Depp/Burton DARK SHADOWS Is In Production!!

The second photo of the lot is entitled:  "Site for construction of 'The Palace' for the new Dark Shadows film."

The Palace at Collinwood, eh?  Kind of shaped like Carey Mansion, imo.  It just needs a central tower.  And with those curvey shapes on the left, it could have one.  

The second photo of the lot is entitled:  "Site for construction of 'The Palace' for the new Dark Shadows film."

Excellent find. You're the one and only person that I've seen who's even tracked that down because every site that I've come across with an item and/or discussion about the photos goes directly to the photos rather than starting at the original postings by aston5man.

So then, it actually is a facade of Collinwood set.  

And I also see that in a reply to one of the comments he says that he "will try to put a few more pics up shortly." Let's hope he's allowed back on the location after the construction has gotten further enough along so that we can have a much better idea of what the facade is going to look like. Three Gothic windows doesn't tell us much.  

352 days 21 hours 43 minutes 25 seconds until the day the Depp/Burton DARK SHADOWS is released(ET)!!

Filming a major motion picture takes more than a month, and sets are usually built as needed only.  They aren't generally intended to last long, so they tend to be finished within a day or two of being used.  Actual construction of facades and the like don't take as long as you might think.  It isn't as if they actually need to an entire house, or even an entire room.  I'm just saying.  Odds are, filming will be completed by the end of June or by early July.  Then the very very long process of post-production.

If what we've been lead to believe from a few different sources is accurate, shooting will go into August.    (One source said that it might even last into the fall.) Apparently the film is a complex shoot.

352 days 14 hours 7 minutes 49 seconds until the day the Depp/Burton DARK SHADOWS is released(ET)!!

That sounds about right.  Johnny has expressed interest in doing extensive promotions for The Rum Diary, and there was even talk of a tour of a few college campuses.  TRD comes out in late Oct., but there are several film fests in Sept so I'd imagine the promos to get sandwiched in between somewhere.  It is a small film and he's producing, and he was also a dear friend of the author, Hunter S. Thompson, so I think he would want to be finished with DS so that he could devote his full time to that. Then, The Lone Ranger is also tentatively scheduled for fall, so I'd think DS might be done by Aug-Sept, but that's just a guess.

Edited to add- should've mentioned that Johnny's films with Tim have tended to shoot for at least 3 to 4 months.  I think that Charlie and the Chocolate Factory stretched to even 5 months.  Sweeney Todd went from end of Feb to May of 2007, I think, and Alice most of the fall of... which year, 2008?

^^^ Oop, sorry, Sweeney Todd started early Feb.  Production dates Feb 5-May 11, so just over 3 months.  That didn't include recording the vocals, but it did include a brief delay when Johnny's daughter became seriously ill.  So 3 months is possible, even for Tim Burton 

Wow.

All the more reason for some sets to still be under construction, then.

Changing subject a tiny bit...

Of course, the press release earlier doesn't really give much away as far as the plot is concerned, does it?  More of the set-up, which is vital and fascinating but I'm not entirely sure what the central conflict of the film is, not at all.  Not like you can say "Alice is about the little girl returning to Wonderland to help overthrow the evil Queen of Hearts" or "Sweeney Todd is about a wronged madman seeking vengeance" etc.

Depp's part in the film should wrap before actual shooting ends because Thomas McDonell, who'll play the young Barnabas, has said that all the stuff with him is what's being shot last. He's also the one that said he wouldn't start shooting until the fall. But then, he also said that filming had begun weeks before it actually had, so his time frame for when he's expected to shoot could also be off.  

352 days 12 hours 36 minutes 11 seconds until the day the Depp/Burton DARK SHADOWS is released(ET)!!

I'm not entirely sure what the central conflict of the film is, not at all.  Not like you can say "Alice is about the little girl returning to Wonderland to help overthrow the evil Queen of Hearts" or "Sweeney Todd is about a wronged madman seeking vengeance" etc.

They haven't really told us what the central conflict will be. From what Eva Green has said, Angelique and Barnabas will certainly have conflict. But how the present day Collinses could or even would play into that is a mystery. They seemingly all have secrets of their own, so perhaps there may actually be multiple conflicts within the film's present day plot. Time will tell...

352 days 12 hours 31 minutes 14 seconds until the day the Depp/Burton DARK SHADOWS is released(ET)!!

Depp's part in the film should wrap before actual shooting ends because Thomas McDonell, who'll play the young Barnabas, has said that all the stuff with him is what's being shot last. He's also the one that said he wouldn't start shooting until the fall. But then, he also said that filming had begun weeks before it actually had, so his time frame for when he's expected to shoot could also be off.  

Ah yes, good point. That said, Johnny is a producer this time, so I'm not sure if that'd mean he'd like to stick around at all for the end or not.  It's possible he'd leave things in Tim's hands because he trusts him so much.  We'll see!

The Palace at Collinwood, eh?  Kind of shaped like Carey Mansion, imo.

I blew up the picture to try to get a better idea, and the layout of the frame seems to be something resembling this:
                            _______
                            |          |_______________
                            |                                     |                                                           |
                            |                                     |                                                           |
                _______|                                    |_________________________________|
                |
                |
                |
                |
_________|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|

Of course, the dimensions are certainly off a bit because of the angle the photo is taken from. And in places it's hard to tell if the metal bars are running parallel of if they jut out again. But that's about the best I could do. It seems to come close to the basic layout.    Or at least the layout as it is in the photo. Who's to say there isn't more to add to the frame before they attach the wood...

352 days 8 hours 18 minutes 48 seconds until the day the Depp/Burton DARK SHADOWS is released(ET)!!

I find the photo interesting, because (as others have said) -- it does seem to be in the shape of the Carey Mansion.    On the other hand, I am a little surprised they would build a set for the exterior of Collinwood, because there must be dozens of real homes in that part of England which could represent Collinwood wonderfullly. 

Additionally, since most of us DS fans are hoping for a sequel, or even a trilogy -- then wouldn't it seem a mistake to use a set for the exterior?  A set that will have to be re-built for each sequel?  A real mansion makes more sense to me. 

Still, I'll be very happy if they recreate the Carey Mansion in some way.

It's still way too early to tell what the facade is going to end up looking like, but about the only similarities between the frame and Carey Mansion at this point is that there's one wing coming off of another - and that's a very common architectural design. However, the frame for the wing that's on the left side of my rendition is laid out very differently from what Carey Mansion actually looks like. And also, Carey Mansion doesn't feature any Gothic windows of the style seen in the assembled piece on the ground.

On the other hand, IF they were to do some sort of take on Carey Mansion but with Gothic windows and other elements more architecturally appropriate than the actual Carey Mansion's features, I would certainly be up for that.  

Time will tell...

I am a little surprised they would build a set for the exterior of Collinwood, because there must be dozens of real homes in that part of England which could represent Collinwood wonderfullly.

True. Though building facades rather than shooting at actual locations is often Burton's MO. For example, for Sleepy Hollow he built a portion of the front facade of the main house in the film and the rest was completely CGI generated. And also like SH, he's building an entire village for the Depp/DS film.

Good question, Neil.  Seems a little weird to me, too.  I will have to dig out my copy of Sleepy Hollow and listen to either the commentary and/or the "making of" featurette, because I seem to recall Tim Burton telling some reasons why he prefers to build sets over shooting on location.  For SH they built a whole town of facades!  And all the other "exteriors" were actually done indoors at Pinewood.  He *does* sometimes use existing locations, such as the mansion used at the beginning of Alice In Wonderland, and I think the factory (or was it something else??) for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was "real."  But maybe he just prefers to have control over his own creations, for some reason.  Also, in the case of Sweeney Todd, that was all built too but in that case they seemed to be deliberately going for something that was not quite realistic-looking- almost hyper-real, in a way.  Well, if I remember to check out my SH DVD and it sheds any light on this, I'll let y'all know.

Cathy

BTW, Tim Burton and Helena Bonham-Carter were guests at the Buckingham Palace state dinner Wed evening for President and Mrs. Obama.