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

[Mysterious Benefactor]

From Tim Burton Collective News:
>>websites across the Internet still can't stop yammering about a rumor that Johnny Depp will be playing the Mad Hatter, despite the fact that there is no official or credible source to take account for this claim.<<

And this should surprise anyone because?    Sharing and/or promoting anything from completely unsubstantiated rumors to outright lies is what the Internet all too often does best. 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Another site that's jumped on the Depp as Mad Hatter bandwagon and which also mentions how Depp is reportedly likely to play Barnabas in "Tim Burton's movie version of Dark Shadows." 

Weekly Ketchup: Plans For Venom, Marvin The Martian, X-Files, And More
(Scroll down to "#7 JOHNNY DEPP AND TIM BURTON MAKING A MOVIE TOGETHER? NO WAY!")

[jimbo]

So exactly when is this Dark Shadows movie going to be filmed especially in light of the Director of the Don Quixote movie saying that Depp will film his movie by next summer?

http://www.flixster.com/news/2008/08/04/johnny-depps-don-quixote-film-is-back-on

[retzev]

No one knows, jimbo.

[jimbo]

Retzev I know you know. Joking. It is just mind boggling that JD has so many movies to film. I was hoping that DS would have been filmed before the DQ movie and that he believed DS was more of a priority for him. We will just have to wait and see and hope and pray...........

[GooberCollins]

Hold the phone. We only know that Depp is going to play Barnabas. Who's to say that the movie may not be out for years and years, and that he'll, in fact, be playing Old Barnabas?

I am, of course, kidding.

[jimbo]

That is very true GooberCollins. There will always be a part in the movie for Depp to play in the event he takes his sweet time. j/k

[Pansity]

Hate to throw a mack truck full of ice cubes on the optimistic, but I have to agree with those who are thinking this project may take a long time,based on the way things are done in that business.  Let me add a concrete example I am familiar with -- the latest Indiana Jones movie.

Back in the early 90s I published an Indiana Jones letterzine (for those not familiar, letterzines were made up of letters from subscribers,  discussing issues as we now do on line).  I remember VERY clearly that within I think 2-3 years of Last Crusade and during the ABC run of The Young Indiana Jones Chroniclesannouncements and news leaks were out about the 4th movie.  There was even a finished script that Ford had signed of on.

And what year was it this movie was finally released?!?!  

Bottom line with this new movie is that scripts take a LONG time to write and have everyone agree to -- and to even start the script you need a story concept.  As we've discussed here, there are many places to start and many ways to tell the story -- so I'm betting there will be multiple scripts before we even have to WORRY about production dates.  

Jeannie

[GooberCollins]

Meh, as I've said before, as long as HoDS and the restored version of NoDS hit DVD soon, I'm fine. The entirety of Dark Shadows (by which I mean the original show; the revival's just a novelty, in my book), along with the two movies and a wealth of special features will be available on standard DVD, just in time for the advent of Blu-ray!

[Mysterious Benefactor]

When it comes to Depp's projects, it seems as if almost anything can happen. Roles are announced, they seem to be on the fast track, but then, like Shantaram, they sometimes get sidetracked and others crop out in their places. And if we can go by what Jim Pierson said at the Fest, the DS script is in early development. IF the Depp/DS film was to begin production by the first quarter or so of 2010, it could easily be ready for release by fall/winter (which is more the time of year when I'd hope it would come out because I see DS as a fall film, not a summer film). The possibility that Depp may start to film The Man Who Killed Don Quixote before the summer of 2009 probably shouldn't affect DS at all. The thing that could really hold it up, though, is IF Tim Burton is indeed going to direct because his schedule is far most complicated than Depp's.

[jimbo]

It's true MB that almost anything can happen at this point. We really don't know too much about what is happening with the movie project. In fact if it were not for Get Smart's director Peter Segal leaking the news about DS' writer and director, who really knows how much information Jim Pierson was going to provide at the Fest or allow Shadowgram to print? We could use another leakage. I am still hoping for filming to start in 2009 or as soon as possible. The sooner the movie is released the sooner the House and Night of DS are released on DVD and the restoration of NODS greenlighted.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Earlier production dates don't necessarily result in earlier release dates. Studios tend to in part plan their release schedules based on the types of movies they have in the wings and some types of movies are best released at certain times during the year, which is why we tend to see big action/escapist films in the summer and more serious fare in the fall. (There are even times where studios tend to release the movies that they have less confidence in - but let's not go there with regard to the Depp/DS film.) If Warners were to indeed decide that the Depp/DS film is the type of film that would do best with a fall release, it really wouldn't matter if it was to go into production in, say, July '09 or January '10 because in all probability it wouldn't be ready for release in fall '09 if it only began production in July, so both start times would most probably result in a fall '10 release. Also, studios tend to plan releases around which films the other studios have coming out as well as what other films a particular star has coming out. For example, if another studio announces that their film with Depp will be coming out on Friday, November 26, 2010, Warners would want to release the DS film at least a few weeks before that date or a few weeks after so that two Depp films aren't in direct competition with one another. (Actually, Friday, October 30, 2010 might be an ideal release date to capitalize on Halloween. Are you paying attention, Warners?    Though, of course, that would completely depend on whether or the not the film can be completed by that date, which at this point is still a bit uncertain because everything is still up in the air so much.  )

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Hmmm - I just read where Johnny Depp won a Teen Choice Award as Choice Movie Villain for Sweeney Todd. Apparently his appeal is not only with adults but teen and tween girls (even though ST was rated R and by rights the girls in that age (who comprise the vast majority of votes for the Teen Choice Awards) shouldn't have even seen the film (well, at least not without a parent or guardian). That could bode quite well for the Depp/DS film.

[retzev]

We could use another leakage.

Speak for yourself my friend 

[madscntst]

Apparently his appeal is not only with adults but teen and tween girls

Now, that's an understatement!     Yes, there are LOTS of teens/tweens on the Depp message boards, and many of them convinced their parents to take them to Sweeney Todd.  If the families were into Sondheim/musicals, it was a pretty easy sell.  Realize also that even if they couldn't see the movie, they could've voted for Johnny anyway.

About The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, Gilliam does seem pretty sure about filming starting before summer.  But bear in mind that he's been trying to get this movie restarted for 8 years.  He *always* sounds confident that it's about to start filming.  In fact, he blamed the Pirates sequels for taking Johnny's time away from filming Quixote; never mind that he didn't yet have the rights back to make the film.  The latest article also implies that Gilliam intends to rewrite the script, but doesn't make it sound like that's completed yet.  All to say, the man tends to blow hot air sometimes.  That said, Johnny is on record as saying "I'm in, as soon as Terry says the word."