey MB -- just wanted to tell you how much I'm enjoying all your updates with the tweets and pics of the house and everything.  Love the look of the house, BTW -- can't wait to see what it looks like with all the cgi in place!  And love the countdown you're doing!  Thanks for all your hard work!

[Nancy]

On FB it is almost routine to find posts urging people to boycott a movie no one has seen and isn't anywhere near finished, condemning in amazingly harsh language anyone who doesn't agree that no one in all time can ever play Barnabas Collins but Jonathan Frid (although by my count four other actors have), etc.

I don't understand this kind of thinking either, but, to each her own.  I suppose since so much of my life has been involved in the theater it's nothing to see a new play and with actors originating roles, it be a big hit, and then see a new cast or actor in the famous roles later.  I've certainly had preferences or actors whose interpretation I liked better but I am willing to see another take on a famous character.  Ironically enough, Jonathan Frid - the one who created the original Barnabas - is quite receptive to any interpretation by another actor.  He and other DS actors have been open and receptive to other versions of DS.  That said, it doesn't mean everyone should love the next interpretation but at least wait until you've seen the darn thing before complaining! Sheesh!

The whole notion of boycotting an unseen (and unfinished) movie is pretty silly.  You have to wonder if someone is that close-minded over a movie (which in the scheme of things is unimportant) how are they about the really crucial day to day life issues?  That's scarier than any vampire movie!

[Nancy]

We are only seeing little bits and pieces of the production progress and commenting as we go.  Keeping an open mind is infinitely different than stating I won't go see the movie because it's not starring Jonathan Frid as Barnabas, Lara Parker as Angelique, etc.    As we don't know what the final product will look like, we can't comment except for the little bit we find out here and there.  The "I won't go" mindset is one thing, and the "I wonder what it will turn out to be" is another.  The "I won't go" contingent may as well just stop reading updates about the movie and let the rest of us who are excited and optimistic have fun.  If we are disappointed in the end product, so what?  It's not the end of DS fandom, let alone the world.  

For those who are relentlessly negative about it, I do wonder why they waste their time being negative.  If their mind is made up, why keep at it?

Nancy

That said it seems that if anyone points out something that they heard about the movie that they don't like some fans says they are "bashing the movie without have seen it". Fact is saying this movie is good or bad without having seen it is equally wrong.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

I suppose since so much of my life has been involved in the theater it's nothing to see a new play and with actors originating roles, it be a big hit, and then see a new cast or actor in the famous roles later.  I've certainly had preferences or actors whose interpretation I liked better but I am willing to see another take on a famous character.

I suspect that back in Shakespeare's time there were people who refused to accept that anyone other than Richard Burbage (who originated the role) could play Hamlet.    But, of course, the truth is that hundreds of actors have - and some not only successfully but quite celebratedly (just in the past century alone there have been John Barrymore, John Gielgud, Laurence Olivier, Maurice Evans, Richard Burton, and Ralph Fiennes (who won a Tony Award for his portrayal back in '95) who all fall into those categories). Half the fun or seeing any great story redone is to see how the actors will interpret the roles and potentially make them their own.

Ironically enough, Jonathan Frid - the one who created the original Barnabas - is quite receptive to any interpretation by another actor.

Which isn't surprising because Frid is a talented actor who completely understands the acting process and respects it in other actors.

That said, it doesn't mean everyone should love the next interpretation but at least wait until you've seen the darn thing before complaining! Sheesh!

Exactly.

The whole notion of boycotting an unseen (and unfinished) movie is pretty silly.  You have to wonder if someone is that close-minded over a movie (which in the scheme of things is unimportant) how are they about the really crucial day to day life issues?  That's scarier than any vampire movie!

True.  

310 days 12 hours 20 minutes 11 seconds until the day the Depp/Burton DARK SHADOWS is released(ET)!!

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Hey MB -- just wanted to tell you how much I'm enjoying all your updates with the tweets and pics of the house and everything.

And I'm enjoying sharing them just as much.  

Twitter's having a few hiccups this morning so I haven't been able to check out all the latest DS tweets yet. But yesterday was absolutely insane when it came to the amounts of tweets about the show. I'm not exaggerating when I say that every 2 to 3 minutes there was a new tweet - and a good half of them weren't in English, so it was literally a global explosion of interest in the Depp/DS film, the '91 Series, house/Night of Dark Shadows, and the original show - but mostly the Collinwood set photos.

Love the look of the house, BTW -- can't wait to see what it looks like with all the cgi in place!

You and me both!  

310 days 12 hours 11 minutes 22 seconds until the day the Depp/Burton DARK SHADOWS is released(ET)!!

[Mysterious Benefactor]

And speaking of global interest in the Depp/DS film -

(and this:

the Depp/DS film will be released in Australia on May 10, almost two days (with the time difference) before it's released in the US

#DarkShadows is supposed to come out: Netherlands 10 May 2012, Spain 11 May 2012, USA 11 May 2012, Germany 17 May 2012

)

- here's an interesting article that not only goes into how/why films that may not do as well as hoped in the US can still become major hits when overseas grosses are factored in, but why it's becoming much more common for films to be released around the world within a few days: Hollywood cashes in on new world order


And this article uses Depp's choice to do DS as an example of how he hasn't lost his edge and his willingness to play eclectic and versatile roles: Has Johnny Depp Lost His Edge—Or Totally Not?

310 days 10 hours 19 minutes 17 seconds until the day the Depp/Burton DARK SHADOWS is released(ET)!!