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

[Gothick]

Thanks to Jimbo for the wonderful account of your meeting with Barbara Steele.  I would love to hear more, but I imagine that you've already pretty much shared all there was to share.

The timeline she gives for the shooting and distro of Depp Shadows sounds realistic to me. 

I came to look at this thread because I saw a news item somewhere a couple of days ago about a movie that Johnny Depp "and his girlfriend" (I'm not sure what was meant by this, since I thought that Depp lived with his wife of many years in France) have been working on has been delayed due to an injury suffered by a cast member.  I happened to see this because an elderly British character actor I admire is in the cast and there was a link to the item from his IMDB page.  It sounds as if Johnny Depp's schedule may be on the verge of further re-arrangement.

Although I am not a fan of 1991 Dark Shadows, knowing that Barbara Steele was going to attend a DS Festival would make that event much more interesting and attractive to me.  As I have stated a number of times in the past, I enjoyed Steele's work on the 1991 Shadows enormously and have a huge admiration for her verve and artistry as an actress.

G.

[Gothick]

Oops!  I double-checked that IMDB clipping and it proved to date to 8 years ago and a Terry Gilliam movie that Depp was involved with back then.  So sorry for any confusion I may have created.

Interestingly, Dark Shadows is now on Depp's main page on the site with a projected 2011 release date listed.

G.

[madscntst]

Hi Gothick, you've already figured out the mystery movie, but to clarify real quickly, it was a film called The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, and it started filming in the fall of 2000.  All kinds of things started going wrong (the elderly actor who took sick was French actor Jean Rochefort, who would've played Don Quixote, there was also a flood in Spain where they were shooting, and various other problems), so that the plug was pulled after only 6 days of filming.  The whole sordid story is told in the documentary, Lost In La Mancha.  Vanessa Paradis, Johnny's romantic partner of over 10 years (they have never officially married but consider themselves married and have 2 children together), would have been in the film, and it would have been the only time they've ever worked together on a film.

I'm not surprised the story has surfaced again, because every chance Gilliam gets, he is only too happy to tell the media that he is getting the funding together and the rights back to do the film again, and when he does, that Johnny will be in it.  For Johnny's part, Johnny has said for years that if Terry gets the project going again, he's in.   (No word on whether Vanessa would also be in it).  Johnny is very loyal to his friends, and I think the Man Who Killed Don Quixote issue is one of the reasons he stepped in so quickly to do Gilliam's The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus after Heath Ledger's death.  I do think that Johnny would try his best to be in Don Quixote if he can do it.  However, I've become pretty skeptical of Gilliam in recent years- all his projects are either flops or seem jinxed.  Though it's theoretically possible, I don't think it's likely this will get off the ground again any time soon.  Johnny may be old enough to play Don Quixote by the time it happens! 

I'm even more excited about the Barbara Steele remarks now that I know she has been connected with DCP.  I really hope that the timeframe she has described will pan out!!

Cathy

[Gothick]

It only "popped up" because I was looking at Peter Vaughan's page on IMDB and Vaughan was among those cast in that ill-fated venture.

I believe Peter Vaughan is retired now, although he may occasionally do roles in television projects done in London studios.  I just enjoyed his bravura performance as the treacherous Horace Dorrington in two episodes on a greymarket set of Rivals of Sherlock Holmes (1971-73) DVDs I acquired from a dealer in England.

G.

[madscntst]

It only "popped up" because I was looking at Peter Vaughan's page on IMDB and Vaughan was among those cast in that ill-fated venture.

I see, thanks.  Gilliam does continue to speak about the project quite regularly, though.  I would imagine there will have to be a lot of cast changes if it ever gets re-done.

Cathy

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Can't say as I agree with everything in this blog entry. But, as always, I pass it along:

I'm Worried About Johnny Depp
(And Mr. Drysdale might want to consider proofreading before posting. He might have actually caught at least a few of his typos. 2111?! Yes, we WILL all be dead by then.  )

[Taeylor Collins]

I don't agree with everything.  And 1778??  I guess it's a typo however, if it isn't, he doesn't seem like a well educated fan.

[Cousin_Barnabas]

I don't agree with everything.  And 1778??  I guess it's a typo however, if it isn't, he doesn't seem like a well educated fan.

Well, we might as well add another year to the ever changing date when Josette died...  Let's see...  1795, 1796, 1797, 1790...  Why not throw 1778 in there just for good measure? 

[jimbo]

I don't doubt that the writer of the blog is a DS fan. However, it would have made his argument better if he indeed checked the facts. The writer seems to be very passionate about DS and also very frustrated and rightfully so about how Depp and company don't appear to be interested in getting this movie made in the near future. Sure we just heard from Burton saying that he remains interested in doing the movie when he gets a chance. What does that exactly mean? The lack of information on this project is absolutely frustrating. I think the DS franchise has taken a hit by not providing the media of any progress on its development. We had to hear from E.W. that the DS movie has been pushed back and by other sources? I mean do we really need to find out information on the movie's developments from Peter Segal when he let slip in an unrelated interview that J. August was writing the D.S. script with Burton directing it? Only then did we subsequently hear from Shadowgram about these developments. (I am not specifically blaming Shadowgram but the individuals who provide it with confirmed information). Then we got some more possible inadvertent information from Ms. Steele. It seems to me we should be receiving this information directly from Shadowgram or any of the other of the DS producers in a timely manner.

P.S. Thanks Gothick. I wish I had additional information or better "news"? to provide.

[jimbo]

A brief 2011 DS movie reference:

http://thephoenix.com/BLOGS/outsidetheframe/archive/2008/10/31/undead-reckoning.aspx

[Taeylor Collins]

What an appropriate newspaper for it to mentioned in! I love it!  HA    HAPPY HALLOWEN!!! Maybe the movie will premiere in 2011 during this time of year!! 

[jimbo]

Thanks Taeylor.

Article here about Pirates 4 possibly scheduled to be released in 2012 and The Lone Ranger script almost finished as per its producer. Wish the DS producers were this open. Hey its my 500th post.

http://www.comingsoon.net/news/piratesnews.php?id=50225

[joe integlia]

i heard an interview at work today with anne hathaway. i work at video post production place and we feed video to places. i dont know where it was going or what show it was for but she declared that she was beginning filming today on tim burton's "alice in wonderland" with depp.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

I have no idea if this photo is real. Somehow I doubt it is (it seems more like some DS fan tried his/her hand at image manipulation.  )  But IF it is, how appropriate would the tattoo be for the future Barnabas? 

Check out: Johnny Depp’s Chest Tattoo: Celebrity Photo

[Joeytrom]

A friend of mine said he heard the Depp DS project is no more, anyone know any more about this??