It's official: Dark Shadows returns as a film with Johnny Depp

[borgosi]

I've never thought of Hitchcock as funny in any way. The whole idea of DS as "funny" scares me. I'm trying to have an open mind but it's getting harder as more and more people call it "funny". There are very, very few "funny" movies that I like and I so want to like this movie.

[Nancy]

Excellent points.  The Revival brought in new fans to DS fandom and that is always a good thing.  The passion for the Revival that those new fans had made me go back and look at the Revival again.  I didn't keep up with it originally and what I saw didn't ignite any excitement but now I have a better appreciation for it, again, because of the new fans like yourself who came into fandom.

The DS airings on SyFy brought in new DS fans and the Depp DS movie will do the same.  The curious/new fans will have a chance to also discover the Revival series and the original.  How can this be a bad thing?

Even if the new DS movie royally sucks and everyone in the universe agrees, the publicity leading up to the movie, the Depp fans who go to every movie he makes, and the movie itself will still lead to people checking out the previous DS video/DVD offerings.  The original series will take lots of hits for the sloppy production values and the actors who didn't know their lines will get dismissed as being lousy actors (rather than just not able to learn lines quickly - that has nothing to do with acting ability) but there will still be an emergence of new fans for the original series too.  It's all good, IMO.  There isn't any downside.

I am so excited because this is going to also bring people to the old show, I am sure of it.  If it wasn't for the Revival I know I would not be watching DS.

[Julia99]

hear hear Nancy!

[KMR]

I've never thought of Hitchcock as funny in any way. The whole idea of DS as "funny" scares me. I'm trying to have an open mind but it's getting harder as more and more people call it "funny". There are very, very few "funny" movies that I like and I so want to like this movie.

I suppose you and I just have different senses of humor. I'm not saying that Hitchcock's movies are outright comedies (although at least one is: Mr. and Mrs. Smith), but just that they contains lots of humor. Some obvious examples are The Lady Vanishes, North by Northwest, and Family Plot (that last one especially so). And oh my goodness, don't forget his TV series! And Hitchcock the man himself had a very, very strong sense of humor. (Although how many of his quotes in the press and in public speeches were from his own mind or his staff writers is open for debate, such as the famous quote in which he actually calls Psycho a "comedy".)

I think if you watch some Hitchcock movies again, you should be able to see what I'm talking about. If this is the kind of "funny" that is meant in discussions of the DS script, then there's probably nothing at all to worry about. I think they mean "funny" more in the sense of containing irony or dry wit, not one-liners or slapstick.

[Sara Monster]

Another interview with Eva Green:
http://www.nextmovie.com/blog/eva-green-interview-cracks/

You have a big role coming up in Tim Burton's vampire movie, "Dark Shadows," alongside Johnny Depp. Have you met Depp yet?
No. But he's an amazing actor and he will bring something I'm sure completely. I don't know how he's going to play him; I think he'll surprise me. I don't know the chemistry between the two, it's love and hate, the dynamic is very interesting so I'm sure I will be very intimated and kind of in awe of him.

[borgosi]

I agree that there is humor in Hitchcock films but there is a big different between humor and "funny". Dawn Of The Dead is full of humor but I would never call it "funny". If Eva Green or any one person had called it "funny" I wouldn't have worried about it. That's what I did when one of the producers call the script "campy" and "very funny", I forget which one but I'll try and look it up. Now there's been four or five different people working on it that have call it "funny". One has to assume that these people know the difference between humor and "funny", or at least most of them.

Contrast that to the number of times I heard it called a "gothic love story"....so far....zero.

I keep telling myself that as most it'll be a "black comedy" and maybe that won't be to bad. I also try to remind myself that I love "Young Frankenstein" and if we got a comedy that was as good as that, that wouldn't be a bad thing.

I want this to be a great film that we as DS fans can be proud of, one where we can tell the world, "see it is a great story". I just know how most remakes turn out. I know how I feel about the Depp "Planet Of The Apes". Does anyone really think that movie brought new fans to the original film? If it did there weren't many. I didn't like is "Wonka" or his "Alice" either.

That said, I don't care what the time it takes place in, I don't care if it's in 3-D, I don't care what the actors look like, all I want is a good story.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Thanks for the link, Sara.  

And checking my e-mail I just found a link to this: Eva Green on ‘Cracks,’ Nudity, & the New Tim Burton Film ‘Dark Shadows’

More very interesting remarks and another reference to the fact that she's "not allowed to say too much." Not sure what to make of the Beetlejuice reference (I've never seen the film), but it's definitely great to hear that she believes the script is extremely well written, very focused on the actors, and that the characters are really rich.

[borgosi]

And they say "Up next, she'll star as a witch opposite Johnny Depp in Time Burton's horror comedy, Dark Shadows." I just don't like the sound of that.


In reply "2045" I said Depp's "Planet Of The Apes"...that should have been Burton's...but I think everyone knew that.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Now there's been four or five different people working on it that have call it "funny". One has to assume that these people know the difference between humor and "funny", or at least most of them.

Contrast that to the number of times I heard it called a "gothic love story"....so far....zero.

True - though Depp has called it "very dark."

I keep telling myself that as most it'll be a "black comedy" and maybe that won't be to bad. I also try to remind myself that I love "Young Frankenstein" and if we got a comedy that was as good as that, that wouldn't be a bad thing.

I'll admit that ten months ago (to the day, actually) when it was first reported that Richard D. Zanuck had described the script as being funny, I was concerned. But since then other remarks have come out as well, particularly Depp's, which make the film sound like anything but a comedy (despite the fact that BlackBook.com describes the film as a "horror comedy" - but then, Web sites have described Vicki alternately as a governess or a waitress, so it would seem that not every one of these writers actually knows what they're talking about), so it's far from a case that everyone is only saying it's funny. But that being said, I definitely believe there will be funny elements to it, and the thing that I find most reassuring in the respect is Eva Green's remark that Barn and Ang have a Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf love-hate relationship. As anyone who has seen that play/movie knows, there is some hilariously funny, dryly witty and sometimes acerbic elements to it, though one wouldn't call it a full-on comedy. And there are also some hilariously funny, dryly witty and sometimes acerbic elements to the original DS series. I mean, think of some of the scenes between Liz and Roger, Nicholas and Cassandra and Magda and Barnabas, just to name a few. And one of Angelique's best lines in Leviathans is when she taunts Sky with the line, "From Tycoon to lackey - how the mighty have fallen!" That's the sort of funny line that would be in the Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf tradition. And that's more along the lines of the type of "funny" that I'm expecting given most of what we've heard so far.

all I want is a good story.

Well, if we can believe the several remarks that have come out to that effect, then it should be.

[borgosi]

Good points all, but as for it being a good story, I'd never expect someone that's in a movie or working on a movie to say anything other than that. When someone that won't profit from the box office says it's a good script I'll have more reason to believe it.

I don't know of anyone ever saying my next movie has a script that blows.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

When someone that won't profit from the box office says it's a good script I'll have more reason to believe it.

I don't know of anyone ever saying my next movie has a script that blows.

True. Though KLS won't profit from the box office - and if one believes that she has read the script as she claims, then one would probably accept her opinion that it's "marvelous." One also has to wonder if she would describe DS being turned into a horror comedy that way? But I suppose only she can be the one to answer that...

[borgosi]

I have thought of that, one could also ask if Frid would have anything to do with a DS horror comedy?

I hope that everyone who has called it a "horror comedy" or "funny" is wrong. But the more people that call it that the harder it is for me to not believe it.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Well, BlackBook.com is the only Web site that's said the film is a horror comedy. And it's worth noting that Eva Green wasn't the one that said that, it was the writer of the article. And it would be great if writers didn't embellish upon or interpret quotes on their own, but sadly, far too many do read things into quotes that weren't necessarily meant to be there. The writer could have simply assumed that the film will be a horror comedy based on Green's remark that it's funny. And as for that remark, as I mentioned before, there could be other ways of interpreting it other than the film being a full-on comedy. (Though if it is indeed a horror comedy, I suspect KLS is going to have a lot of explaining to do when she's confronted with a mob of angry fans who wonder how the hell she could think turning DS into a comedy was a marvelous idea.  )

There is also one other possible explanation, though I don't know how much stock I put in it. I've read on a few other DS message boards where fans are speculating that several of the people connected to the film are deliberately passing along misinformation, possibly even at Tim Burton's request, so as to keep the real details of the script a secret. And that does sound a bit far fetched. However, it's not a practice that's completely unheard of because other TV/film producers have actually used that ploy. And given his penchant for intense secrecy, it's not something I would completely put past Burton. But as to whether or not he has actually been doing it, well, I'd probably come down more on the no than the yes side - but I suppose only time will tell...

[borgosi]

You're right, only time will tell.

Putting misinformation would get fans talking faster than anything and fans would be very forgiving as long as the trailers look good. If they look good we will all be in line on opening day.

I am not a fan of Grahame-Smith nor do I think I ever will be, that in itself will cause me to be more open to the idea that his script may not be what I would like. I hope this one is good and the next one will have a different writer.

[borgosi]

My hope is that the DS movie is a dark gothic love story. My problem is I listen to what those working on it say about it.

When the rest of you read that it's going to be "campy" or "funny" do you even for a minute believe who ever says it? Do you think right away "they don't really mean that" or "they don't funny that way"? I'm not asking to be funny. These statements really make me fear for the movie and I don't want to. I want to be excited about it nor dread it's release but it gets hard with each new bit of info. I thought about not reading any new info but I don't think I can do that.