Depp/Burton DARK SHADOWS Is In Production!!

[Gothick]

I just have to add that BarnaDepp makes me think of one of Edward Gorey's drawings... a point of favor in my book...

I am quite curious as to whether Julia will appear only briefly in the movie, given Miss BC's original statement that it was going to be quite a minor role..  I think she was just having a little joke...

G.

[Brandon Collins]

When I first looked at this photo, I hated everything about it except for Michelle Pfeiffer. After taking a little while to study, I do like the similarity in layout and form to the 67 photo, as everyone else has started. However, here are some observations of mine:

First, from the LOOK of the characters of Angelique, Victoria, and Carolyn, it seems as if they have all been jumbled up. Eva Green as Angelique looks like she should be playing Carolyn at age 35 (she looks SO much like Nancy Barrett!), while Bella Heathcote as Victoria looks like she is Carolyn as a teenager, and Chloe Moretz looks more like a Sarah than anything else.

HBC as Julia looks completely over the top to me. And while Grayson played Julia outlandishly, she somehow still managed to pull it off and ground the character. Someone else put it very well--HBC looks like a refurbished and slightly toned down version of the Red Queen from Alice in Wonderland. Here's hoping, as someone else also stated, that the bright hair color comes off much more muted on screen.

Lastly, while I love the interior of the (I'm guessing) drawing room because it looks like a cave and I could completely imagine bats living in there (sooo Gothic), it's not very inviting. Somehow, despite the sheer coldness that would at times come across in the old Collinwood sets from the original series, the house still seemed warm and inviting to me.

The most intriguing characters in the photo for me are Elizabeth and Angelique. The facial expressions both women are putting forth are as different as they are similar, and I wouldn't be surprised if when the film is released we see extreme correlations between the motivations behind the actions of both of these women.

[michael c]

i saw this by chance at work today and dragged everyone into my office to look at the picture. i couldn't contain my excitement.

love it!

[PennyDreadful]

I am most definitely happy about the photo and was thrilled to see they made an attempt to replicate the famous '67 cast photo!  I also enjoyed the character descriptions.

I LOVE that they kept Barnabas' trademark pointy bangs!  I'm relieved they didn't try to shy away from Frid's classic look.  I don't like the long fingernails in the zoom shot though.  That's a bit too "Ze do Caixao" or "Count Orlok" for Barnabas.  Depp does look very young in the pic, but you can see from the makeup they're trying to give him Jonathan Frid's more angular appearance.  I'd be curious to see him in other poses as well to really get a look at him in Barn mode.

Julia's hair is very vibrant, but she definitely has the attitude down.  I do feel she looks a little too much like an exaggerated Julia parody, but I don't hate the look.  I mean, I knew RIGHT away who she was when I saw the pic.  There's no mistaking her for another character!

Roger - Wow!!!  Brilliant!!!  Roger Collins is re-born!  I hope he's as good in the film as he appears to be in this photo!

Willie - They clearly combined the characters of Willie and Matthew Morgan.  We'll see about him.  

Carolyn - She looks too young, but I have a theory about that.  I'm sure someone else has mentioned the possibility, but I wonder if they made her younger so that she could replace Amy Jennings.  This way, they can lead into the 'Turn of the Screw'/Quentin story with David and Carolyn, perhaps as a cliffhanger at the end of the movie.  I mean, it's a DS movie.  It should end on a cliffhanger, and Quentin should appear somehow.  Just a thought.  

Liz - She looks appropriately regal and has the look of a woman who harbors a dark secret of her own.  I wonder if they'll mention the whole business with Paul Stoddard.  It'll take me awhile to get used to the change in hair color.  Liz should have dark hair.

Mrs. Johnson - Interesting take.  Not big on her character description - "polishing silverware with bologna" - but we'll see.  The writer says he doesn't think she has any lines in the film.

David - He looks good!  I can see him removing a bleeder valve from a car.

Victoria - I think she looks too young as well, and again, the hair color is throwing me a bit.  Victoria and Liz should have dark hair IMO.  Also, I see they went the '91 series route by making Vicki the Josette look-a-like.  I guess it's less complicated than bringing in Maggie Evans, but it makes me a little sad to see Maggie isn't the Josette doppelganger.  

Angelique - She has the powerful 70s witch look going on!  I can dig it. Love the blonde hair.  According to the descriptions, it seems she's the one who locks Barnabas away in his tomb.

I really like the look of Collinwood from what I've seen.  The drawing room looks marvelously creepy!

Random thought - I wish they'd get Barbara Steele to make a cameo in the film.

It's really extraordinary that they BEGAN the shoot by re-creating or re-staging that iconic 1967 cast photo.  Almost seems like an act of Invocation.  A seance, perhaps?

Indeed!  I thought the same thing.  There's a ritualistic quality to it.

[michael c]

a few more thoughts now that i've had time to digest this...

it's more blonds than i necessarily would have wanted. as has been mentioned vicki and liz could have been more classically brunette but i'll get used to it. at the very least liz needs an updo. the hairdos are not spot on 1972. personally i like julia's flaming red coif. it's definitely channeling grayson's HODS look. it certainly sets her apart from the sea of blonds.

angelique in PANTS is a major departure. she looks very "professional" but then again we've already heard she's "big in collinsport". a lady executrix, perhaps? vicki's frock is a bit schoolgirlish but she is of course the prim and proper governess as always. david looks very "omenish". roger looks very much the pompous a**. i like liz's dress but again the loose blond curls are too 2011 LA. at 48 depp makes a pretty old "eleven year old". is willie still to function as barnabas' servant? i haven't been able to decipher that from the information given. he looks to be more "comic relief" a'la 1991 than the original premise of the character. i'm just pleased that mrs.johnson is on the canvas even if she's very minor. she's an elemental part of the collinwood atmosphere.

i like it!

[madscntst]

I'm pretty sure this is for the current edition of Entertainment Weekly, which means it should be out on newsstands today or tomorrow. (I usually get my sub copy on Fridays).

[Mysterious Benefactor]

(I don't always get my issue on Friday, so I hope someone does - particularly because, if there is an article in the print issue, it's often the case that the print issue features more than what's on the Web site.)

A few unrelated comments:

I can certainly understand why some people would think Victoria seems dressed rather young because it's not likely too many women in their early-20s would dress that way today. However, it was more common in the '70s. In fact, when I was a freshman in high school during '70-'71, my French teacher dressed exactly like that most of the time. She was a year out of college, which would make her about the same age as Bella Heathcote, if not Victoria herself - and she was even married. And she continued to dress the same way throughout all four of the years I was in high school. So, to me, Victoria's manner of dress isn't all that odd for '72.

Regarding the Addams Family look to the cast photo, as I've said, I don't really see it, so I'm curious: do the people who do see an Addams Family vibe also see the same vibe in the original '67 cast photos? And if not, why not, considering the Depp/DS film's cast photo so closely resembles the '67 cast photos?

As for Willie, I could be wrong, but with what little info we have so far, I'm suspecting that his character in the film is Willie in name only and will turn out to be different from the versions we've seen before. Perhaps they really should have named him Matthew Morgan. But who knows, maybe there will turn out to be facets of Willie in there somewhere. Only time will tell. And as for whether or not Willie will turn out to be Barnabas' servant, we really have no information on that beyond what many horror/entertainment sites speculated when Jackie Earle Haley was cast - and thanks to EW we know now that every bit of that speculation was dead wrong because Willie won't be the one releasing Barnabas into the world of 1972.

Given that the placement of the characters in the photo indicates in many instances some sort of relationship that they share with an adjacent character, I'm wondering if there's any significance to Angelique being placed so close to Carolyn?

And finally, and also regarding Carolyn, I had a theory as to why they've made her younger. However, what we've learned in the EW article seems to make my theory less likely. But I will say this: it had a lot to do with the fact that in the film Liz hasn't left Collinwood for 10 rather than the 18 years of the original series...

230 days 13 hours 49 minutes 8 seconds until the day the Depp/Burton Dark Shadows is released(ET)!!

[Mysterious Benefactor]

I was just over at EW's Web site trying to see if I could see whether or not DS might be in the print issue. I couldn't even find the link to cover. But perhaps it's not up yet. However, what I did notice is that the cast photo article is currently the #1 read article on the site.  

230 days 13 hours 22 minutes 51 seconds until the day the Depp/Burton Dark Shadows is released(ET)!!

[Mysterious Benefactor]

I should have waited a few more minutes before posting because the cover is up now and on it it says:

"JOHNNY DEPP
First look at Dark Shadows"

So, something will definitely be in the print issue.

230 days 13 hours 19 minutes 15 seconds until the day the Depp/Burton Dark Shadows is released(ET)!!

[michael c]

another potential change...

has it mentioned anywhere vicki being an orphan or coming to collinwood from new york city? in the past that's been an important part of the character. or in this variation is she from collinsport?

we never got to the bottom of the old "waitress" mystery so here is vicki a waitress from collinsport(again, combining elements of maggie)who's simply hired by the collins family?

[Nancy]

I'm having trouble posting today so I hope this post doesn't show up twice!

As others have pointed out, I know from my own experience that publicity campaigns are planned months in advance as are most weekly and monthly publications.  The timing make sense given the fact the film is set to be released in the spring.  Don't be surprised if you see a trailer as early as Thanksgiving.  It's quite possible. 

Nancy

[Mysterious Benefactor]

My EW just arrived. Interestingly, the copy of the article is almost totally different from the Web site. And at the end people are directed to the Web site to read about the characters other than Barnabas. But those hoping for a photo with more resolution will be happy, even if the print version is much darker than what's on the Web site. And the people who complained that Helena Bonham Carter's hair was too bright will see that it isn't in the print version (so who knows which version has the correct Gamma settings?), and she really does look like that photo of Grayson from the February '71 TV Guide article. And people wanting to get a better look at Depp's fingernails will be thrilled because they're much clearer and indeed pointy. Also, to me Depp looks far more solemn and a lot less young in the print version.

230 days 11 hours 40 minutes 25 seconds until the day the Depp/Burton Dark Shadows is released(ET)!!

[Mysterious Benefactor]

I know from my own experience that publicity campaigns are planned months in advance as are most weekly and monthly publications.

Which really does beg the question that if Burton & Co. knew the EW article was coming up this week, were they actually having a good laugh over all the hubbub over the paparazzi photos last week, just like several Web sites have suggested?  

230 days 11 hours 29 minutes 37 seconds until the day the Depp/Burton Dark Shadows is released(ET)!!

[Miss_Winthrop]

I'm very happy now with BC's look. 

[Nancy]

I sure had a good laugh when I first saw the photo.  It struck me as funny what I perceived the Michael Jackson get-up.  I attributed it to being a joke or a moment where special makeup had been applied for a future effect.   The publicity certainly would not have done them any harm.  The "WTF" effect sparked curiousity.  The production company would not have been motivated to have acted any faster as they knew when official photos were due to be released.  The timing of the EW article makes sense given the fact the film will be released in the spring.  

I would not be surprised to see a trailer by Thanksgiving at the movie theaters.

Nancy

Which really does beg the question that if Burton & Co. knew the EW article was coming up this week, were they actually having a good laugh over all the hubbub over the paparazzi photos last week, just like several Web sites have suggested?