Dark Shadows
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From Deadline
Seth Grahame-Smith On 'Dark Shadows' As Tim Burton Pic Gets Closer To Start Date With Johnny Depp As Vampire Barnabas
By MIKE FLEMING | Thursday July 15, 2010re
EXCLUSIVE: Seth Grahame-Smith, who made his Hollywood entry writing novels that put a macabre twist to literary classics and historical figures, has just snagged the high profile job of writing the new draft of Dark Shadows. The Tim Burton-directed adaptation of the 60s daytime serial will star Johnny Depp as the vampire Barnabas Collins. The film is slated to begin production in January at Warner Bros. Depp’s Infinitum Nihil and Graham King’s GK Films are producing.
Warner Bros has been trying for several years to get to the starting line on the movie adaptation of the TV series that ran on ABC from 1966-71 and had legions of fans frightened by the moody and atmospheric storyline. (Tim Burton May Push Back 'Dark Shadows' Start Date) Barnabas Collins (played by Jonathan Frid) was the central figure in the groundbreaking supernatural soap. As for Tim Burton's version, John August was the first writer hired to script the project, based on the Dan Curtis-created characters. Grahame-Smith will be writing a new take under Burton. He got the job on the basis of his own bestselling novel, Abe Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. Burton and Timur Bekmambetov bought that project out of their own money as producers, and I hear that Bekmambetov is likely to make the film his next directing effort.
pride-prejudice-and-zombies-1Lionsgate has optioned Grahame-Smith’s book Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, with David O. Russell circling as director, and Natalie Portman starring as Elizabeth Bennett and producing a film that injects bloodthirsty zombies into Jane Austen’s mannered literature.
Grahame-Smith also co-created with pal David Katzenberg the MTV series The Hard Times of RJ Berger. Grahame-Smith's repped by WME.
Found by emma of JDZ
Movieweb.com
EXCLUSIVE: Producer Richard Zanuck Talks Dark Shadows Delays
May 17th, 2010
Visionary director Tim Burton and two-time Oscar nominee Johnny Depp have collaborated together to make some of the most interesting and beloved films of their generation including Edward Scissorhands, Ed Wood and Sleepy Hollow. In fact, the two are considered by many to be one of the best director and actor teams of all-time, so it should be no surprise that after their latest outing, Alice in Wonderland, grossed nearly $1 billion worldwide that the two would consider taking on the classic '60s soap opera, Dark Shadows as their next project. The series ran from 1966-1971 and was basically a soap opera that incorporated werewolves, zombies, monsters, witches, ghosts, time-travel, parallel-universes, and featured a vampire named Barnabas Collins in the lead role. Both Burton and Depp have gone on the record as saying that they were huge fans of the show growing up and Depp has even stated that he was obsessed with the character of Barnabas Collins as a child. At one point production on the film was scheduled to start as early as this summer with Burton directing and Depp playing the role of Barnabas Collins himself, however post-production on Alice in Wonderland and Depp's commitment to other projects seems to have delayed the production from beginning for now.
One man that knows both Burton and Depp very well is legendary Hollywood producer Richard D. Zanuck (Driving Miss Daisy, Jaws). Zanuck has produced three of the six live-action films that the director and the actor have collaborated on, which include Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Sweeney Todd and most recently Alice in Wonderland, which will be released on Blu-Ray and DVD on June 1st. Zanuck is set to reunite with Burton and Depp again on Dark Shadows and we recently had a chance to speak with the producer about the upcoming project. "That is still in the works but it's been delayed a bit," Zanuck confirmed. "We expected to do it much earlier, actually before Alice was finished. We must have been intoxicated when we thought that Tim could direct this picture while he was doing the post-production of Alice. Most of the post-production on Alice was done on computers and there were months and months of down time. At one point we thought that we could make it then and then we realized right away that Tim couldn't do it. Then that put it behind a couple of pictures that Johnny had lined up and right now we're waiting for him to finish The Tourist with Angelina Jolie and then he is going to take some time off and then do Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides next," explained Zanuck.
"It's unlikely, while everybody intends to make the picture, and we're still working on the script and all the rest, it's unlikely that we can start it earlier than the beginning of next year," he continued. "Johnny had committed and he has to do Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides first. He had a long-standing, firm, unchangeable contract to do that. That's a big project and he doesn't start that until later in the summer. So there you have it and we're waiting in line." Zanuck went on to say that the film was "still very much alive" and that they are currently working on the script. Finally, since the show ran for several seasons and incorporated so many different elements of sci-fi and horror we wanted to know which elements he was hoping to incorporate into the film and if the lead character would still be the vampire Barnabus Collins played by Johnny Depp? "Well the main character ... yes," answered Zanuck. "But one of the problems we've had with the script is that there are hundreds of episodes of this and boiling it down to an hour and a half or two hour movie with one story has been a real challenge and that's what we are doing now. But it will have all of the elements of the TV show. It won't be high camp, obviously. It won't be soap opera, which the show was. No, it will be scary, it'll be very funny and it will carry the Tim Burton stamp of uniqueness," confirmed Zanuck.
Dark Shadows is in development and stars Johnny Depp. The film is directed by Tim Burton.
From Collider
Producer Graham King Exclusive Interview: Talks EDGE OF DARKNESS, DARK SHADOWS, and THE TOURIST
by Steve 'Frosty' Weintraub Posted:January 28th, 2010 at 11:23 pmGraham King producer image (1).jpgWhile you may not recognize the name Graham King, I’m pretty sure you’ve seen some of the movies he’s produced like The Departed, The Aviator, Traffic, and Blood Diamond. Also, with over a dozen projects listed in development on IMDb, he’s clearly positioning himself as a producer to follow.
Anyway, since he produced Edge of Darkness (which opens tomorrow), I recently got to sit down with this busy producer and we discussed not only his latest project, but all the other thinsg he has in development like Dark Shadows, The Tourist, Rum Diaries, Rango, LondonBoulevard , The Town, and Mel Gibson’s Viking movie. Also, since he has such a great relationship with William Monahan, Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio, I asked how he manages to keep working with them. It’s a great interview so hit the jump to check it out:
Since the interview is pretty long, here are some of the highlights on his projects in development:
Dark ShadowsSays they are still working on getting the screenplay right and they are NOT yet scheduled to start filming this year. He made it clear that they “don’t have a script yet.”
Rum Diaries
They test screened the movie last week in San Diego. He said, “it’s not just a movie for Hunter Thompson fans. It’s not Fear and Loathing. I think this has got a commercial appeal. Johnny’s just terrific in it.”
The Tourist
They start filming at the end of February in Venice and he’s the one that got Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie on the project as he gave the script to Depp.
Here’s our full conversation:
Graham King image (1).jpgCollider: Jumping on in, you’ve been producing a number of movies since 2000, well obviously before that, but you know according to IMDB.
KING: It was actually after that to be honest.
Was it? I’d say emerged in 2000.
KING: Right.
What was it that got you into the game? What made you get into producing?
KING: Well, I love film and I love the film business. And I don’t think there’s any better way, with my personality, than being a producer which is a little bit of a control freak. A little bit of the guy putting all the pieces together. And that’s what I love. I love the jigsaw of it all. You know you start with all these pieces all over the board and you try to put them all together in order. And I love that. And that’s really…I mean people say, “what does a producer do” and unless you’ve got a spare 3 or 4 hours, there’s so many definitions of a producer. How many films do you see have a lot of producer credits?
Well some of those credits are very questionable.
KING: Well, that’s what I’m saying. It’s…I’ve been through it, believe me. Boy, winning the Academy Award was unbelievable but I didn’t thank the guy who’s number one in my speech and I forgot because I didn’t get my speech out, which was Brad Gray, and he didn’t get a credit on Departed and I really wanted him to. I fully…you know kind of a big believer that he should have been there for what he did with that project. But to go back to what you’re saying producing, for me anyway, it’s coming up with material. It’s sitting down with you know the likes of Martin Scorsese, Johnny Depp, Michael Mann and talking about a movie and really creating something from nothing.
What’s your working relationship with Bill Monahan as you guys are doing a few projects together.
KING: Well, I think we have a great chemistry. I trust Bill implicably. And so when Bill says this is a really interesting concept. I’m going to go off and write it, he comes through every time. Every time. And you know it’s just so great to have that relationship with a writer because let’s face it one does spend a lot of time in a development world. And with Bill I don’t call it development, I call it pre-production because I know he’s going to come through. I put a lot of pressure on him saying that but he does and you know, for me I guess to share his vision in filmmaking and to have him go off and direct “London Boulevard” last year you know, I think is really special and if you know, I haven’t seen the film yet but if he comes through and suddenly here I am with this relationship with not just a writer but a great young director then we could do many things together in the future. You know, it’s a business of relationships, right? I mean that’s exactly what Hollywood is to me, and I’m lucky enough to work with the same people over and over again. I’d never met Mel Gibson before I did “Darkness”, before we sat down and had a meeting on this screenplay. And now we’ve finished the film and we’re doing this other film, you know, this Viking movie, which Mel is directing and Bill’s writing and Leo’s starring in. So that’s like my kind of putting everyone together, right?
I read all about it in Variety and it’s interesting though that you’re able to get a lot of these projects going because these are very large talents who obviously have a lot of options. And yet you guys are able to work again and again together. Could you talk about the dynamic of…are you one of these kind of producers that is very hands-off or when do you know when to get hands-on?
Graham King image.jpgKING: No, I’m hands-on. I’m on the set. Obviously if we do movies at once, then it’s hard to be everywhere, but I’m on-set. I was on-set average 85% of the time. I was on-set of “The Departed” every day. “Aviator” every day. “The Tourist” I’m going off to Venice to do “The Tourist” soon. So I’m really…it’s not being a control freak. It’s collaborating. It’s being, you know, you build a family and that’s how I love to make a movie. When we made “Aviator” I never forget, I was Marty, myself, John Logan and Leo-made all the decisions. And we had no studio and there was no one around. It was all done very friendly and it was great and that’s how I like to make a film using that model. So in getting and sitting with Martin Campbell at the monitor and will Mel talking about the role and talking about his character or scene, it’s the greatest. It’s the greatest for me.
Bill invited me to the set of “London Boulevard” and I think I might have been the only journalist there, or maybe was one of the only allowed…
KING: Oh he just told you that. Yeah, yeah. Right.
No, I really think I was actually. And I got to see Bill direct and he seemed very enthusiastic and very excited. And to mention what you were saying, there was nobody there looking really over his shoulder. It was very…
KING: Right, yeah. I wasn’t on that set that much because I was in Puerto Rico with Johnny Depp on the “Rum Diaries”, so you have to pick. As I say you spread yourself thin sometimes. Yeah, you know, Bill got it. I mean, I had so much confidence in Bill and he really came through. We surrounded him, I’m sure you saw, with a great crew. You know the best in the UK I think and you have to do that. And what Bill does great is he’s got a great disposition and he works really well with talent. And they really respected him. They didn’t look at him as a first time director. They looked at him as Bill Monahan, one of the best writers in the business. And a lot of writers go on to be great directors, right? So it wasn’t a movie I felt I needed to be there, although I’d liked to have been obviously on and off, but Bill just got along…he got on with it. My biggest worry going into that movie is will Bill get out of that habit of living writers hours, which is getting up at 4 in the afternoon and going to bed at 3 or 4 in the morning. I’m like you’re going to have to get up at 6 am buddy. We had like 3 alarm clocks with him and stuff like that. But seriously that was my big issue.
I got the vibe he was doing good. I definitely want to ask you about you have a ton of other projects in development. Something you just mentioned “Rum Diaries”, I’m very much looking forward to seeing this film. I’ve not really seen too much footage….the trailer, poster. Where is the promotional stuff for the movie?
KING: We’re not ready yet so we previewed it in San Diego last week. We did a test screening with a locked picture. So it’s the early stages of post, you know? I mean, it’s late stages of post but just before making the trailer and posters and everything else.
Graham King producer image (2).jpgHow did your preview screening go?
KING: It’s good. It was really good. The audience loved the movie. And it’s an amazing vibe in there and a great atmosphere. I loved it, so I think this is going to be really special. And it’s not just a movie for Hunter Thompson fans. It’s not “Fear and Loathing”. I think this has got a commercial appeal. Johnny’s just terrific in it. I’m sure you’ve seen some photos from it.
Yes.
KING: And he looks amazing. It’s not Johnny doing all the makeup and everything else.
I know you and Johnny have been talking about “Dark Shadows” for awhile. How is that progressing and what’s the update for fans?
KING: Just working on scripts. I know that Johnny is dying to do it and passionate to do it and I think working on getting the screenplay right. I mentioned to somebody in New York at a junket on “Young Victoria” that I would love to do it in the Fall but who knows, and then suddenly it’s all over the Internet that we’re shooting it in the Fall. That’s not the case. We don’t have a script yet.
It’s amazing how the Internet will take things. I like using direct quotes. But I interviewed Johnny and he explained his love of this character. How he grew up with him like this is a movie he clearly wants to make.
KING: Oh there’s no question.
You know, but with Tim, his schedule always gets so crazy and he’s still working on “Alice”, so…
dark_shadows_barnabas_image__1_.jpgKING: Right, right. Yeah, I mean I think “Alice’ comes out in March so I think if we can get the script right hopefully we can…they’ll do “Dark Shadows” later this year. So we’ll see what happens. Johnny’s doing Tourist for me and then I think he’s doing another movie and then hopefully “Dark Shadows”. It’s all scheduling you know? Obviously Tim and Johnny have such a special bond there, but until everyone feels that the script is in a good place. You know especially Johnny’s very, very aware of the fans of “Dark Shadows”. I actually hadn’t heard of it because we didn’t have “Dark Shadows” in the UK. So when I was growing up I hadn’t seen it. So when he first mentioned it to me I got a bunch of episodes on DVD and watched it and it’s…
Well, when you have one of the bigger movie stars on the planet saying he might want to do something, you know perhaps it can get made.
KING: Right.
Perhaps.
KING: Right, right.
Definitely want to touch on “The Tourist”, which is a project that I’ve been following for awhile and it seems like nothing was going right with casting. You’re talking about in/out, in/out with many different things. What was that process like for you and now that you finally have people…?
KING: Well I wasn’t involved. Spyglass had the movie. Gary Barber. And he called me one day and he said if you’re interested in this for you to get involved in it and do it. And I read it and I saw a movie-I saw a great movie. And I watched the original, Anthony Zimmer, the French movie and really liked that. And it was just Angelina when I got it. And there was all this talk on the Internet about Sam Worthington or this one and that one but none of it was real. It was just Angelina really wanted to work…really wanted to play this role and work with Florian, who obviously did “Lives of Others” and has got a lot of talent. And I sat with Johnny and sent Johnny the script and I said I think this will be really a great role for you. And went over to see him and we spoke about it and he read it and he saw the original and he said I love it. And he said it’s really, really special. All of a sudden I’ve got Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie in a movie, you know? Which is a really fun feeling, right?
I think that’s one you’ll be on the set of.
Graham King producer image (3).jpgKING: Every day. Right me and 300,000 paparazzi.
Right. I can’t imagine. But that actually has to be a challenge when they’re two of the largest stars on the planet doing a movie together. The challenge of filming anything like that on location has to be there.
KING: Yeah. We’re having a lot of meetings about security and about…you know I don’t like making a film and having the actors in character too much in magazines and on the net and everything else. Because you want to keep something back, you know? I remember we would come out of the trailer of “Aviator” and they’d be pictures of Leo dressed as Howard Hughes in the press, and for me I don’t like that too much. So I don’t know how we’re going to deal with this in Venice, but we’re going to deal with it somehow someway.
Well, when do you start filming actually?
KING: The end of February.
So it’s coming up real close.
KING: Oh yeah. Around the corner.
You may have to institute the “Star Trek” security where they walk through tents to get to things.
KING: Right, right, right. I’m not worried about that so much, I’m more worried about helicopters in the sky and is it going to stop this filming?
I didn’t think about that. And also the paparazzi there are vicious there in Europe.
KING: Europe. England is horrendous. Horrendous.
Well I definitely want to ask…I obviously looked at IMDB about all the projects which are like 1,000 listed with your name.
KING: Really?
There’s a lot. What else do you think, for you, is bubbling up that you think could be going later this year?
KING: Well, the Viking movie I’d love to go. The one that Mel’s going to direct with Leo that Bill Monahan’s writing.
Is he? But is he writing it as we speak or has it been something he’s been working on?
Graham King producer image (5).jpgKING: Oh, no, no. We’ve been having meetings about this, about where to put the story. This isn’t based on one book. It’s based on a lot of research our guys have done to make a Viking movie. And then Bill, myself and Mel and Leo got in a room and kicked around ideas and 6-7 hours we sat around talking about it. And it was great. It’s one of the best meetings I’ve ever had-ever in this business.
Now when you do a meeting like that, do you record it to make sure you don’t forget about things?
KING: No, no. We have people writing stuff down but we don’t record it. You know, when Mel was driving that train…as I say for me it’s just a terrific meeting because we’re all in it to make this movie. So Bill is writing. He’s going through his head. He’s coming up…it doesn’t take Bill long to put stuff on paper. I think he has the formula in his head. And he’s doing that now. While he’s in post on a movie and while he’s writing another script and, you know?
I was going to say.
KING: He’s hot. When you’re hot you’re hot, right?
Yes he definitely is the word hot. Besides the Viking movie, do you have other stuff that you’re thinking about?
KING: I have, as you saw I guess, I have stuff in development that I really like. It’s just a matter of how many can I make at one time and I’ve got a really small company and 4-5 movies in post.
Okay.
The Town movie image BEN AFFLECK and JEREMY RENNER.jpgKING: I’ve got one starting. I’ve got “The Town” in post that Ben Affleck directed.
That’s another thing on my list to talk about, but you know.
KING: “The Rum Diaries”. “London Boulevard”. The animation movie “Rango” with Gore and Johnny. “Young Victoria” being released because I get involved in all that. And “Edge of Darkness” coming out. That’s 6 movies. So I’m really a one-man band. I have a great support group but I’m really a one-man band. So how many can I do at once? So I’m going to do “The Tourist” and then, you know this business. You’ve got to get scripts and we’ve got script writing on “Dark Shadows” and the Viking movie and you know everything else and off we go.
When do you think Ben will release a trailer or any sort of stuff from that?
KING: Oh, again he only wrapped a little while ago. I haven’t seen any cut footage of the movie, only dailies. And so I think he’s putting his first assembly together. So it’ll be awhile but I’m excited about that.
Cool. Thank you so much for giving me your time today.
KING: All right, buddy.
From CHUD
DARK SHADOWS MOVIE STAYS IN THE SHADOWS A BIT LONGERRecently the movie news world was abuzz with the idea that Dark Shadows, the movie version of the weird gothic vampire soap opera from the 60s, was heading to the big screen soon. The project has been in the works for a long, long time and Johnny Depp - a major fan of the property - has been set to play Barnabas Collins, with Tim Burton directing. The official word was always 'soon,' but late last year the word seemed to be 'shooting in 2010.'
Not so fast. Talking to producer Graham King at today's Edge of Darkness press day, I learned that the film is in no shape to shoot anytime soon. In fact, King said, they're still waiting for a script.
King was savvy and wouldn't say too much else - he knows how internet rumors (like Dark Shadows shooting this year) get started with careless slips of the tongue misconstrued by boneheads like me - but the fact that there is no script means that the movie (which isn't rushing to meet a date) might still have some time before it gets started.
That said, expect a script to possibly come into shape as Tim Burton finishes up his Alice in Wonderland duties, which are now mostly technical.
From Dread Central
Dark Shadows Confirmed for a Fall 2010 Start Date
(excerpt)
Over the past few years news stories about the Tim Burton/Johnny Depp version of Dark Shadows have popped up every couple of months, and today another one came along in which we finally got solid confirmation as to the film's start day. To that I can only say "Hooray!"Producer Graham King (whose credits include Gangs of New York, The Aviator, and The Departed) told Sci Fi Wire that the film will begin production in the fall with Depp portraying his childhood hero, Barnabas Collins.
Burton is still finishing post-production on Alice in Wonderland, which also stars Depp and opens March 5, 2010. King is already prepping production on Dark Shadows with screenwriters so that it is ready for Burton to shoot next fall. "We've been working on the script a lot, even though he's working on Alice," King said. "We've been given a script. John August wrote the first screenplay. We're making some changes, but the film's going to be in production ... September or October of next year."
From SciFi Wire
Johnny Depp's Dark Shadows to begin next yearForget Team Edward and Team Jacob. We've heard that director Tim Burton and star Johnny Depp are making a feature film version of the classic 1960s gothic TV soap opera Dark Shadows, and producer Graham King now confirms that the film will shoot in the fall, with Depp to play broody vampire Barnabas Collins.
"We're actually going to shoot that film next September/October with Tim Burton and Johnny," King said in a group interview Friday in Los Angeles, where he was promoting The Young Victoria.
Burton is still finishing post-production on Alice in Wonderland, which also stars Depp and opens March 5, 2010. King is already prepping production on Dark Shadows with screenwriters so that it is ready for Burton to shoot next fall.
Johnny Depp (left) will play Barnabas Collins for director Tim Burton
"We've been working on the script a lot, even though he's working on Alice," King continued. "We've been given a script. John August wrote the first screenplay. We're making some changes, but the film's going to be in production, as I say, September or October of next year."
Dark Shadows was a daytime soap opera on ABC from 1966 to 1971 featuring Jonathan Frid as Collins. NBC tried a weekly prime-time series reboot in 1991. The original was famous for its gothic tone and setting.
King said the Dark Shadows film would have something to say in the post-Twilight world of emo vampires, but wouldn't spoil the new take. "This is going to be Tim Burton and Johnny doing a vampire movie, right?" King teased. Enough said.
From MTV
With 'Dark Shadows,' Tim Burton's Challenge Is 'To Capture That Weird Tone Of The Show'
Posted 9/2/09 by Adam Rosenberg"Dark Shadows" is a '60s soap opera about vampires. All things supernatural really, but vampires are a big focus thanks to Jonathan Frid's character Barnabas Collins. In an interview with MTV's Josh Horowitz, director Tim Burton -- who will soon turn to "Dark Shadows" with frequent collaborator Johnny Depp as its star -- said that it's too early to say if fans can expect a cameo from Frid in the adaptation.
Besides, Burton has bigger "Shadows" concerns than that. "One of the biggest challenges on ['Dark Shadows'] is to just capture that weird tone of the show," he said. For now, the focus is on Burton's unfinished "Alice in Wonderland," which hits theaters in March 2010. As the director reveals in the video below, he hasn't even seen the Caterpillar yet! "Dark Shadows" will come, in due time. But first, we all need to take a trip down the rabbit hole.
From The InsiderThe Dark Shadows Of Sexy Johnny Depp
Johnny Depp is hoping to take his favorite childhood television show Dark Shadows to the big screen. Depp and director Tim Burton, hope to turn the hit Vampire thriller 60s series, about a man with a vampire curse, into a movie franchise. The actor says, "I was obsessed with (lead character) Barnabas Collins. I have photographs of me holding Barnabas Collins’ posters when I was five or six." Burton, who has worked with Depp on hit movies Edward Scissorhands, Sleepy Hollow and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, is admitting work is already under way. The director says, "That’s the plan. There was something very weird about (Dark Shadows), it had the weirdest vibe to it. I’m sort of intrigued about that vibe. It’s early days on it, but I’m excited about it."
From the LA Times Golden DerbyCan Johnny Depp defy the curse of the vampires at the Oscars?
Johnny depp dark shadows 273695148 tv film newsIs Johnny Depp driving a stake through his hope to win an Oscar someday? The three-time loser ("Sweeney Todd," "Finding Neverland," "Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl") and Oscarless director Tim Burton are aiming to bring cult drama "Dark Shadows" back from the dead.
Don't they know that vampire tales are cursed in Hollywood? Oscar voters didn't nominate Bela Lugosi for "Dracula" and Emmy voters recently — and shockingly — snubbed Anna Paquin in "True Blood" just as they had Sarah Michele Gellar in "Buffy the Vampire Slayer."
Johnny depp martin landau ed wood
Maybe Johnny has false hope because he starred in "Ed Wood" with Martin Landau, who won the Oscar for best supporting actor while stumbling around on screen in a vampire cape. Memo to Johnny: Landau wasn't pretending to be a real vampire as you'll do when assuming the role of 175-year-old blood-sucker Barnabas Collins. Landau played Bela Lugosi in later years as a pathetic Hollywood has-been hooked on morphine.
But maybe "Dark Shadows" could break the curse of the vampires at showbiz awards, after all. Joan Bennett got nominated for her performance as a grande matriarch in the daytime TV soap version in 1968. She lost, but she got nominated!
Johnny Depp watched the highly addictive Gothic soap at home as a kid, "I was obsessed with Barnabas Collins," he admits. "I have photographs of me holding Barnabas Collins posters when I was five or six."
Depp and Burton are busy now gearing up to unveil "Alice in Wonderland," but Burton assures the L.A. Times that they'll team up for a feature film version of "Dark Shadows" in the future.
"That's the plan," Burton says. "There was something very weird about that, it had the weirdest vibe to it. I'm sort of intrigued about that vibe."
From Celebuzz
Johnny Depp and Tim Burton Talk 'Dark Shadows'
by Celebuzz on Jul. 31, 2009 06:00 AM / 5 CommentsRobert Pattinson is about to get some competition in the hot-vampire department.
Frequent collaborators Johnny Depp and Tim Burton are gearing up to film a big-screen version of the mid-'60s soap opera Dark Shadows, featuring Depp as the vampire Barnabus Collins, and the two have been letting details about the project drip out in various interviews lately.
Depp tells Collider.com that playing 175-year-old vampire Collins has been "a lifelong dream for me," ever since he became infatuated with the show as a child. "I was obsessed with Barnabas Collins," Depp recalls. "I have photographs of me holding Barnabas Collins posters when I was five or six."
Burton, meanwhile, dished to the Los Angeles Times about his own impression of the original series. "It had the weirdest vibe to it. I'm sort of intrigued about that vibe," Burton noted.
As for the public's enduring interest in vampire stories, Burton theorizes, "It's like any great fable or fairytale, it's got a power to it...There's something symbolic about it that touches people in different ways."
At this year's Comic-Con, Burton said that he hopes to begin work on Dark Shadows as soon as he's finished working on his Alice in Wonderland remake—which also stars Depp, as the Mad Hatter. If the timing works out, who knows? Dark Shadows might even go up against Breaking Dawn, the final installment in the Twilight saga.
That would definitely give vampire fanatics something to sink their teeth into.
From the Examiner
Johnny Depp: pirate, vampire, and everything in between
July 30, 3:11 PMJohnny Depp is a very busy man.
Not only is he knee-deep in promotion and post-production for Alice in Wonderland, Depp will once again be joining forces with Tim Burton in the vampire flick Dark Shadows, targeted for a 2011 release with filming beginning in 2010. Burton confirmed to the LA Times that Dark Shadows will be his next project as soon as he wraps up post-production on Wonderland.
Burton described the 1960s vampire soap opera as having “the weirdest vibe to it,” and it most certainly will again with Burton and Depp at the helm. The prolific Depp’s production company, Infinitum Nihil, has optioned the film, and Depp will be taking the lead role of the vampire Barnabus Collins, which he confessed was a “lifelong dream.”
According to IMDb, Depp’s company has over a dozen films in development right now, including 2011’s The Invention of Hugo Cabret, an adaptation of Brian Selznik’s Caldecott-winning novel.
Depp himself is immersed in a variety of acting roles. On the heels of Public Enemies comes Wonderland, The Rum Diary, The Lone Ranger, and Rango (Depp voices the title character). He’s also rumored to be taking part in The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, In the Hands of Dante, The Incredible Mr. Limpet, and Sin City 3.
And who can forget the incomparable Jack Sparrow? Depp is reprising his role in Pirates of the Caribbean 4, which is currently in the script-writing stage and which, according to Disney’s Head of Production Oren Aviv, will begin filming in 2010.
The movies have subsequently gotten bigger and bigger and very complicated and they were satisfying on so many levels obviously, but I want to kind of reboot the whole thing and bring it down to its core, its essence, just characters.
This “reboot” will apparently include backstory on Depp’s eccentric character and will possibly be the first in a new trilogy, rather than a sequel to the first. Either way, Pirates fans will be lining up to see it.
As if all this wasn’t enough, Depp is also rumored to be taking on a Frank Sinatra biopic produced and directed by Martin Scorsese. Of course, nothing is confirmed, and there is also a rumor that the role will be taken by Leonardo DiCaprio, so Depp might not end up being connected to the film at all. Then again, there are the other members of the Rat Pack to consider…
Whether Depp characterizes the crooner or not won’t diminish the impact his career has made on modern cinema. Johnny Depp is undisputably one of the best actors of his generation with more than two dozen awards under his belt. All he needs now is an Oscar; maybe one of his many upcoming ventures will get him there... if he doesn't burn out in the attempt.
From MTVEXCLUSIVE: Tim Burton Says 'Dark Shadows' Will Shoot Next Year
Posted 7/21/09 5:00 pm ET by Eric Ditzian in News
Tim BurtonAs Tim Burton told us last week, he’s spending “every waking moment” on his Johnny Depp-led adaptation of “Alice in Wonderland.” The movie will serve up an ambitious melding of live-action, motion-capture and computer animated element. As soon as he’s finished with that mammoth undertaking—the film is due in theaters early next year—he’ll begin work on another Depp-focused project, one that has teased and tantalized movie nerds for years but which, finally, finally, is going to get underway in 2010: “Dark Shadows.”
“That’s something that [Depp and I] both love and are excited about,” the director told MTV News. “When I’m done with this I’ll definitely focus on that.”
Burton's comments jibe with what Depp said during the “Public Enemies” junket a few weeks ago. He told MTV's Josh Horowitz that he’ll be shooting “Shadows” and a fourth “Pirates of the Caribbean" film next year. There's also the fact that in March, an executive in Depp's production told us that the film "is very active" and "the studio will be making some announcements regarding it pretty soon. Very soon, probably.”
“Shadows” will be based on the ‘60s soap opera of the same name, an ABC daytime TV show that incorporated elements of gothic romance, science fiction and supernatural phenomena like ghosts, zombies and vampires. Depp will reportedly play vampire Barnabas Collins.
“It’s another challenge because it was such a weird soap opera,” Burton explained. “Part of the energy of it was the tone and weirdness of it. That’s our challenge, to try to capture that vibe.”
That vibe was part campy melodrama, part dead serious—and decidedly odd—storytelling. Which direction does Burton plan on going?
“It’s always a fine line,” he said. “That remains to be seen. That’s a question and a challenge we talk about a lot. I haven’t arrived at the answer. That’s definitely a main issue, the tone and the vibe of it because as we all know melodrama can cross over. It’s one of the more interesting things about it.”
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