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From Yahoo News
'Sweeney Todd' Starts Principal Photography. Johnny Depp Stars. Tim Burton Directs.
Monday February 26, 2:05 pm ETLOS ANGELES, Feb. 26 /PRNewswire/ -- Principal photography has begun in London on "Sweeney Todd"; starring Johnny Depp in the Tim Burton directed screen adaptation of Stephen Sondheim's award-winning musical thriller.
The DreamWorks Pictures and Warner Bros. co-production presents Depp as Sweeney Todd, a man unjustly sent to prison, who vows revenge not only for that cruel punishment but for the devastating consequences of what happened to his wife and daughter. When he returns to reopen his barber shop, he becomes the Demon Barber of Fleet Street who "shaved the heads of gentleman who never thereafter were heard from again."*
"I've always wanted to do a musical and 'Sweeney Todd' is my favorite," said Tim Burton. "Stephen's blend of humor, horror and emotion is something that has always connected with me."
"Sometimes a story or stage production has to wait a long time until the right people come together to turn it into a motion picture," said Stephen Sondheim. "That's what has happened with 'Sweeney Todd' and I'm excited as well as confident that it will be a first-rate and startling movie."
This will be the sixth collaboration between Depp and Burton who worked previously together on Corpse Bride, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Ed Wood, Edward Scissorhands and Sleepy Hollow. Depp comes fresh from completing the third Pirates of the Caribbean film in the Academy Award nominated role of Captain Jack Sparrow.**
Also starring in the Parkes/MacDonald and Zanuck Company production is Helena Bonham Carter as Mrs. Lovett who creates her diabolical meat pies while becoming Sweeney's amorous accomplice. Alan Rickman is the evil Judge Turpin who sent him unfairly to prison, thereby sowing the seeds of Sweeney's vengeance. Timothy Spall plays the Judge's wicked associate Beadle Bamford. Sacha Baron Cohen is a rival barber, the flamboyant Signor Adolfo Pirelli, and Christopher Lee takes on the role of the gentleman ghost.
Rounding out the cast are Jamie Campbell Bowen as the young sailor Anthony, Jayne Wisener as Johanna, Laura Michelle Kelly as the beggar woman, and newcomer Ed Sanders plays Toby.
All the stars will do their own singing from Stephen Sondheim's music and lyrics.
The film is produced by Richard D. Zanuck, Walter Parkes, Laurie MacDonald, and John Logan from a screenplay by Logan. The original Broadway production had Sondheim's music and lyrics and a book by Hugh Wheeler based on a play by Christopher Bond. It won eight Tony Awards including Best Musical.
Its mix of the shockingly macabre, comic and dramatic, supported by Sondheim's movie-like score has had hundreds of productions through the world, most recently a highly acclaimed production on Broadway. What once might have been taboo and ghoulish became deliciously entertaining.
Joining Burton at Pinewood to create his vision is director of photography Dariusz Wolski (Pirates of the Caribbean I, II, III), production designer Academy Award winner Dante Ferrati (The Aviator), costume designer two time Academy Award winner Colleen Atwood (Memoirs of a Geisha, Chicago), hair and make up designer Academy Award winner Peter Owen (The Lord of the Rings), and editor Chris Lebenzon.
The film will be distributed domestically by Paramount for a late 2007 release and distributed internationally by Warner Bros.
* From the opening lyrics of the score for the original Broadway show.
** Pirates of the Caribbean, Curse of the Black Pearl
From Emma
Click to enlarge
Found by Emma at Variety
Variety
Jan. 7, 2007No stranger to pushing rocks uphill, veteran producer Richard Zanuck has frequently taken on some notably risky acquisitions, most notably best pic winner "Driving Miss Daisy," which no one else believed in.
About a year ago he came aboard what looks to be a true rarity, an R-rated musical based on Stephen Sondheim's acclaimed "Sweeney Todd." And like "Miss Daisy," he is completely smitten with the Demon Barber of Fleet Street.
"At this point in my career, I have to be passionate about a project to keep me stimulated," he says. "I'm not interested in making just another movie. I've been associated with literally hundreds, so cranking out another one is not a goal."
The film's director, Tim Burton, and Zanuck have formed a stable working relationship over the past several years, and their belief in Sondheim's Tony-winning tuner is equally firm. "Neither of us has ever done a musical before, so we're both very excited."
Zanuck calls it a "horror musical," which like the stage production will be mostly sung. "And everyone in it will be doing their own singing, including Sacha Baron Cohen," who plays a rival barber to Johnny Depp's Sweeney. John Logan ("Gladiator," "The Last Samurai") has written the script, and the film will be produced entirely at London's Pinewood Studios early this year.
From 411 Mania
Rickman Joins Burton's Sweeney Todd
Posted by Ashish on 01.08.2007Cast grows for next Tim Burton film...
Allan Rickman is the latest name to join Tim Burton's Sweeney Todd. The film already stars Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, and Sacha Baron Cohen.
Rickman will play the lecherous Judge Turpin, who has Benjamin Barker (Depp) unjustly sent to prison and then preys on Barker's wife. Once released, Barker becomes Fleet Street barber Sweeney Todd and exacts revenge. With the help of his friend Mrs. Lovett (Bonham Carter), Todd kills various clients and then gives their remains to Mrs. Lovett who makes them into meat pies. "Borat" star Cohen plays Signor Adolfo Pirelli, a rival barber.
The film is of course based on the Broadway musical.
Production is scheduled to begin in February.
