Depp/Burton DARK SHADOWS Is In Production!!

[Mysterious Benefactor]

There have been reports out of Asheville, NC that Burton and Depp were there supposedly scouting locations last Wednesday, Thursday and Friday - however that would seem to conflict with other info we've gotten from what would seem to be more reliable sources. For one, Chloe Moretz tweeted that she was on set on Thursday and Friday - was she directing herself? And GK Films, The Hollywood Reporter, and the Wall Street journal all reported that Burton flew from London to LA on Friday for his artwork retrospective on Saturday and that he only stayed in LA the one day because he had to get back to London for DS. So, it would appear that either all those sources were lying or misled to cover up the fact that Burton was really in NC - or the reports out of NC have no idea what they're talking about. Well, unless Depp was there alone and people simply assumed Burton was with him. But then, when it comes to Depp, people aren't above making things up. After all, not that long ago there were all sorts of reports about things Depp was supposedly doing in London while he was actually in New Orleans shooting his cameo for the 21 Jump Street update and in Chicago doing Oprah. We know Depp is talented, but I doubt his talents allow him to be in more than one place at the same time. And it's also interesting that none of this is being reported anywhere but the Around Asheville Web site...

Of course, there's also the question of why anyone connected with the Depp/DS film would even be scouting locations in NC...

346 days 12 hours 39 minutes 53 seconds until the day the Depp/Burton DARK SHADOWS is released(ET)!!

[Mysterious Benefactor]

UPDATE: Not that this will come as a surprise to us, but the whole thing has been revealed to be a hoax, and a hotel employee at the hotel where Burton and Depp were supposedly staying while in Asheville has been disciplined for spreading false info.

I don't honestly understand why people make up these sorts of things. More often than not they end up biting them in the ass (how stupid can one be to claim celebrities are staying in the hotel you work in when the hotel quite obviously knows they're not?!), so what's the point?  

346 days 12 hours 4 minutes 41 seconds until the day the Depp/Burton DARK SHADOWS is released(ET)!!

[madscntst]

I dunno, I don't trust the idea that this hotel employee is being "disciplined" too much.  Call me a skeptic, but you know what they say about "no publicity is bad publicity"?  Stories like this pop all the time, and it's to get attention and publicity- for the town (or hotel) in question, or for the newspapers or online sites that publish it.  Get used to this- Johnny is sighted everywhere, all the time, even if he is already known to be someplace else   And the casual reader is never going to really care about any one story or how true it is.  Good rule of thumb- if there is a photo, it's true.  Even then, sometimes you have to look closely because there are a lot of impersonators out there 

[barnabasjr]

We know Depp is talented, but I doubt his talents allow him to be in more than one place at the same time.

Ha! Must be the same people who believed Vicki was in two places at once when she was supposed to be in gaol and went back to Collinwood to get the family history.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Probably, barnabasjr.  

I dunno, I don't trust the idea that this hotel employee is being "disciplined" too much.

Actually, there's a new story from the hotel: the entire hoax was caused by a "former" hotel employee who was "confused." Yeah, right.  

346 days 4 hours 38 minutes 1 second until the day the Depp/Burton DARK SHADOWS is released(ET)!!

[jimbo]

According to TB, Dark Shadows will not be in 3D...

http://www.thewrap.com/movies/article/tim-burton-grilled-his-lacma-exhibition-johnny-depp-dark-shadows-27802

[Darren Gross]

Boo!

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Finally - an interview from the weekend with some substantive talk about DS.    Thanks so much for posting the link to it, jimbo.  

I'm sorry for the people who'll be disappointed that it won't be in 3D, but I can't say I'm one of them. I do wonder, though, if it will still be in IMAX? That's something else that was originally mentioned. IMAX I would enjoy.  

The thing I find most interesting is Burton's explanation of the tone they're attempting to capture. I definitely like that they're going for some sort of soapy quality. And there's no doubt that his reference to funny isn't funny ha ha but funny peculiar.

It's also interesting that they've, as Burton put it, "slammed right into it."  But then, Chloe Moretz' brother's tweet on May 23rd pretty much told us that they'd done that with her.

346 days 2 hours 28 minutes 36 seconds until the day the Depp/Burton DARK SHADOWS is released(ET)!!

[jimbo]

I wonder if TB's schedule prevented him from filming the movie in 3D and I assume he would have had to spend more time in post production(?). I certainly hope the film is not later converted into 3D-seen some terrible conversions. I thought WB announced somewhere that it will be in IMAX(?) It seems TB is still searching for that elusive vibe for the movie-glad he opened up a bit something I doubt he will do often during its filming.

[madscntst]

There is a new Flickr photo of set construction for DS- it's starting to look like a real mansion 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/28940296@N05/5776502499/in/photostream/

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Very interesting!

With the first photo of the frame you really couldn't tell that it was only going to be the first floor - and if that blue sticking up from what will presumably be a section of a tower is any indication, it's looking like the first floor is all they're going to build and the rest of the house will be CGI generated (as was the case with Sleepy Hollow). It's also looking like the part that's gray is supposed to resemble stone, the part that's white is waiting for the stone finishing, and the part that's wood is newly constructed. And even though the layout is different from Carey Mansion, it does seem like it will have a Carey Mansion sort of feel to it. But of course, only time will tell...

Thanks so much for posting the link, madscntst.  

I see there''s also this one - though it doesn't show things anywhere near as well: Dark Shadows Film Set

345 days 13 hours 47 minutes 50 seconds until the day the Depp/Burton DARK SHADOWS is released(ET)!!

[RachelDrummand]

*facepalm* Would they quit using the words, funny and Dark Shadows, within the same sentence? That really burns me.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Though I really do think that in this instance Burton means the show has a peculiar tone or at least one differing from the ordinary - he's not saying it's humorous. And obviously DS is different from the ordinary in almost every way possible. So, within the context that Burton used "funny," I found it to be reassuring that that's the sort of tone he's attempting to capture for the film.

345 days 13 hours 15 minutes 43 seconds until the day the Depp/Burton DARK SHADOWS is released(ET)!!

[Mysterious Benefactor]

An interesting technical article in Variety that's much more related to the Depp/DS film than the title would make it appear (because someone recently hired by Technicolor is working on the Depp/DS film and he discusses his process): Technicolor taps Potter, 'Rings' vet


Also Chloe Moretz' brother is tweeting about DS and his sister again. Here are his tweets, some of the more interesting replies, and his responses to them:

TrevorDMoretz
hello everyone, working working Dark Shadowing all day every day, i'm a work zombie
10 hours ago

WLechnerMUC
@TrevorDMoretz *lol* Isn't it supposed to be a vampire movie? Well, good luck on set - hope you and @ChloeGMoretz have a great time...
10 hours ago

DoreoC
@TrevorDMoretz I know how you feel :/ just that instead of working on a freaking awesome movie with Depp and Chloe, I do HW all day
10 hours ago

tallmanjon
@TrevorDMoretz hope it's all going well chap, can't wait to see it!!!
8 hours ago

TrevorDMoretz
saw a smidge of winona ryder in @ChloeGMoretz today, so proud
6 hours ago

TrevorDMoretz
@tallmanjon everyone will be thrilled
6 hours ago

TrevorDMoretz
@WLechnerMUC thank u
6 hours ago

TrevorDMoretz
@DoreoC we've all had to do homework, even chlo does it
6 hours ago

Burtonie
@TrevorDMoretz Hello! Could you please tell me, is Helena BC REALLY in DS? I mean, REALLY, not OFFICIALLY. Hope for true answer. Bless you.
4 hours ago

What's wild about the tweets from Trevor and Chloe herself is that one would get the impression from them that she's the only one who's been shooting anything. But somehow I doubt that's true. And it would be interesting if one of them mentioned who she's working with. But then, with Burton's confidentiality agreement hanging over their heads, perhaps they can't (and it will be interesting to see if he even answers the question about HBC).  

If only at least one of the other actors would tweet something, we might have a clue - but either they're suddenly completely silent (like Bella Heathcote) or they don't have Twitter accounts...

345 days 10 hours 23 minutes 22 seconds until the day the Depp/Burton DARK SHADOWS is released(ET)!!

[Heather]

I love all the DS movie updates - thanks MB and others who've contributed.