Johnny Depp and Tim Burton Team Up for Dark Shadows Remake

[Andy Chalk]

Johnny Depp and Tim Burton Team Up for Dark Shadows Remake

Twilight [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000318/]-inspired emo vampires and werewolves.

Producer John August [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0454752/] 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 will be the latest in a long line of collaborations between Burton and Depp that stretches all the way back to the 1990 film Alice in Wonderland [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099487/], on which Burton is still finishing post-production work.

The original Dark Shadows ran on ABC from 1966 to 1971 and according to Wikipedia became "hugely popular" when Jonathan Frid [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0294847/] joined the cast in 1967 as the vampire Barnabas Collins. The series fell victim to declining ratings and the economic crunch of 1970, however, and despite the anger of fans was replaced in mid-1971 by a new version of the 60s game show Password.

It's tough to predict how the film will fare in the current era of brooding, nancy-boy vampires but King said it will definitely "have something to say in the post-Twilight world." He refused to offer up any details but pointed out, "This is going to be Tim Burton and Johnny doing a vampire movie, right?"

Right.

Source: Sci Fi Wire [http://scifiwire.com/2009/12/confirmed-johnny-depps-da.php]


Permalink

 

[HardRockSamurai]

Dear Mr. Burton,

Dear Mr. Depp,

...

PLEASE KILL TWILIGHT!!![hr][small]But in all seriousness, how is the news of Tim Burton and Johnny Depp making another movie something that CAN'T be celebrated? Huzzah![/small]

 

[MR T3D]

I blame timmy burton for the emoification and shit seen today.
large cross section of twilight and nightmare before xmas fans in my experience.

 

[Jared]

Tim Burton and Johnny Depp?! Theres a combo I didn't expect to see.

Same here! I wonder what manner of child shall be born from this. Definetly worth watching!

 

[Milkman Dan]

The whole Twilight thing just flew over my head. I didn't read it, didn't watch the movie, for that matter I don't believe I've even seen a trailer. It's kind of weird to see it mentioned so often.

Anyway, I'd like to point out there was a previous revival in the early 90s. It didn't last very long, and I was bitterly disappointed when it was cancelled, because I thought it was rather good.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Somebody needs to break those two guys up. If a relationship results in Charlie and The Choclate Factory then it's in everybody's best interest to just end it or seek counselling.

 

[rokkolpo]

sounds good. wasn't that movie with the headless horseman with tim burton aswell?

EDIT:sleepy hollow, i remembered.

 

[Scrythe]

I swear they must've been sleeping with each other for the last 25 years...

 

[General Vagueness]

ridiculous dark humor guy + ridiculous dark humor guy + ridiculous dark soap opera turned movie = low chance of failure IMHO

 

[Therumancer]

I have mixed opinions about this.

My father and stepmother were big fans of Dark Shadows when they were young, and I actually wound up watching seasons of this thing when Blockbuster was renting the show on video when I was a LOT younger and VHS was current, and Blockbuster was an unstoppable juggernaut.

To put things bluntly the show drags on and on before anything really cool starts to happen, and it takes three or four times as long as it should for any conclusion or plot event to take place. More awesome stuff happened in the preamble in the first episode than in like the first two entire seasons. Eventually my parents gave up since it didn't recapture the magic. I did wind up watching quite a bit more of it.

To be honest Barnabas Collins is an interesting character, but the amusing thing was that Jonathan Frid showed up playing him while quite obviously drunk in a lot of the episodes which was good for some lulz.

The show did eventually get into time travel, witchcraft, parallel dimensions, and all kinds of things that were fairly "new" ideas for TV at the time.... however ironically it took all of that "do nothing" drama to establish what they needed for all of this to fly.

They already tried to do a reboot of Dark Shadows for TV back in the 1990s (I think) and it died horribly. Oddly I think the problem was that they started throwing out the "cool" stuff left and right without any of the characterization, history, or ultra-slow burn build up.

With no offense to Tim Burton, I don't think he can really recapture what made that show successful. It was kind of the "Buffy The Vampire Slayer" or "Dukes Of Hazzard" of it's generation. Even if you nail the formula right it's just going to seem like an imitation and miss the magic that just made things "click" when it first came out.

If they can't relaunch it as a TV series, I fail to see how they can capture the essence in a movie as much as I think it would be cool to revisit a version of that world.

Plus, as I pointed out as distinctive as Barnabas is, and as interesting as the character is, a good part of the fun was wondering when the actor was going to show up drunk. Don't get me wrong, he wasn't a falling down wino, nor did he rant or anything... you'd sort of have to see it to really understand... and I guess that's part of my point.

Oh and also understand Barnabus is sort of a retread of Dracula. He even has his own version of Renfield whose name is Willy Loomis (if I remember).

 

[Nova5]

Hooray... Now we can hear more of Danny Elfman's obnoxious music... (To anyone who doesn't get this: Ignore it, or Google it.)

Seriously, Tim Burton needs to stop making movies. After the pointless faff-around that was '9' (Yeah, yeah, he just produced it - but there's a very 'Tim Burton-esque' feel about the way that film was broken), he shouldn't be allowed near another studio.

 

[300lb. Samoan]

Tim Burton and Johnny Depp?! Theres a combo I didn't expect to see.

Same here! I wonder what manner of child shall be born from this. Definetly worth watching!

That was sarcasm you know. They work together more than any other director and actor.
Unless your thing was sarcasm, in which case...now I'm confused.

Stop that, you two! You're gonna break the Intertubes' sarcasm switch!

OT I hope they stick a silver cross right through Edward Cullen's heart.

That would be SOOOOO great...
Wait, did that just come across as sarcastic? NOOOOOOO

 

[hansari]

Producer Graham King [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0454752/]!!!!!!!!!

!!!!

Click on that link! The man is producing like 50 movies in the time-frame of 3 years. WTf>!!

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Tim Burton and Johnny Depp.

This could be awesome beyond awesome, or...they could miss the point...and if they do it will be SO bad...

It's really not fair, it's like hearing that Terry Gilliam's going to do a new movie; you know that even if it's a trainwreck, it'll be the most entertaining trainwreck ever, but you just wish that other people would GET it: and let it be what it is.

Depp's at his best when he's got no clue what's going on (PotC 1, Fear and Loathing) but crashes and burns when he's trying to play himself (Sweeney Todd, PotC 2 & 3); while Tim Burton leaves that gothic tinged lacquer to everything he creates, which made Beetlejuice so good but killed off Todd.

And this is just after Alice...

I've never been so torn before...

 

[Gildan Bladeborn]

I have no idea if this will be any good, but women seem to find Johnny Depp almost ludicrously attractive even when he's made up like he was in Pirates of the Caribbean, so who am I to complain if Burton decides to give us a cinematic depiction of a non-mincing nancy-boy vampire for them to become obsessed with?

Anything that potentially helps drive a nail into Twilight's coffin is a good thing in my book.

 

[Loop Stricken]

I wonder if Helena Bonham-Carter will be in this. That would be new and exciting.

 

[-Drifter-]

I blame timmy burton for the emoification and shit seen today.
large cross section of twilight and nightmare before xmas fans in my experience.

True, but I don't really think you can blame him for that. Nightmare was a genuinely good movie, that just so happened to attract the attention of... well, the kind of people who are into Twilight.