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March 29& 30, 2007
Thanks to the fabulous Bonnie and AnaMaria these photos first posted on Johnny Depp Zone give us more glimpses of Johnny as Sweeney Todd. I've made cropped versions also.
Another pic posted by Mrs. Sands at Deppographyand a crop
From Coming Soon
Sweeney ToddRelease Date: December 21, 2007
Studio: Paramount Pictures
Director: Tim Burton
Screenwriter: John Logan
Starring: Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Alan Rickman, Timothy Spall, Sacha Baron Cohen, Christopher Lee, Jamie Campbell Bowen, Jayne Wisener, Laura Michelle Kelly, Ed Sanders
Genre: Musical, Thriller
MPAA Rating: Not Available
Official Website: Not Available
Review: Not Available
DVD Review: Not Available
DVD: Not Available
Movie Poster: Not Available
Production Stills: Not Available
Plot Summary: The DreamWorks Pictures and Warner Bros. co-production presents Johnny 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."
March 27, 2007
Thanks to the fabulous Bonnie and AnaMaria these photos first posted on Johnny Depp Zone give us our first glimpse of Johnny in his Sweeney Todd costume. He has a dramatic swatch of white hair, which is long and wild, and tight, pinstriped trousers, a leather-looking double-breasted vest, romantic shirt and a neck-tie that looks like it's seem better days. He has his razor, like a soldier's sword, in a sheath worn dangling from his belt and secured wiht a leg tie.
Filming is set to resume Monday March 26th - they are not filming scenes with Johnny in them on that day.
From Liz Smith at the New York Post
PEAKING OF cutting remarks, Sacha Baron Cohen is trying to cut his co- star, Johnny Depp, dead! These two are filming the Stephen Sondheim musical "Sweeney Todd" at Pinewood Studios in London - wherein Cohen plays barber Adolfo Pirelli and Depp plays Sweeney Todd, the demon barber of Fleet Street.There is a competition to see which actor can best shave another person with a straight razor. The "Borat" star put his own real-life barber on the payroll as adviser and has had 16 hours of razor training. They say that Cohen has had problems with singing Sondheim's lyrics and that he has been given permission by the film's director, Tim Burton, to sing in a rap style. Cohen has to warble and shave customers at the same time in this film.
But Depp has submitted to teasing by co-star Cohen. When Johnny said he might be going to L.A., Cohen said, "I have a lot of contacts, and I will ask what they can do to help you!" This from the man most people never heard of before "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan."
From DVD Talk Review
Sweeny Todd - The Director's Cut (This is not the Johnny Depp DVD)
(excerpt)
Some say he's fictional. Others swear his notoriety and crimes are based in truth. Whatever the case may be, the legendary "demon barber" of Fleet Street has become quite a post-modern icon. There have been movies made of his exploits (at least five by last count) a Tony Award winning musical (from Broadway legend Stephen Sondheim) and, currently, Tim Burton has once again teamed up with Johnny Depp to adapt said song and dance show into a big screen blockbuster. One of the more interesting attempts at the story remains a 2006 TV movie from Britain featuring Ray Winstone and Essie Davis.Early buzz from the UK sets has Johnny Depp lining up for a trip to the Academy podium come Oscar '08. Indeed, word from Stephen Sondheim (who had some role in approving the casting, at least from a musical standpoint) has the iconic actor delivering 'the performance of a lifetime'. In the long litany of song styling Todds (Len Cariou, George Hearn), Depp has a hard act to follow.
From the Sondheim Society
Sweeney Todd film news
11th March, 2007
From the Mandrake column in the Telegraph: ‘If Sacha Baron Cohen turns out to have a very sharp edge on Johnny Depp in their new film, Sweeney Todd, then Mandrake can furnish an explanation. The eccentric Borat star has insisted on putting his barber, Carmelo Guastella, on the payroll as his personal adviser on shaving techniques."Johnny wasn't sure what I was doing on the set and Sacha told him that I was his drama coach," says Guastella, who runs the Melogy salon in King's Cross, north London . "In fact, Sacha is determined to put in a convincing portrayal of a barber. I gave him 16 hours of lessons shaving with a cut-throat razor and he picked up in that time what it took me 22 years to learn. He used his driver to test his shaving techniques on - at first the poor guy was rather apprehensive, but no blood was spilt."
Baron Cohen's decision to avail himself of Guastella's expertise suggests that the on-screen rivalry between his character, Adolfo Pirelli, and the rival barber Sweeney Todd, played by Depp, is becoming an off-screen battle of wills between the two immensely bankable stars. There had been reports that Baron Cohen, ostensibly having problems singing Stephen Sondheim's lyrics in the film, had been given a dispensation by the director Tim Burton to perform them in a rap style.
Guastella reports from the Pinewood set that Baron Cohen is, however, singing in an old-fashioned barber-shop manner. "It's a complicated performance - he has to shave his customers and sing as well and get all the movements right," he says. "I saw him rehearsing and at one point he sang one of the songs himself without back-up music. He won a standing ovation from the actors who were watching."
He adds that Baron Cohen is inclined to tease Depp. "When Johnny told Sacha that he might be going to Los Angeles , Sacha told him that he had a lot of contacts in that city and he promised to ask them to do what they could to help him."
Christopher Lee, who plays the Gentleman Ghost in this, his fourth collaboration with Burton and Depp, tells me: "It's always fun working with Johnny and Tim. Johnny is one of the greatest actors of his generation. And when Tim is behind the camera, one just feels the waves of enthusiasm." '
From Hot Blog
February 26, 2007
Just One GuessI really don't want to get into next year's awards yet. (This has not stopped me from talking to some reporters about it.) At some point, one has to stop complaining and just hold back.
Also, next year is no clear read. Movies like Che' (Episode One) could arrive... or not. Movies like Sweeney Todd could deliver... or not. Strong foreign directors like Suzanne Bier could become strong US-studio film directors... or not. And veterans like Mike Nichols could be unstoppable... or not.
So...
Just this.
I believe now that Johnny Depp is a 95% bet to be nominated for Best Actor as the title character in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street in a very, very crowded field of 2007 male movie performances… and an 80% chance to win.
Word from the set about his performance - from multiple sources - is excellent. He was nominated in the last two years before missing this year with the Pirates sequel. But the Pirates threequel is actually more a help than a hindrance. Huge box office power followed by an unexpected (though people have come to expect the unexpected from Depp) performance as the lead of a Grand Guignol opera… manna from heaven to Academy voters who are more than ready to deliver this guy an Oscar.
Leo will get one eventually for the right role. Mark Wahlberg is probably the next guy to become an “actor’s favorite” regular in races, even for less than Oscar-y roles. Ryan Gosling can probably have whatever he wants to have in this regard.
But Depp is like an aesthetic zit that actors are drooling to pop. To paraphrase what someone said, actors want to be him and actresses want to be with him, on screen and off. We’re a long, long way from The Ninth Gate and The Astronaut’s Wife.
The film can miss and Depp will still be nominated if he is any good at all. And it seems unlikely that he will be anything less than fantastic… which makes him the one clear frontrunner for 2007/8’s award season.
14% of the 20% of not winning is that there will be a film that comes along – none is clearly in sight right now – that will be overwhelming, have an overwhelming lead male performance, and will become unstoppable, turning Depp’s work into a “stunt” that can be overlooked in the finals. 1% is that Depp just isn’t that good. And 5% is just plain “other.”
Edie Murphy as James “Thunder” Early did stink of Oscar. And so does Depp as Sweeney Todd. The biggest question is whether he could sing the role. But everyone from Sondheim, who auditioned him, to everyone who I know of who has heard him sing this role, is “thumbs up.”
The reasons Depp is far more of a probable to win than Murphy are, a) it will be his third nomination, b) he is seen as an artist by almost everyone, c) he doesn’t carry any of Murphy’s baggage of being black, a comedian, 99.9% unavailable (Depp is at about 85%, though he is good at hiding in Europe and not making the press hate him for being unavailable), or a wearer of fat suits, and d) he is the lead, not a supporting actor, where quirky performances are more common.
And so, that is my one deeply believed projection into next year’s race. The rest, I would truly be guessing… even more than in year’s past. Even from this distance, you can see that the studios are not even making the big, obvious Oscar films for this fall. Perhaps the surprise appearance of one will be, like The Departed, a feature of next year’s race. Maybe not.
But for now, time to shut down my Oscar brain for a while. Time to consider what to do next season and not just how quickly it can be done.
