Depp/Burton DARK SHADOWS Is In Production!!

[PennyDreadful]

I'm sorry to hear you're sick Taeylor.  I hope you feel better soon.    No worries - your comment didn't sound remotely hateful! 

I totally understand what you mean about wanting DS around for decades to come.  But let's think about why DS IS still around.  It's because of the fans of course.  The fans kept it alive for all these years.  We kept the flame burning. Since the general public doesn't care either way, I think it would have been a wiser choice if Burton and Depp avoided the overt yucks and sight gags.  If they'd stuck with a more respectful take on the source material, I think the fan outcry wouldn't have been as loud and the general public would have gone anyway because it's a Burton/Depp flick. 

Anywho, I'll be there opening night to give it a whirl and maybe I'll even like it.  We'll see.

[DarkLady]

Thanks for the link! I didn't see any of the original actors but will take it for granted that they're there.

I was most interested in the oval portrait behind JD's shoulder in one shot--a portrait of Naomi, perhaps?

[Gothick]

Cool detail I noticed from watching the "Why have you done this to me" clip:

[spoiler]Angelique's boardroom has walls lined with portraits of herself, each one painted in a different historical epoch.  That's a pretty neat allusion to all the plot points that revolved around portraits over the years on DS.[/spoiler]

This movie definitely has fantastic art direction...

G.

[michael c]

i'm curious to see how they rationalize the same person being around collinsport for 200 years.

[Cousin_Barnabas]

She looks very different in all of those pictures, so I am assuming, like Cassandra in the original, she used different identities throughout the years. 

[LOOKE300]

why did,nt depp go with john august sceenplay it was  a real horror story not this endless round of bad jokes. and now that the movie is over do the rights go back to the curtis estate or dose depp keep them?there must have been someone else interested besides depp they should have been sold to them.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Actually, we don't know for sure what John August's script was like - but we do know that when producer Richard Zanuck described it he said that it wasn't "a soap opera," it was "scary," it was "very funny," and it carried "the Tim Burton stamp of uniqueness." And frankly that sounds very much like the way Seth Grahame-Smith's script has been being described.

And as for the rights deal Depp made, the details were never made public. It's quite possible that it's already stated in the deal that he retains the rights should he decide to do a sequel. Or it could contain an option to renew should he decide to do a sequel. Or the deal could expire with the completion and release of this film. It's all just something we'll have to wait to see...

11 days 6 hours 46 minutes 55 seconds until the day the Depp/Burton Dark Shadows is released(ET)!!

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Kimmel is apparently having a DS bonanza, because Chloe Moretz will guest (along with Kristen Stewart, vampire overload, lol!) on May 7, and Johnny on May 8. Chloe will also be on Letterman on the 3rd.

Thanks for the info. And I also see that Jonny Lee Miller will be an Kimmel on Monday the 30th and Eva Green will be on the show Wednesday the 2nd. He's definitely having a DS bonanza!!

And if all that wasn't enough, Michelle Pfeiffer is on Leno on the 7th, so that night we get two DS stars on late night talk shows!

No word yet when Depp is on Ellen - but since it's not this week, he must be on next week. And since I record Ellen every day, I'll certainly post as soon as I see when he's going to be on...

11 days 5 hours 58 minutes 44 seconds until the day the Depp/Burton Dark Shadows is released(ET)!!

[Cousin_Barnabas]

I have a few thoughts on Christopher Lee...

How could the reviewer say that Christopher Lee was not recognizable when he first came on the screen? 

Secondly, his character is named Silas Clarney according to the production notes. 

http://darkshadowsmovie.warnerbros.com/assets/img/_downloads/_pdf/Dark_Shadows_Production_Notes.pdf

If you have not read them, be aware that they answer several questions brought up in this thread.  And while they contain more detailed information about plot and characters, I would not consider any of the information to give away major spoilers.  But there were some things I read that I would have wanted to remain a mystery until I saw the actual film. 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

I'll take that under advisement, Cousin_Barnabas. And thanks for the link. 

11 days 4 hours 56 minutes 46 seconds until the day the Depp/Burton Dark Shadows is released(ET)!!

[michael c]

thanks cb...

the notes are very interesting. i really don't see them as spoilerish per se either. actually they do answer one question that seems to be troubling many. reading them might not be a bad idea.

it's becoming clear to me that this victoria is not the virginal naif alexandra moltke or even joanna going played. with her flip hairdo and childish wardrobe i originally thought they were going to try and recapture that preternatural naivety but it's seeming like a totally new spin on the character.

with each new clip and summation i become more intrigued. i had sort of resigned myself to the goofiness of the trailers so it's nice to read there is more going on.

[michael c]

oh and could "silas clarney" possibly be more of a DS-ish name for a character?

actually it sounds like some weird character from the ross novels a la professor veno.

still i'm somewhat saddened lee's not playing malloy.

[usffan]

This particular passage from those production notes is not a spoiler, but I think is worth pointing out to folks who might be wary of reading the document.  If quoting two paragraphs is a violation of the TOS, I will understand if this post is deleted.  Also, emphasis shown is mine, not in the document:

Producer David Kennedy had been partnered with the series’ creator, the late  Dan Curtis, years after the show wrapped, and Curtis would come to entrust Kennedy with perhaps his most inventive creation.  Kennedy reveals that the satirical bent in Burton’s new incarnation of “Dark Shadows” was always part of Curtis’s vision.  “When Tim and Johnny talked about what they wanted to do with ‘Dark Shadows,’ they had such a sense of fun that I just knew it was in the right hands.  I honestly don’t think the movie could ever have happened without them, and also Christi.”

He continues, “I’m sure there are going to be hardcore ‘Dark Shadows’ fans who are going to say that the original series didn’t have that much humor in it.  And it didn’t.  But Dan always wanted it to, and I think he’d be really happy with where we ended up.  For me personally, it’s a dream come true.”

[Taeylor Collins]

I refuse to look...I refuse to look <<<<< I repeat to myself as if I am Julia Hoffman hypnotizing Julia! I do refuse to look though. I am afraid it will say something I don't want to see. 

[Gothick]

Wow.  Talk about re-writing history. *shrug*

I wonder if a lot of this stuff will turn up in the making-of book that's supposed to be coming out, at some point?  Or did I hallucinate a remark about a book that would come out?  It was mentioned sometime last year, in the Summer I think...

G.