Depp/Burton DARK SHADOWS Is In Production!!

[Mysterious Benefactor]

depp clearly appears to be in eighteenth century costume. pfieffer less so but her ensemble appears dramatic. so i wonder if this image is not somehow tied into the rumored "costume party" sequence.

After I showed the photo to a friend earlier tonight, we both said that Depp and Michelle Pfeiffer look like they're in period clothes - but then I said that that probably couldn't be because as far as we know Michelle Pfeiffer only plays Liz. I didn't even think of the costume party.    You might have hit on something. 

118 days 23 hours 7 minutes 6 seconds until the day the Depp/Burton Dark Shadows is released(ET)!!

[michael c]

It just now hit me that there is a BIG problem with the cast photo...  Look out the windows.  It's daylight!  What is Barnabas doing in Collinwood in the middle of the day?

good point...

however although the cast definitely appears to be "in character" that doesn't necessarily mean the image needs to be taken literally as being a "scene" per se. it doesn't need to be put into the context of the film. it can just be a stand alone image.

in other words one cannot tell at what point in the story the picture might have been taken.

[arashi]

I just stumbled on the picture tonight while checking a certain site's airing schedule, and immediately rushed here. My Mom and I were talking about the movie this morning and I was lamenting the lack of teaser photos.

I think it looks amazing, Johnny looks fantastic. I am so stoked about this movie! I hope to attend one of the premiere parties. It's always so much more fun attending a screening with an audience of die-hard fans. The vibe is completely different than viewing a movie with a general audience.

Hopefully a trailer is released soon!

[Cousin_Barnabas]

good point...

however although the cast definitely appears to be "in character" that doesn't necessarily mean the image needs to be taken literally as being a "scene" per se...  in other words one cannot tell at what point in the story the picture might have been taken.

I agree completely.  It just struck me since it's a vampire film.  And, as G pointed out, the original photo had a "nighttime feeling" to it.  I found the change of "time" to be of note.  Now, had the new photo been released before yesterday, I would never have noticed, as I would've been gawking at it instead of the cast pic.   

[Cousin_Barnabas]

If it turns out to be true, this could boost Shadows' numbers:

http://whatculture.com/film/the-dark-knight-rises-trailer-3-watch-it-in-may-with-dark-shadows.php

[jimbo]

I just can't wait to buy tickets. http://www.imax.com/movies/m/dark-shadows-an-imax-3d-experience/

[Mysterious Benefactor]

My Entertainment Weekly just arrived.    I don't have to wait until Tuesday.    And in print the picture of Barn and Liz looks even better than it did in the scan. But the really interesting thing is that what was circulated on the Internet yesterday can't possibly be the same as what's printed in the issue because there are four significant differences:

 1) The photo carries over the fold.
 2) Depp and Pfeiffer's names are not printed in the same place.
 3) At the right top corner of the photo there's a blue circle in which it says "Johnny Depp Goes Goth".
 4) The print version shows more at the bottom, a bit more at the top, and slightly less on the left (A jewel actually dangles into Liz' cleavage.  )

I wonder if there are different versions of EW for different countries? Or perhaps if the person who scanned the photo got their hands on a copy of an initial layout that was later changed?

But regardless of all that, as expected, the print section for DS doesn't really reveal anything we don't already know. Though Seth Grahame-Smith is quoted as saying, "Like soap operas do, we take all the classic dysfunctions and problems and blow them into the stratosphere." I can't wait! 

Oh, and once again Anthony Breznican wrote the section on DS, so it would seem that he's been assigned all the coverage of DS for EW.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

I just can't wait to buy tickets.

I'm definitely planning to see DS in IMAX at least once. Maybe more. 

[jimbo]

Chloe calls DS movie revolutionary  http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2012/01/13/chloe-moretz-dark-shadows-2/
I can't wait for my EW article. Thanks MB for the review of it.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Interesting interview - thanks so much for posting the link, jimbo. 

Although, considering how The Amazing Spider-Man barely did anything in the qualifying round of MTV's poll and DS did really well in comparison to the films that weren't The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2 and The Hunger Games, I don't know how much of an "upset victory" it was for DS to have defeated TAS-M in the first round of head-to-head voting. What was "stunning," though, was DS' margin of victory. But I honestly think that TAS-M fans just gave up in the end, while DS fans continued to vote. And if TAS-M fans had continued to vote, I doubt the margin would have been nearly as stunning...

118 days 7 hours 23 minutes 41 seconds until the day the Depp/Burton Dark Shadows is released(ET)!!

[michael c]

what's also notable about this picture is that there seems to be something diabolical happening in the exchange between barnabas and liz...

i was looking at it with a coworker. i said it looked like barnabas was threatening liz. he said it looked like they were conspiring. neither of which has any precedent in previous tellings of the story. more than perhaps anybody barnabas traditionally has a neutral , even deferential, relationship with liz. they're never in cohorts and liz herself is usually sort of out of it in terms of the supernatural activities happening in her own house.

it's seeming clear that pfieffer signed on to be a new, more participatory liz.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

I suspect as much too. I also suspect that perhaps Liz knows that her adversary, Angelique, is a witch, or at least has powers beyond the typical person. It's just a feeling I get from some of the things that have been said when describing their relationship. Though I could be wrong. After all, feelings aren't facts. 

As for Barn and Liz, something is definitely going on between them in that photo. I love the way Pfeiffer is sort of looking at Depp through the corner of her eye. Though whether or not it's simply a moment staged purely for the camera (like the 1967 photo Gothick referred to) or depicting an actual moment from the film is anyone's guess at this point...

117 days 12 hours 32 minutes 32 seconds until the day the Depp/Burton Dark Shadows is released(ET)!!

[madscntst]

I don't have my hard copy of EW yet  but on advice from another board I checked out the EW iPad app.  With the app, if you have a paid subscription to EW, you can access the issues free!  (You can also pay if you're not a subscriber, but I think it was kind of a lot, like $4.99)  So of course I had to do it!  I saw that the photo was taken by Peter Mountain, Johnny's longtime friend who is the set photographer for most of Johnny's films these days (he also played the "fop" in Sweeney Todd- featured in the song A Little Priest).  He always takes the best set photos!  I'm guessing this is an actual scene (or at least a recreation).  I am absolutely blown away by this photo and can't wait to see more!  (Nice to have a better reaction than I did for those first photos with Bella Heathcote that were leaked, when my reaction was... hmm  )  I'm really surprised that some folks don't like this one, but to each their own.

Weren't Barnabas and Liz sorta in cahoots for awhile during the Leviathan storyline?  It's been so long since I watched it, though.

[madscntst]

By the way, this is kind of a longshot, but--

 Johnny and Michelle have both been announced as presenters for tomorrow's Golden Globes Awards.  Angelina Jolie will also present, and my first thought was that Johnny and Angelina might present together, to give host Ricky Gervais a hard time (anyone who watched the ceremony last year knows what I'm talking about- Ricky skewered their movie The Tourist).  But a poster on I think the Johnny Depp Zone brought up the possibility that Johnny and Michelle might present together.  It's an interesting thought, though I'm still betting on the first possibility.  But you never know!  Either way, they'll both be there, for anyone interested in watching.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

my first thought was that Johnny and Angelina might present together, to give host Ricky Gervais a hard time (anyone who watched the ceremony last year knows what I'm talking about- Ricky skewered their movie The Tourist).

Speaking of that, Ricky Gervais was on The Ellen Degeneres Show on Thursday (I didn't get to watch it until last night) and they showed the hilarious leaked clip from HBO's Life's Too Short (that's also on YouTube - and linked to in this topic) of Depp visiting Gervais in his office, going on about how successful DS is likely to be - more successful than any film Gervais has ever made, and basically trashing him for what went on during last year's Golden Globes.