Depp/Burton DARK SHADOWS Is In Production!!

[Cousin_Barnabas]

Now that's what I call Barnabas! 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

The painting looks very much like Depp does in the cast photo.

Too bad it may not even end up being the cover...

89 days 22 hours 27 minutes 19 seconds until the day the Depp/Burton Dark Shadows is released(ET)!!

[PennyDreadful]

I'm digging that new FM cover!

[Cousin_Barnabas]

I wonder if we will have three Barnadepps in the movie, and I wonder if we haven't seen all three...

My speculation:

Family portrait:  Barnabas is cured, or almost cured.  (The makeup is less pronounced.  Of course, this could also be the fact they hadn't finalized the makeup.  But I'd imagine a human Barnabas would look more like that than the stills.)
French poster:  Barnabas is being cured.  (Because he can't possibly go out in that getup at night.)
Stills:  Barnabas is a blood-thirsty vampire.  (Pale, pale, pale)


Oh, and it's official...

PG-13 and hammy...
http://badassdigest.com/2012/02/11/seth-grahame-smith-talks-about-just-how-weird-dark-shadows-will-be/

[jimbo]

No scary scenes. No gore. Very funny. PG. The more I hear about the movie the less I like. And it seems another spoiler is true.

[arashi]

Actually, that gave me more hope for it. Not a fan of hardcore gore and neither was Dan which is why it wasn't featured in the show. (Of course, our modern definition of hardcore gore and the 60s version are very different.) The fact that he mentions some ferocity to Barnabas' vampire scenes is hopeful. But this is all just my opinion anyway.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

I agree arashi - the more I read, the more I like what I'm reading. I love that the film will be "soap operatic" and "heightened and grand" because that's exactly what the original DS is. And I have no problem if "there's not gore" and "there are no hardcore scares" because those elements weren't a part of the original DS either. Frankly, the last thing I want to see is another DS movie that's a blood and gore fest like hoDS was.

That being said, Grahame-Smith also says that "there's some crazy Barnabas vampire shit in this movie that will surprise people in terms of its ferocity," so it's not like Barn is going to be defanged and as meek as a kitten. And just because the film will be PG-13, that in no way means it won't be violent or bloody. It just won't be the type of violent blood bath that an R rating would allow, and that's more than fine with me. Not that I don't like that type of vampire movie - I do - but it's not DS. And also, as we've said before, a PG-13 rating opens the film up to a much larger potential audience - and there can't ever be anything bad about that.

And the funny parts of the film don't worry me either - particularly when Grahame-Smith says it's due to an "absurdist element". I mean, the original DS is nothing if not absurd. And I know I'm not alone when I say I often find myself laughing because of some of its absurdities - (I mean, how can you not at least giggle inwardly if not outwardly at lines like "I said I killed her - I never said she was dead"? Sure, it makes perfect sense within the storyline. But, hello - absurd nonetheless.  ) - but never do I laugh at the show. And in no way am I not loving every second of the absurdity. When it comes to funny, even the original cast has confessed that once a scene was completed they often broke out in hysterical laughter because everything they'd just done was so absurd. And the fact that everything is played so straight/serious and we take it so straight/serious only makes it all even more absurd. So if that's the type of funny/absurd there's going to be in the film, it's going to be no different from the original show.

Thanks so much for posting the link, Cousin_Barnabas. 

89 days 5 hours 21 minutes 49 seconds until the day the Depp/Burton Dark Shadows is released(ET)!!

[jimbo]

I took no hardcore scares meant there will be a lack iof violence and suspense and no victim is killed.

[michael c]

people get killed and there's blood on television every night. so a pg-13 rating certainly doesn't mean no one will be killed. [spoiler]in fact we've already heard otherwise if the earlier spoilers are to be believed.[/spoiler]

and we've already seen blood in the shot of barnabas raising a bloody hand.

"soap operatic" and "absurdist" sure sounds like the tone of the series to me. and "heightened and grand"? what's not to love? if i could beg a guess it sounds like the tone of the series in exactly what everyone is going for because ask most people about the OS and they will tell you how "funny"(or, yes, even "campy") it is.

"we" take it seriously. "we're" emotionally invested. but most people will find it highly amusing.

what i think we all know is that this isn't 1991 redux. it's not a bodice-ripper.

also if barnabas is pale for half the movie or a third of the movie or all or none of the movie who the heck cares. why is everyone so worked up about this point still.

[jimbo]

With respect to my comment regarding killings I was referring to BC and the associated spoiler. But I am encouraged by the comments here. I just have to trust that TPTB knows what they are doing.

[Cousin_Barnabas]

MB, of course!  I think it's one of the most enlightening articles we have come across in recent weeks, so I couldn't help but share!

As for what the article says about the movie, I think it's going to be grand, probably a real love letter to the original.  I can't wait to see the trailer now. 

michael c, I don't care if he's pale or not.  I do prefer his look in the cast photo over his look in the second still.  I was just pointing out that, in all probability, we are going to see different Barnadepps throughout. 

I also read that Elfmann will be starting to record the music in six days.  So we have a score now.  Let's just hope that it's writhing with familiar, heightened, soap-operatic tunes of yore.   

[jimbo]

 Cousin_Barnabas you have good sources of information.  Thanks also for sharing.

[michael c]

sorry cb it's more all of the FB and other internet chatter depp's pale appearance has generated...and the relentless negativity surrounding it...that prompted my comment than your remark.

i'm just stunned at how much chatter it's still getting and how upset many people are about it.

[Gothick]

Michael, it's particularly stunning when you look at some of the 1967 Barnabas pub photos and see a pallor to rival that of Eddie Munster in the ones that feature Vinnie Loscalzo's full vampire makeup.

I guess some people just don't have all that much to think about in their lives...

G.

[Cousin_Barnabas]

I just share what I get my hands on, jimbo!   

michael c, I totally understand.  Some of the comments I have read on the Internet are way out of line.  I don't like Depp's pose in the second still, and I think that his facial expression makes his makeup look more pronounced than it otherwise would be.  But I think he looks terrific in the first photo.  But people were even complaining about that one...  I don't know what they are doing being so negative over something so small.